The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests is a subtropical coniferous forest

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 ...

of the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

of 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 ...

Setting

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests occupy an area of , extending from Jalisco state in the west to

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

in the east. The main mass of the volcanic belt extends east to west through the states of Jalisco, Michoacán,

México 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 Guatem ...

, Morelos,

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

, Puebla, and Veracruz. The ecoregion includes the smaller mountain ranges which rise from the Mexican Plateau, including the Sierra de Santa Rosa, Sierra de Lobos, and Sierra de Pénjamo in Guanajuato, and northwards to El Gogorrón National Park in San Luis Potosí. The pine–oak forests are surrounded by

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 ...

at lower elevations to the west, northwest, and south; the

Jalisco dry forests The Jalisco dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southwestern Mexico. Geography The Jalisco dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán states. The ecoregion mostly l ...

to the west and southwest; the Balsas dry forests to the south in the basin of the

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Alta ...

, and the

Bajío dry forests The Bajío dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in western−central Mexico. Geography The Bajío dry forests lie in the southwestern portion of the Mexican Plateau. They are bounded on the southeast, south, and southwest by ...

to the northwest in the basin of the

Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It one of the longest rivers in Mexico, ...

and the lower Rio Lerma. 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 ...

lies to the north of the range in the high basins of the Plateau, including the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico w ...

and the upper reaches of the Lerma around

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

. The Tehuacán Valley matorral lies in the rain shadow valley to the southeast in Puebla and

states. To the east, the moist

Veracruz montane forests The Veracruz montane forests ( es, Bosques montanos de Veracruz) is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in eastern Mexico. It includes a belt of montane tropical forest on the eastern slope of the southern Sierra Madre Oriental and east ...

and

Oaxacan montane forests The Oaxacan montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in eastern Mexico. It includes a belt of montane tropical forest on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ranges. These f ...

are the transition between the pine–oak forests and the lowland tropical forests along 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 ...

. Pockets of montane grassland and shrubland can be found among the pine–oak forests, and constitute a separate ecoregion, the

Zacatonal The Zacatonal is a montane grassland and shrubland ecoregion of central Mexico. Geography The Zacatonal consists of several enclaves of grassland and shrubland occupying the highest peaks of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, covering about . Zac ...

Flora

The chief plant communities are pine forests, pine–oak forests, oak forests, pine–cedar forests, and pine–fir forests. The plant communities vary with elevation and rainfall. Pine forests are generally found between 2,275 and 2,600 m. Pine–oak forests occur between 2,470 and 2,600 m. Pine–cedar forests can be found above 2,700 m. Pine–fir forests occur above 3000 m. In the pine forests, Montezuma pine (''

Pinus montezumae ''Pinus montezumae'', known as the Montezuma pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is known as ocote. The tree grows about 35 m high and 80 cm in diameter; occasion ...

'') is generally predominant, with smooth-bark Mexican pine ('' P. pseudostrobus'') predominant in more humid areas, and Hartweg's pine (''P. hartwegii'') and '' P. tecote'' in dry areas with shallow soils. Pine–fir forests are composed almost entirely of Hartweg's pine (''Pinus hartwegii'') and sacred fir (''

Abies religiosa ''Abies religiosa'', the oyamel fir or sacred fir, (known as in Spanish) is a fir native to the mountains of central and southern Mexico (Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre del Sur) and western Guatemala. It grows at high altitudes o ...

''). Two species of oak are native to the western portion of the ecoregion. '' Quercus iltisii'' is found in the mountains of Jalisco and Colima. '' Quercus cualensis'' is known only from the Sierra el Cuale in western Jalisco between 1,800 and 2,300 meters elevation, and is endangered.Wenzell, K., Kenny, L., Beckman, E. & Jerome, D. 2020. Quercus cualensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T194105A2299318. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T194105A2299318.en. Accessed on 08 August 2022.

Fauna

The

Transvolcanic jay The jay (''Aphelocoma ultramarina'') is a bird endemic to Mexico. Description It is a medium-large (~120 g) passerine bird similar in size to most other jays, with a blue head, blue-gray mantle, blue wings and tail, gray breast and underparts. ...

, (''Aphelocoma ultramarina''), Sierra Madre sparrow (''Xenospiza baileyi'') and the green-striped brushfinch (''Atlapetes virenticeps'') are near-endemic species, limited to the pine–oak forests of the Transvolcanic Range and the southern

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 ...

. Other native birds include the

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 virginianus''), long-tailed wood partridge (''Dendrortyx macroura''), white-tipped dove (''Leptotila verreauxi''),

Montezuma quail The Montezuma quail (''Cyrtonyx montezumae'') is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail (for the male's striking pattern), and the fool q ...

(''Cyrtonyx montezumae''),

banded quail The banded quail (''Philortyx fasciatus'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae. It is found only in Mexico where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tr ...

(''Philortx fasciatus''),

northern bobwhite The northern bobwhite (''Colinus virginianus''), also known as the Virginia quail or (in its home range) bobwhite quail, is a ground-dwelling bird native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, with introduced populations elsewhere in th ...

(''Colinus virginianus''), and grey-barred wren (''Campylorhynchus megalopterus''). The

volcano rabbit The volcano rabbit (''Romerolagus diazi''), also known as teporingo or zacatuche, is a small rabbit that resides in the mountains of Mexico.Hoth, J., A. Velázquez F. Romero, L. León, M. Aranda and D. Bell, 1987. The Volcano Rabbit- a Shrinking ...

(''Romerolagus diazi'') and the Mexican volcano mouse (''Neotomodon alstoni'') are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the ecoregion.

Monarch butterflies

The Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests of eastern Michoacán and western

states is the winter habitat of

monarch butterflies The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. ...

(''Danaus plexippus''), which migrate from temperate regions of North America east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. The Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve is within this

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 ...

Protected areas

17.85% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Protected areas include: * Barranca del Cupatitzio National Park * Bosencheve National Park *

Cañón del Río Blanco National Park Cañón del Río Blanco National Park is protected natural area in Mexico's Veracruz state. Geography Cañón del Río Blanco National Park covers an area of 488 km2. The park includes the upper watershed of the Río Blanco, where the river has ...

* Cerro de Garnica National Park * Chichinautzin Biological Corridor * Ciénegas del Lerma Flora and Fauna Protection Area *

Cofre de Perote National Park Cofre de Perote, also known by its Nahuatl names Naupa-Tecutépetl (from ''Nāuhpa-Tēuctēpetl'') and Nauhcampatépetl, both meaning something like "Place of Four Mountains" or "Mountain of the Lord of Four Places", is an inactive volcano locat ...

(Nauhcampatépetl) *

Cumbres del Ajusco National Park Cumbres del Ajusco National Park is one of many national parks near Mexico City, DF. The Ajusco is known for its high elevations reaching 3,900 meters (12,795 ft) above sea level and is visible from any part of Mexico city. The park is char ...

Desierto del Carmen National Park ''Desierto'' is a 2015 thriller drama film co-written and directed by Jonás Cuarón. It was produced by Cuarón together with his father Alfonso and his uncle Carlos, and distributed by STXfilms. The film stars Gael García Bernal (also execu ...

(Nixcongo) *

Desierto de los Leones National Park Desierto de los Leones (Desert of the Lions) National Park is located entirely within the limits of the Mexico City, Federal District; it stretches between Cuajimalpa and Álvaro Obregón, D.F., Álvaro Obregón boroughs. It is located in the Sier ...

* Fuentes Brotantes de Tlalpan National Park * El Gogorrón National Park * Insurgente Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla National Park * Insurgente José María Morelos National Park *

Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl National Park Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl National Park, also known as Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park,) * "Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl, Zoquiapan and Anexas National Park" is a national park in Mexico on the border of the states of México, Puebla, and ...

* El Jabalí Flora and Fauna Protection Area * Lagunas de Zempoala National Park * Lomas de Padierna National Park *

Los Remedios National Park Los Remedios National Park is a national park in Mexico, located in the far west of the municipality of Naucalpan in Mexico State, just northwest of Mexico City. The park was established by federal decree in 1938 with an area of . Within its bor ...

* La Malinche National Park (Matlalcuéyatl) *

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca) is a World Heritage Site containing most of the over-wintering sites of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly. The reserve is located in the Tran ...

* Nevado de Toluca Flora and Fauna Protection Area * Pico de Orizaba National Park * Pico de Tancítaro Flora and Fauna Protection Area * La Primavera Biosphere Reserve * Rayón National Park * Sacromonte National Park * Sierra de los Agustinos Sustainable Use Area *

Sierra de Huautla Biosphere Reserve The Sierra de Huautla is a mountain range and biosphere reserve in central Mexico. Located in southern Morelos, the Sierra de Huautla is a southern extension of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt range into the Balsas Basin. The dry forests of Sier ...

* Sierra de Lobos Sustainable Use Area *

Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve The Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve ( es, Reserva de la Biósfera Sierra de Manantlán) (established 1988) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the states of Colima and Jalisco, Mexico. The reserve is located in the transition of the Nearcti ...

* Sierra de Quila Flora and Fauna Protection Area * Sierra de Vallejo Biosphere Reserve * El Tepozteco National Park * Volcán Nevado de Colima National Park * Xicoténcatl National Park * Zona Protectora Forestal los terrenos constitutivos de las cuencas de los ríos Valle de Bravo, Malacatepec, Tilostoc y Temascaltepec