Sinaloan dry forests

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The Sinaloan forests constitute the northernmost dry forests of Mexico. The region has been isolated from other warm environments, although it shares some species with the Sonoran Desert, especially in the ecotonal areas where these regions meet – the Sonoran-Sinaloan Subtropical Transition Forests ecoregion. This contributes to increase the overall biodiversity of the area. In fact, some researchers consider the dry forests of Sinaloa as a type of thorny scrub –belonging to the arid ecological zones of Mexico- instead of as a true dry forest.

  • Scientific Code
    (NT0228)
  • Ecoregion Category
    Neotropical
  • Size
    29,900 square miles
  • Status
    Critical/Endangered
  • Habitats

Description


Location and General Description

Biodiversity Features

Current Status

Types and Severity of Threats

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation
These dry forests represent the northernmost occurance of this habitat type in the Americas, and are among the northermost of the Neotropical influences. They occur along the transition from Neotropical to Nearctic influenced and thus have species assemblages mixing from each. Initial linework follows the current landcover classifications of INEGI (1996). From this map we lumped the following classifications: "lowland spine forests", "lowland caducifolous forests", "sarcocaulous matorral", "pachycaulous matorral", "microphyll desert matorral", all sunsequent agricultural areas, and "halophilic vegetation" along the coast. Later modification occurred from expert opinions, following suggestions from Rzedowski (CONABIO Workshop 1996) at a regional ecoregion delineation workshop.

References
CONABIO Workshop, 17-16 September, 1996. Informe de Resultados del Taller de Ecoregionalización para la Conservación de México.

CONABIO Workshop, Mexico, D.F., November 1997. Ecological and Biogeographical Regionalization of Mexico.

INEGI Map (date) Comision Nacional Para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO) habitat and land use classification database derived from ground truthed remote sensing data Insitituto Nacional de Estastica, Geografia, e Informática (INEGI). Map at a scale of 1:1,000,000.

Rzedowski, J. 1978. Vegetación de Mexico. Editorial Limusa. Mexico, D.F., Mexico.

Prepared by: Alejandra Valero, Jan Schipper, and Tom Allnutt
Reviewed by: In process