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Mapimí Biosphere Reserve
The Mapimí Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biósfera de Mapimí) (established 1977) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in the state of Durango in northern Mexico. It is one of three biosphere reserves representing the Chihuahuan Desert (along with Big Bend Biosphere Reserve and National Park in western Texas and Jornada Biosphere Reserve in New Mexico). The reserve is situated between the Neotropical and Nearctic biogeographic realms, in the Bolsón de Mapimí above sea level. It contains three core areas in the ''Sierra de la Campana'', the ''Laguna de las Palomas'', a salt lagoon, and a desert habitat called ''Dunas de la Soledad''. It comprises fragile warm desert and semi-desert ecosystems and rich, highly adapted but vulnerable plant systems, mainly xerophytic matorral scrub, and animal species such as the puma (''Puma concolor''), mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''), sandhill crane (''Grus canadensis'') and the kit fox or ''zorrita del desiert'' (''Vulpes macroti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Commission Of Natural Protected Areas
There are currently 182 Protected Natural Areas in Mexico, covering 25.4 million hectares in total. They are protected and administrated by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (''Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas'', or 'CONANP'), a federal agency. CONANP administers: * 67 Mexican National Parks * 44 biosphere reserves * 40 flora and fauna protection areas * 18 Mexican Nature Sanctuaries * 9 natural resources protection areas * 11 natural monuments See also * LGEEPA The General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (''Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente'', or ''LGEEPA'' in Spanish) is an important piece of Mexican environmental protection Environmental pro ... - Mexico's groundbreaking 1988 environmental legislation References External linksCONANP web site (Spanish) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandhill Crane
The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on the American Great Plains. Sandhill Cranes are known to hangout at the edges of bodies of water especially in the Central Florida region. This is the most important stopover area for the nominotypical subspecies, the lesser sandhill crane (''A. c. canadensis''), with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually. Taxonomy In 1750, English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the sandhill crane in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Brown and Ash-colour'd Crane". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay area of Canada by James Isham. When in 1758 the Swedish natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comisión Nacional Para El Conocimiento Y Uso De La Biodiversidad
The Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO; en, National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity) is a permanent inter-ministerial commission of the Federal Mexican government, created in 1992. It has the primary purpose of coordinating, supporting and executing activities and projects designed to foment understanding of biodiversity within Mexico and the surrounding region. As a governmental agency, CONABIO produces and collates biodiversity data and assessments across Mexico's varied ecosystems. It also either administers or guides a range of biological conservation and sustainability projects with the intention of securing benefits to Mexican society as a whole. The mission of CONABIO is to promote, coordinate, support and carry out activities aimed at increasing awareness of biodiversity and its conservation and sustainable use for the benefit of society. Conabio was conceived as an applied research organization, sponsoring ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of prey, birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and large, sharp talons to hunt a variety of prey, mainly hares, rabbits, and marmots and other ground squirrels. Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as . They build large bird nest, nests in cliffs and other high places to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Badger
The American badger (''Taxidea taxus'') is a North American badger similar in appearance to the European badger, although not closely related. It is found in the western, central, and northeastern United States, northern Mexico, and south-central Canada to certain areas of southwestern British Columbia. The American badger's habitat is typified by open grasslands with available prey (such as mice, squirrels, and groundhogs). The species prefers areas such as prairie regions with sandy loam soils where it can dig more easily for its prey. Taxonomy The American badger is a member of the Mustelidae, a diverse family of carnivorous mammals that also includes weasels, otters, ferrets, and the wolverine. The American badger belongs to the Taxidiinae, one of four subfamilies of mustelid badgers – the other three being the Melinae (four species in two genera, including the European badger), the Helictidinae (five species of ferret-badgers) and the Mellivorinae (the honey badger); th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fringe-toed Lizard
Fringe-toed lizards are lizards of the genus ''Uma'' in the family Phrynosomatidae, native to deserts of North America. They are adapted for life in sandy deserts with fringe-like scales on their hind toes hence their common name. Descriptions Lizards of the genus ''Uma'' have a brown and tan coloration that helps them to blend in with the sand. The dorsal surface has a velvety texture with intricate markings. In addition, they also have prominent elongated scales which form a fringe on the sides of their hind toes. These fringes aid with traction and speed, and help the lizard avoid sinking into loose, sandy dunes. Fringe-toed lizards also possess upper jaws which overlap the lower ones, preventing the intrusion of sand particles, and nostrils that can be closed at will. Flaps also close against the ear openings when moving through sand, and the upper and lower eyelids have interlocking scales that prevent sand from getting into the eyes. Geographic range Fringe-toed lizard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolson Tortoise
The Bolson tortoise (''Gopherus flavomarginatus''), also called the Mexican giant tortoise or yellow-margined tortoise, is a species of tortoise from North America. Of the six North American tortoise species, it is the largest, having a carapace length of about . It lives in a region of the Chihuahuan Desert known as the Bolsón de Mapimí, which is located in north-central Mexico. Discovery The Bolson tortoise was discovered only in 1959. The legend is that a group of biologists working in the Bolsón de Mapimí were at a ranch and saw chickens eating out of a large tortoise shell. They inquired about the origin of the shell and the locals responded by saying that it was, "la tortuga grande del desierto", the big turtle of the desert. In 1979 the 340,000 hectare Mapimi Biosphere Reserve was created to protect the Bolson tortoise and other unique flora and fauna of the Bolsón de Mapimí. Despite this designation, cattle ranching and mining still occur in the reserve. Whether t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cochlospermaceae
The Cochlospermaceae were a family of two genera and 20-25 species of trees and shrubs, first described by Jules Émile Planchon in 1847. They have been included in the Bixaceae from the APG III system onwards. The older APG II system treated this family as an optional segregate of Bixaceae. They occur widely throughout the tropical regions of the world, but are curiously absent from Malaysia. Most species in this family are mesophytic or xerophytic A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or t ..., growing primarily in drier climates. References External links CochlospermaceaeiL. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants* Bixaceae Historically recognized angiosperm families {{malvales-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cactaceae
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only Thorns, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halophyte
A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. The word derives from Ancient Greek ἅλας (halas) 'salt' and φυτόν (phyton) 'plant'. Halophytes have different anatomy, physiology and biochemistry than glycophytes.Physiology of halophytes, T. J. FLOWERS, Plant and Soil 89, 41-56 (1985) An example of a halophyte is the salt marsh grass ''Spartina alterniflora'' (smooth cordgrass). Relatively few plant species are halophytes—perhaps only 2% of all plant species. Information about many of the earth's halophytes can be found in thehalophdatabase. The large majority of plant species are glycophytes, which are not salt-tolerant and are damaged fairly easily by high salinity. Classification Halophytes can be classified in many ways. According to Stocker (1933), it is mainly of 3 kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires. Chaparral features summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found often on drier, southern facing slopes within the chaparral biome. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in central Arizona, western Texas, and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains (mexical), all having summer rains in contrast to the Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species. The name comes from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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