Ecoregions of Central America

The Baja California Desert ecoregion is located within the Mexican states of Baja California Sur and Baja California Norte, on the western side of the Peninsular Ranges, in the northern and central Baja California Peninsula.

The Pantanos de Centla is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in southern Mexico which includes seasonally flooded forests and wetlands in the summer. The soils of this ecoregion are some of the most productive in the country and are therefore highly desirable to local agriculture.

The Petenes mangrove ecoregion forms a coastal corridor of wetlands in excellent state of preservation. This system forms a unique biogeographical area in Mexico, of great ecological value for its large faunistic and floristic diversity, including the unique Peten mangrove.

The Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir Pine-oak Forests ecoregion is located on the northern part of the Baja Peninsula in northwestern Mexico. The ecoregion covers the higher elevations of these two mountain ranges that are part of the Peninsular Ranges System.

The Sonoran Desert, also called Desierto de Altar, is an arid region covering 120,000 sq mi. This North American desert ecoregion covers large parts of northwestern Mexico in Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur as well as parts of the southwestern U.S.

The Yucatán Dry Forests ecoregion is located on the northwest section of the Yucatán Peninsula. This ecoregion is flat with vegetation consisting of thorn scrub and cacti and, isolated from other dry forests by the sea, constitute a unique island of vegetation in the Gulf of Mexico region.