Cenote, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico Photograph by Sheldon Brown   Southern North America: Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests   19,200 square miles (49,800 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Maryland Critical/Endangered

· Columnar Cacti and Common Black Hawks
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Columnar Cacti and Common Black Hawks

Located in the northwestern Yucatán Peninsula, these dry forests grow on a vast lowland plain of rough limestone terrain. The tropical subhumid climate includes a long dry season, when many of the trees in the forest lose their leaves. Dominant plant species in the central section of the ecoregion are wild tamarind and Jamaican dogwood. They are mixed with Alvaradoa amorphoides, Bursera simaruba, Cedrela mexicana, Chlorophora tinctoria, Cordia gerascanthus and Lonchocarpus rugosus. In northern Yucatán, near the Gulf coast, many cactus species can be found, such as Cephalocereus gaumeri, Pterocereus gaumeri and Lemaireocereus griseus. Epiphytes, herbaceous plants, and fungi are scarce, though bromeliads occur in some trees. Flying high above these forests are common black hawks, imposing birds of prey. And during the winter months, the dry forests are alive with migratory songbirds from the United States and Canada.

Special Features

The dry forests of the Yucatán Peninsula are isolated from similar vegetation by the ocean and surrounding humid forests. Thus unique plant and animal species have evolved here and do not occur beyond the edges of the ecoregion. Plant endemism may be as high as 17 percent of the total vegetation. In the northern section, 10 of the 14 cacti species endemic to the Yucatán occur. The area is rich in herpetofauna and houses many endemic reptiles and amphibians. The black-beaded lizard, one of only two venomous lizards in the world, lives here. The region is also rich in avifauna, and the Yucatán peninsula has 20 endemic bird species.

	Unlike the grey catbird seen in gardens and forests of the eastern United States, the black catbird does not migrate with seasons and is restricted to the Yucatán Peninsula.

Wild Side

Spider monkeys swing from tree to tree, and occasionally jaguars can be spotted on the forest floor. Coatis, relatives of the raccoon, clamber through the understory, while the southern opossum waddles through the canopy. Characteristic birds seen and heard in this ecoregion include Swainson's warbler, the yellow-lored (Yucatán) parrot, black catbird, crested guan, Yucatán wren, lesser yellow-headed vulture, hooded warbler, and thicket tinamou.

Cause for Concern

Agriculture and cattle grazing have severely disturbed the Yucatán Dry Forests. Columnar cacti are now considered endangered and at least one cactus, Pereskipsis scandens, is now extinct. The coastal thorn scrub has been reduced by more than one-half. Little protection for the mainland forests exists, although Celestun Biosphere Reserve conserves some dry forests inland from the mangroves and marshes.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.