deserts and xeric shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
in north-central
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
Geography
The Meseta Central matorral occupies the central portion of the
Mexican Plateau
The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States b ...
. It is bounded on the east by the Sierra Madre Oriental. The Sierra de Arteaga, Serranía de Zapalinamé, Sierra La Concordia, and Sierra de Parras ranges separate the ecoregion from the
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...
to the north. The
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...
bounds the ecoregion on the west. On the south it transitions to the
Central Mexican matorral
The Central Mexican matorral is an ecoregion of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome of central Mexico. It is the southernmost ecoregion of the Nearctic realm.
Geography
The Central Mexican matorral covers an area of on the southern portion o ...
.
Most of the ecoregion is in
endorheic basin
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
s, where streams drain into saline lakes with no outlet to the sea, including the
Llanos el Salado {{Short description, Endorheic basin in Mexico
Llanos el Salado is a large endorheic basin of central Mexico. It is located on the Mexican Plateau, and covers portions of several Mexican states, including eastern and northeastern Zacatecas, Norther ...
and
Bolsón de Mapimí
The Bolsón de Mapimí is an endorheic, or internal drainage, basin in which no rivers or streams drain to the sea, but rather toward the center of the basin, often terminating in Swamp, swamps and Ephemeral lake, ephemeral lakes. It is located in ...
. The western portion of the ecoregion is in the valley of the San Pedro Mezquital River, which drains southwestwards into the Pacific. The southeastern portion of the ecoregion is in the
Panuco River Panuco may refer to:
;Places
* Pánuco (disambiguation), a name related to several places in Mexico
;Ships
* USS ''Panuco'' (ID-1533), a United States Navy cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919
{{disambig ...
basin, which drains eastwards into the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an 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 the United ...
Fresnillo
Fresnillo (/fres'nijo/), founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra, is the second largest city in Zacatecas state, north central Mexico and the seat of Fresnillo municipality. As a rail and highway junction, Fresnillo is the center of a rich mining ...
,
Matehuala
Matehuala is the second most important city in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. It is located at around , at an elevation of about 1,500 m. Matehuala is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name, located in the norther ...
The climate is hot and dry. Rainfall is less than 500 mm per year.
Flora
The characteristic vegetation is dry shrubland (matorral) that includes
yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...
and
cactus
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 Gree ...
. Characteristic species include the yuccas izote ''(
Yucca filifera
''Yucca filifera'' is a member of the subfamily Agavaceae, family Asparagaceae, native to central Mexico.
History
It was discovered in 1840 in northeastern Mexico between Saltillo and Parras () on 19 May 1847 by merchant and explorer Jos ...
''), chocha (''
Yucca carnerosana
''Yucca carnerosana'',McKelvey in Yuccas of the S.W. U.S. 1:24 1938 commonly known as the giant Spanish dagger, is a species of North American plant in the asparagus family. In the United States, it is confined to only a few counties in western ...
Larrea tridentata
''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In S ...
''), known in Spanish as la gobernadora. Other common species are the shrubs huisache (''
Acacia farnesiana
''Vachellia farnesiana'', also known as ''Acacia farnesiana'', and previously ''Mimosa farnesiana'', commonly known as sweet acacia, huisache, or needle bush, is a species of shrub or small tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. Its flowers are use ...
Prosopis juliflora
''Prosopis juliflora'' ( es, bayahonda blanca, Cuji Venezuela, Trupillo Colombia, Aippia Wayuunaiki and long-thorn kiawe in Hawaii) is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and th ...
''), the cacti ''
Opuntia engelmannii
''Opuntia engelmannii'' is a prickly pear common across the south-central and Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It goes by a variety of common names, including desert prickly pear, discus prickly pear, Engelmann's prickly pear in ...
'', ''
Echinocactus horizonthalonius
''Echinocactus horizonthalonius'' is a species of cactus known by several common names, including devilshead, turk's head cactus, blue barrel cactus, eagle's claw,Baker, M. (2007)A multivariate study of morphological characters for ''Echinocactus ...
Erioneuron pilosum
''Erioneuron'' is a genus of New World plants in the grass family native to southern North America and southern South America. They are sometimes called by the common name woollygrass. These are tufty grasses with hairy spikelets.Flourensia cernua'').
Mexican prairie dog
The Mexican prairie dog (''Cynomys mexicanus'') is a diurnal burrowing rodent native to Mexico. Treatment as an agricultural pest has led to its status as an endangered species. They are closely related to squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. ' ...
(''Cynomys mexicanus''),
yellow-faced pocket gopher
The yellow-faced pocket gopher (''Cratogeomys castanops'') is a species of pocket gopher that is native to shortgrass prairies in the south-western United States and northern Mexico. It is the species that lives north of the Southern Coahuila Fi ...
(''Orthogeomys'' spp.), and
Saussure's shrew
Saussure's shrew (''Sorex saussurei'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae, that is found in Mexico. There is also a disjointed population of shrews in Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, Repú ...
(''Sorex saussurei''). The ecoregion has resident and migratory
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
s. The greater long-nosed bat (''Leptonycteris nivalis'') and lesser long-nosed bat (''Leptonycteris yerbabuenae'') are important spring and summer pollinators for many plants, including the yuccas, agaves, and cactus. The western yellow bat (''Lasiurus xanthinus'') is an insectivorous resident bat.
Native birds include the
greater roadrunner
The greater roadrunner (''Geococcyx californianus'') is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from the Aridoamerica region in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The scientific name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along w ...
(''Geococcyx californianus''),
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 birds of ...
(''Aquila chrysaetos canadensis''),
great horned owl
The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air"), or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extre ...
(''Bubo virginiana''),
spotted owl
The spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis'') is a species of true owl. It is a resident species of old-growth forests in western North America, where it nests in tree hollows, old bird of prey nests, or rock crevices. Nests can be between high a ...
(''Strix occidentalis''),
red-tailed hawk
The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...
scaled quail
The scaled quail (''Callipepla squamata''), also commonly called blue quail or cottontop, is a species of the New World quail family. It is a bluish gray bird found in the arid regions of the Southwestern United States to Central Mexico. This sp ...
(''Callipepla squamata''), and Worthen's sparrow (''Spizella wortheni'').
Protected areas
A 2017 assessment found that 2,534 km2, or 2%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. The lower elevations of Durango's
Sierra de Órganos National Park
Sierra de Órganos National Park (Spanish: ''Parque Nacional Sierra de Órganos'') is a national park in Mexico, located in the northwest corner of the municipality of Sombrerete in the state of Zacatecas, near the border with Durango. The par ...
List of ecoregions in Mexico
The following is a list of ecoregions in Mexico as identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). A different system of ecoregional analysis is used by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a trilateral body linking Mexican, Canadian ...