The Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests are a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion of northeastern Mexico, extending into the state of Texas in the United States.
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Setting
The Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests are found on the higher elevations of the Sierra Madre Oriental range, which runs north and south between the Gulf Coastal Plain to the east along the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mexican Plateau to the west. The ecoregion covers an area of 65,600 square kilometers (25,300 square miles).
The southernmost forests transition to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests in Puebla state, near the southern end of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The forests extend almost continuously along the range through the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo, Queretaro, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon. North of Monterrey, the forests become discontinuous, extending as a series of sky islands through the states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, and on into the Chisos and Davis mountains of the Big Bend region of western Texas. Other sky islands can be found on the higher peaks of the mountain ranges rising from the Mexican Plateau to the west.
Flora
The dominant species include the pines Nelson Pinyon (Pinus nelsonii), Mexican Pinyon (P. cembroides), Smooth-bark Mexican Pine (P. pseudostrobus), and Arizona Pine (P. arizonica), and the oaks Quercus muhlenbergii and Q. affinis.
Fauna
People
Conservation and threats
References and external links
- Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests (World Wildlife Fund)
- Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests (National Geographic)
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