xeric shrubland
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 l ...
Los Cabos Municipality
Los Cabos () is a municipality located at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, in the state of Baja California Sur. It encompasses the two towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo (the municipal seat) linked by a thirty ...
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...
state,
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 San Lucan xeric scrub covers an area of . It extends to the sea on the west, south, and east, and up to elevation in the
Sierra de la Laguna
The Sierra de la Laguna is a mountain range at the southern end of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico, and is the southernmost range of the Peninsular Ranges System.
It is located in La Paz Municipality and Los Cabos Municipality of sout ...
, where the
Sierra de la Laguna dry forests
The Sierra de la Laguna dry forests are a subtropical dry forest ecoregion of the southern Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.
Geography
The dry forests cover the lower elevations of the Sierra de la Laguna, from elevation. They are surrounde ...
Jacques Cousteau Island
Isla Cerralvo (), as is commonly named, whose official name is Isla Jacques Cousteau (; ), is an island located off the Cerralvo Canal coast near La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
It is long with a land area of , and is the ninth-largest isl ...
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
. It is bounded on the north by the
Gulf of California xeric scrub
The Gulf of California xeric scrub ( es, Matorral xerófilo del Golfo de California) is a xeric shrubland ecoregion of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.
Geography
The Gulf of California xeric scrub covers an area of , lying on the eastern sid ...
ecoregion.
The cities of
Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...
and
San José del Cabo
San José del Cabo (, ''Saint Joseph of the Cape'') is a city located in southern Baja California Sur state, Mexico. It is the seat of Los Cabos Municipality lying at a shallow bay northeast of Cabo San Lucas on the Gulf of California. The city h ...
are on the southern coast. The city of
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
lies at the northern edge of the ecoregion.
Climate
The ecoregion has a
tropical desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''BWh''). Annual rainfall averages about 400mm. The August through October are the rainiest months.
Flora
The predominant vegetation is dry shrubland. Common plants include the small trees ''
Bursera microphylla
''Bursera microphylla'', known by the common name elephant tree in English or 'torote' in Spanish, is a tree in genus ''Bursera''. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a thickened, water-storing or caudiciform trunk. It is found in ...
'' and ''
Lysiloma divaricata
''Lysiloma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae.
The genus is native to the Americas, and species range from Arizona and New Mexico through Mexico and Central America to Costa Rica, and in Florida, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Bahama ...
'', along with
yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...
s and the cactus ''
Opuntia cholla
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word f ...
,
Stenocereus thurberi
''Stenocereus thurberi'', the organ pipe cactus, is a species of cactus native to Mexico and the United States. The species is found in rocky desert. Two subspecies are recognized based on their distribution and height. The Organ Pipe Cactus Nati ...
'', and ''
Ferocactus
''Ferocactus'' is a genus of large barrel-shaped cacti, mostly with large spines and small flowers. There are about 30 species included in the genus. They are found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Description
The y ...
'' spp. Herbaceous plants include ''
Cnidoscolus angustidens
''Cnidoscolus angustidens'', with the common name mala mujer, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae).
It is native to the Sonoran Desert mountains of southeastern Arizona and Northwestern Mexico, and further south ...
,
Plantago linearis
''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though ...
,
Bouteloua hirsuta
''Bouteloua hirsuta'', commonly known as hairy grama, is a perennial short prairie grass that is native throughout much of North America, including the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies region, as well as Mexico and Guatemala
Guatemala ( ...
'', and '' Commelina coelestis''.
The San José oasis is a coastal wetland near San Jose del Cabo. The oasis is watered by groundwater and the Río San José, intermittent stream, and is home to marshlands and flooded savannas dominated by the palm ''
Washingtonia robusta
''Washingtonia robusta'', known by common name as the Mexican fan palm, Mexican washingtonia, or skyduster is a palm tree native to the Baja California peninsula and a small part of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. Despite its limited native dist ...
'', together with ''
Brahea brandegeei
''Brahea'' is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. They are commonly referred to as hesper palms and are endemic to Mexico and Central America.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of th ...
Prunus serotina
''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the g ...
Heteromeles arbutifolia
''Heteromeles arbutifolia'' (; more commonly by Californian botanists), commonly known as toyon, is a common perennial shrub native to extreme southwest Oregon, California, and the Baja California Peninsula. It is the sole species in the genus ...
'', and ''
Salix lasiolepis
''Salix lasiolepis'' (arroyo willow) is a species of willow native to western North America.
Distribution
The core range of the arroyo willow includes most of California, including the California Coast Ranges, Arizona, Klamath Mountains, Penin ...
''."Sistema Ripario de la Cuenca y Estero de San José del Cabo". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Accessed 15 August 2020 /ref>
Fauna
Bats in the ecoregion include the
peninsular myotis
The peninsular myotis (''Myotis peninsularis'') is a species of vesper bat. It is endemic to northwestern Mexico, found only within Baja California Sur state on the southern Baja California Peninsula. Its habitats include the southern Peninsular ...
(''Myotis peninsularis''), found only in the southern Baja Peninsula, and the
Mexican long-tongued bat
The Mexican long-tongued bat (''Choeronycteris mexicana'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is monotypic, the only species within the genus ''Choeronycteris''. The species is found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, ...
(''Choeronycteris mexicana'') and lesser long-nosed bat (''Leptonycteris yerbabuenae''), which are important
pollinator
A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.
Insects are the maj ...
s for some desert plants.C. Michael Hogan & World Wildlife Fund. 2013."San Lucan xeric scrub". Encyclopedia of Earth, National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC ed.Mark McGinley.
Other native animals include the peninsular mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus peninsulae''),
White-tailed antelope squirrel
The white-tailed antelope squirrel (''Ammospermophilus leucurus'') is a diurnal species of ground squirrel, scientifically classified in the order Rodentia and family Sciuridae, found in arid regions of the southwestern United States and the B ...
(''Ammospermophilus leucurus''),
Acorn woodpecker
The acorn woodpecker (''Melanerpes formicivorus'') is a medium-sized woodpecker, long, with an average weight of .
Taxonomy
The acorn woodpecker was formally described in 1827 by the English naturalist William John Swainson under the binom ...
(''Melanerpes formicivorus''),
red-spotted toad
The red-spotted toad (''Anaxyrus punctatus'', formerly ''Bufo punctatus'') is a toad in the family Bufonidae found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Description
It is a small toad species growing to in length. It has a f ...
Dalquest's pocket mouse
Dalquest's pocket mouse (''Chaetodipus dalquesti'') is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae, sometimes viewed as a subspecies of '' Chaetodipus ammophilus''. It is endemic to Mexico. The pocket mouse is named after Walter W. Dalquest (1 ...
(''Chaetodipus dalquesti''),
Xantus's hummingbird
Xantus's hummingbird (''Basilinna xantusii''), previously known as the black-fronted hummingbird, is a species in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the Baja California Peninsula.HBW and BirdLife Interna ...
(''Basilinna xantusii''), the
Baja California slider
Baja or Bája may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions In the Americas
* Baja California Peninsula, in northwestern Mexico
* Baja California state in the northern part of the above peninsula
* Baja California Sur state in the southern part of t ...
(''Trachemys nebulosa''), and the Cape arboreal spiny lizard (''Sceloporus licki'') are restricted to the southern Baja California Peninsula. The San Lucan gecko (''Phyllodactylus unctus'') is restricted to the southern peninsula and adjacent islands in the gulf.
The
Espíritu Santo antelope squirrel
The Espíritu Santo antelope squirrel (''Ammospermophilus insularis'') is a species of antelope squirrel in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to Mexico, where it is known only from the island of Espíritu Santo in the Gulf of California. The sp ...
(''Ammospermophilus insularis'') is found only on Espíritu Santo Island. The Cerralvo Island whiptail (''Aspidoscelis ceralbensis'') and Isla Cerralvo snake (''Chilomeniscus savagei'') are restricted to Jacques Cousteau Island.
Protected areas
A 2017 assessment found that 568 km², or 15%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas.Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve protects a portion of the ecoregion east of Todos Santos. Jacques Cousteau, Espíritu Santo, and Partidas islands are part of the
Gulf of California Islands Flora and Fauna Protection Area
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
Cabo Pulmo National Park
Cabo Pulmo National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Cabo Pulmo) is a national marine park on the east coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, spanning the distance between Pulmo Point and Los Frailes Cape, approximately north of Cabo San Lucas ...
protects a portion of the eastern shoreline and offshore reefs.
See also
*
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 ...