Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biosfera Los Petenes) is a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

in Mexico. It is located on the western

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

in the state of

Campeche Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...

. The reserve is home to extensive

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

wetlands, and rich in birds and other wildlife.

Geography

The reserve covers an area of . It is bounded on the west by the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. It adjoins

Ría Celestun Biosphere Reserve Ría Celestun Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Celestún) is a biosphere reserve in Mexico. It is located on the northwestern Yucatán Peninsula in the states of Yucatán and Campeche. The reserve is home to extensive mangrove w ...

on the north. The city of

is south of the reserve. The reserve includes coastal beaches and dunes, which enclose lagoons and wetlands. There are low uplands in the eastern portion of the reserve.

Ecology

The reserve protects extensive

wetlands, part of a mangrove corridor known as the

Petenes mangroves The Petenes mangroves ecoregion (WWF ID: NT1428) covers mangrove habitat along the Gulf of Mexico coast of southern Mexico, where Campeche state and Yucatan state meet, centering on the Celestun Lagoon inland from the barrier-island town of Celest� ...

which extends along the western shore of the Yucatán Peninsula. Freshwater from the peninsula's extensive

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

has outlets in the reserve, mixing with the salt waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the wetlands. Button mangrove (''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Range Locations it is known from inc ...

'') and Campeche wood (''

Haematoxylum campechianum ''Haematoxylum campechianum'' (blackwood, bloodwood tree, bluewood, campeachy tree, campeachy wood, campeche logwood, campeche wood, Jamaica wood, logwood or logwood tree) is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is na ...

'') are notable mangrove species. There are

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

beds offshore and in the lagoons, and

tropical dry forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

in the uplands. The reserve is home to large and diverse populations of migratory and resident birds, with over 300 species identified. 56% of species are year-round residents, 43% are seasonal, and 1% are occasional visitors. Bird species present include the

American flamingo The American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber'') is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo native to the Neotropics. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that trea ...

(''Phoenicopterus ruber''),

jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...

(''Jabiru mycteria''),

wood stork The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found in ...

(''Mycteria americana''),

Muscovy duck The Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') is a large duck native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. Small wild and feral breeding populations have established themselves in the United Sta ...

(''Cairina moschata''),

snail kite The snail kite (''Rostrhamus sociabilis'') is a bird of prey within the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. Its relative, the slender-billed kite, is now again placed in ''Helicolestes'', making the ...

(''Rostrhamus sociabilis''),

orange oriole The orange oriole (''Icterus auratus'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is found in the Yucatán Peninsula and far northern Belize. The male has a bright orange hood and a black bib. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropic ...

(''Icterus auratus''),

hooded oriole The hooded oriole (''Icterus cucullatus'') is a medium-sized New World oriole. The male of this species ranges in color from a bright orange to a paler yellow, with a black back, face, tail and bib, with the wing containing two white bars. The fe ...

(''Icterus cucullatus''),

least tern The least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') is a species of tern that breeds in North America and locally in northern South America. It is closely related to, and was formerly often considered conspecific with, the little tern of the Old World. Oth ...

(''Sternula antillarum''),

crane hawk The crane hawk (''Geranospiza caerulescens'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Geranospiza''. Taxonomy The crane hawk used to be many species that were recently lumped into one. Those ...

(''Geranospiza caerulescens''),

common black hawk The common black hawk (''Buteogallus anthracinus'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. Description The adult common black-hawk is long and weighs on average. It has very ...

(''Buteogallus anthracinus''),

black hawk-eagle The black hawk-eagle (), also known as the tyrant hawk-eagle, is a species of eagle found from central Mexico through Central America into the south of Brazil to Colombia, eastern Peru, and as far as northern Argentina. There are two known subspe ...

(''Spizaetus tyrannus''),

Yucatan amazon The Yucatan amazon (''Amazona xantholora''), also known as the yellow-lored amazon, Yucatan parrot or yellow-lored parrot is a species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Beli ...

(''Amazona xantholora''),

bat falcon The bat falcon (''Falco rufigularis'') is a falcon that is a resident breeder in tropical Mexico, Central and South America, Trinidad. It was long known as ''Falco albigularis''; the names ''Falco fusco-coerulescens'' or ''Falco fuscocaerulesce ...

(''Falco rufigularis''),

ferruginous pygmy owl The ferruginous pygmy owl (''Glaucidium brasilianum'') is a small owl that breeds in south-central Arizona and southern Texas in the United States, south through Mexico and Central America, to South America into Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Arge ...

(''Glaucidium brasilianum''),

least bittern The least bittern (''Ixobrychus exilis'') is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas. Taxonomy The least bittern was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his re ...

(''Ixobrychus exilis''),

reddish egret The reddish egret (''Egretta rufescens'') is a medium-sized heron that is a resident breeder in Central America, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States (primarily Texas), and Mexico. The egret is known for its unusual ...

(''Egretta rufescens''),

blue-winged teal The blue-winged teal (''Spatula discors'') is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. One of the smaller members of the dabbling duck group, it occurs in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia ...

(''Spatula discors''),

northern pintail The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding ra ...

(''Anas acuta''),

American wigeon The American wigeon (''Mareca americana''), also known as the baldpate, is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. Formerly assigned to ''Anas'', this species is classified with the other wigeons in the dabbling duck genus ''Mareca''. ...

(''Mareca americana''),

lesser scaup The lesser scaup (''Aythya affinis'') is a small North American diving duck that migrates south as far as Central America in winter. It is colloquially known as the little bluebill or broadbill because of its distinctive blue bill. The origin of ...

(''Aythya affinis''),

king vulture The king vulture (''Sarcoramphus papa'') is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexic ...

(''Sarcoramphus papa''), and

hen harrier The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Eur ...

(''Circus cyaneus'').BirdLife International (2022)
Important Bird Areas factsheet: Los Petenes
Downloaded Accessed 11 November 2022. The reserve is designated an

Important bird area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

Conservation

The area was designated a biosphere reserve in 1999 by the Mexican government. In 2004 it was designated a wetland of international importance under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

. In 2008 the Mexican government nominated the Los Petenes and adjacent Ría Celestún reserves as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

.Los Petenes-Ría Celestún
UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Accessed 13 November 2022.

References

{{reflist Biosphere reserves of Mexico Ramsar sites in Mexico Protected areas of Campeche Wetlands of Mexico Important Bird Areas of Mexico World Heritage Tentative List for Mexico