The Pantanos de Centla (Centla swamps) are wooded wetlands along the coast in state of

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

in Mexico. They have been

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

since 2006 with the establishment of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve. It is also a

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

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 l ...

WWF Ecoregion

The ecoregion covers an area of in the states of

and

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 Centla swamps occupy the delta of the

Usumacinta The Usumacinta River (; named after the howler monkey) is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz (in Guatemala) and the Salinas ...

and Grijalva rivers, which empty into 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 ...

and the

Laguna de Términos Laguna de Términos is the largest tidal lagoon by volume located entirely on the Gulf of Mexico, as well as one of the most biodiverse. Exchanging water with several rivers and lagoons, the Laguna is part of the most important hydrographic riv ...

through numerous

distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

. The ecoregion includes year-round wetlands, and

freshwater swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found ...

s which are inundated during the summer rainy season. The Usumacinta mangroves lie in the brackish-water zone between the Centla swamps and the open water of the Laguna de Términos and the Gulf. The

Petén–Veracruz moist forests The Petén–Veracruz moist forests is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. Setting The Petén–Veracruz moist forests cover an area of , extending from central Verac ...

lie to the west and south, and the Yucatan moist forests lie to the east. A 2017 assessment found that 5,644 km², or 33%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. The largest protected area is Pantanos de Centla

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 ...

Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve

Flora

In the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve (''Reserva de la Biosfera Pantanos de Centla'') was established in 2006. The reserve mostly contains semi-evergreen forest

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. The predominant trees in the semi-evergreen forest include black olive tree ('' Bucida buceras'') and logwood (''

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 ...

''), with ''

Spondias mombin ''Spondias mombin'', also known as yellow mombin or hog plum is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in Sout ...

Tabebuia rosea ''Tabebuia rosea'', also called pink poui, and rosy trumpet tree is a neotropical tree that grows up to and can reach a diameter at breast height of up to . The Spanish name ''roble de sabana'', meaning "savannah oak", is widely used in Costa R ...

Lonchocarpus hondurensis ''Lonchocarpus'' is a plant genus in the legume family ( Fabaceae). The species are called lancepods due to their fruit resembling an ornate lance tip or a few beads on a string. ''Cubé'' resin is produced from the roots of '' L. urucu'' and n ...

'', bitter angelim (''

Vatairea lundelii ''Vatairea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It was traditionally assigned to the tribe Dalbergieae The tribe Dalbergieae is an early-branching clade within the flowering ...

''), gumbo-limbo ('' Bursera simaruba''), guanandis ('' Calophyllum brasiliense''), mahogany ('' Swietenia macrophylla''), and cedar ('' Cedrela odorata''). Wetland plant communities, including marshlands and freshwater swamp forests, cover over a third of the reserve."Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve, Mexico". ''UNESCO''. Last updated December 2018. Accessed 13 August 2020

/ref> Species recorded growing in the riparian vegetation along a stream found the free-floating hydrophytes ''

Eichhornia crassipes ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive species, invasive outside its native range ...

'', ''

Pistia stratiotes ''Pistia'' is a genus of aquatic plants in the arum family, Araceae. It is the sole genus in the tribe ''Pistieae'' which reflects its systematic isolation within the family. The single species it comprises, ''Pistia stratiotes'', is often calle ...

'' and '' Salvinia auriculata''; emergents such as espadaño (''

Typha latifolia ''Typha latifolia'' (broadleaf cattail, bulrush, common bulrush, common cattail, cat-o'-nine-tails, great reedmace, cooper's reed, cumbungi) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus '' Typha''. It is found as a native plant species in North a ...

'') and carrizo ('' Gynerium saggitatum''); riparian shrubs and trees such as muco ('' Dalbergia browni'') anona ('' Anona glabra''), water zapote (''

Pachira aquatica ''Pachira aquatica'' is a tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, Provision tree, Saba n ...

''), bolchiche (''

Coccoloba barbadensis ''Coccoloba'' is a genus of about 120–150 species of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, which is native to the Neotropics. There is no overall English name for the genus, although many of the individual species have widely used common ...

'', worm tree (''Lonchocarpus hondurensis''), tucuy ('' Pithecelobium lanceolatum'') and guano palms (''

Sabal mexicana ''Sabal mexicana'' is a species of palm tree that is native to far southern North America. Common names include Rio Grande palmetto, Mexican palmetto, Texas palmetto, Texas sabal palm, palmetto cabbage and palma de mícharos. The specific epi ...

'') as well as some non-native grasses.

Fauna

Some large animals in the Biosphere Reserve include

Morelet's crocodile Morelet's crocodile ''(Crocodylus moreletii)'', also known as the Mexican crocodile or Belize crocodile, is a modest-sized crocodilian found only in fresh waters of the Atlantic regions of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It usually grows to about ...

(''Crocodylus moreleti''),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

(''Panthera onca''),

mantled howler monkey The mantled howler (''Alouatta palliata'') is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central and South America. It is one of the monkey species most often seen and heard in the wild in Central America. It takes its "mantled ...

(''Alouatta palliata''), and tropical gar or ''pejelagarto'' (''Atractosteus tropicus'').BirdLife International (2020) ''Important Bird Areas factsheet: Pantanos de Centla.'' Accessed 13 August 2020

/ref> 230 species of birds have been recorded in the Biosphere Reserve, of which 63% are permanent residents, 23% winter residents, 4% transitory, and 10% do not have a defined seasonality. The ecoregion's wetlands are home to many water birds, including jabiru, jabiru stork (''Jabiru mycteria''),

Maguari stork The maguari stork (''Ciconia maguari'') is a large species of stork that inhabits seasonal wetlands over much of South America, and is very similar in appearance to the white stork; albeit slightly larger.King CE. 1988. An ethological comparison ...

(''Ciconia maguari''),

boat-billed heron The boat-billed heron (''Cochlearius cochlearius''), colloquially known as the boatbill, is an atypical member of the heron family. It is the only member of the genus ''Cochlearius'' and was formerly placed in a monotypic family, the Cochlearii ...

or páspaque (''Cochlearius cochlearius''),

ruddy ground dove The ruddy ground dove (''Columbina talpacoti'') is a small New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Brazil, Peru and Paraguay, and northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Individual birds can sometimes be see ...

(''Columbina talpacoti''),

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''),

black-bellied whistling duck The black-bellied whistling duck (''Dendrocygna autumnalis''), formerly called the black-bellied tree duck, is a whistling duck that breeds from the southernmost United States, Mexico, and tropical Central to south-central South America. In th ...

(''Dendrocygna autumnalis''),

pied-billed grebe The pied-billed grebe (''Podilymbus podiceps'') is a species of the grebe family of water birds. Because the Atitlán grebe (''Podilymbus gigas'') has become extinct, the Pied-Billed Grebe is now the sole extant member of the genus ''Podilymbus'' ...

(''Podilymbus podiceps''), peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), and white ibis (''Eudocimus albus''). Central American river turtles ('' Dermatemys mawii'') occur in the reserve.

References

External links

* *
Conservation Plan for the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve and Laguna de Términos Flora and Fauna Protection Area
{{coord, 18, 20, N, 92, 30, W, region:MX-TAB_type:adm1st_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Geography of Campeche Geography of Tabasco Ecoregions of Mexico Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biosphere reserves of Mexico Ramsar sites in Mexico Protected areas of Tabasco Grijalva River Usumacinta River Important Bird Areas of Mexico