The Volcán Tacaná Biosphere Reserve () (established 2006) is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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, funga, or features of geologic ...

at the Tacaná Volcano in

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, on the border with

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. The volcano is part of the

Central America Volcanic Arc The Central American Volcanic Arc (often abbreviated to CAVA) is a chain of volcanoes which extends parallel to the Pacific coastline of the Central American Isthmus, from Mexico to Panama. This volcanic arc, which has a length of 1,100 kilomete ...

(''Nucleo Centroamericano''). The reserve contains fragile

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s very rich in wild flora and fauna species of cultural, scientific, economic and biological relevance. Its rich

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and high

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

are found particularly in the high mountain ecosystem and landscapes and in the volcanic edifice which presents geophysical features of great scientific and aesthetic value. Average annual rainfall can amount to , as in the case of

Soconusco Soconusco is a region in the southwest corner of the state of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico along its border with Guatemala. It is a narrow strip of land wedged between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is the sout ...

. Human activities in the reserve include coffee-growing, flower-growing, bee-keeping, agriculture and tourism.

Ecological characteristics

The reserve is a rich reservoir of endemic and other species of Central and South American origin which, in Mexico, are only to be found in this area. The topography is rugged with ecosystems of evergreen medium altitude forests,

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s and pine, oak and fir forests. It is the only place in the country where two ecosystems are represented: the Tropical Páramo and the

Chusquea ''Chusquea'' is a genus of evergreen bamboos in the grass family. Most of them are native to mountain habitats in Latin America, from Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina. They are sometimes referred to as South American mountain bamboos. Unl ...

l ecosystems. The Volcán Tacana Biosphere Reserve harbors a rich variety of endemic species of flora ('' Chusquea martinezi'') and fauna ('' Cyllopsis'' spp. ''Limanopoda cinna'', '' Dalla'' sp. ''Lepidoptera-Rhopalocera''). Included among the biota of the volcano are a significant number of charismatic or protected species, such as the Canaco tree (''Chiranthodendron derbianus'') and the

Ornate hawk-eagle The ornate hawk-eagle (''Spizaetus ornatus'') is a fairly large bird of prey from the Tropics, tropical Americas. Formerly, some authorities referred to this species as the crested hawk-eagle, a name that may cause some confusion as it is more co ...

(''Spizaetus ornatos''). There are innumerable species of orchids and bromeliads.

Flora and fauna

According to the National Biodiversity Information System of

Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad The (CONABIO; ) is a permanent inter-ministerial commission of the Mexican government, Federal Mexican government, created in 1992. It has the primary purpose of coordinating, supporting and executing activities and projects designed to foment u ...

(CONABIO) in Volcán Tacaná Biosphere Reserve there are over 2,455 plant and animal species from which 185 are in at risk category and 48 are exotics.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volcan Tacana Biosphere Reserve Biosphere reserves of Mexico Protected areas of Chiapas Sierra Madre de Chiapas Important Bird Areas of Mexico Central American pine–oak forests