Yucatán moist forests
The Yucatán moist forests are an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund.
It is found in the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico, northern Guatemala, and small adjacent parts of extreme northern Belize.
Geography
The ecoregion covers an area of. It has little topographic relief. Porous limestone underlies much of the ecoregion, and it has few permanent rivers despite its humid climate.It is bounded on the northwest by the semi-arid Yucatán dry forests. The Petén–Veracruz moist forests lie to the south.
Climate
The ecoregion has a tropical humid climate. Average annual rainfall ranges from 1000 to 1500 mm, generally lower in the north and higher in the south and east. Rainfall varies seasonally, with August and September the driest months.Flora
The most common plant communities are high and medium semi-evergreen forest. The trees form a canopy 20 to 35 meters high. Approximately 25 to 50% of the trees lose their leaves during the annual dry season. Manilkara zapota is the most common forest tree; others include Brosimum alicastrum, Pimenta dioica, Lonchocarpus castilloi, Pouteria campechiana, Swietenia macrophylla, Alseis yucatanensis, Zuelania guidonia, Cedrela odorata, Swartzia cubensis, Orbignya cohune, Aspidosperma desmanthum, and Aspidosperma megalocarpon.Low flooded semi-evergreen forest grows in seasonally-flooded areas known as bajos.
The canopy is 8 to 10 meters high, and about half the trees lose their leaves during the dry season. Typical trees include Cameraria latifolia, Vachellia pringlei, Dalbergia glabra, Pisonia aculeata, Pithecellobium dulce, Pseudophoenix sargentii, Haematoxylon campechianum, and Acoelorraphe wrightii. Ferns and epiphytes are common.
Fauna
Large grazing mammals include the Central American tapir, white-lipped peccary, collared peccary white-tailed deer, Yucatan brown brocket deer, and Central American red brocket deer.There are five species of felids in the ecoregion – jaguar, puma, ocelot, jaguarundi, and margay.
Native primates include the Yucatan spider monkey and Guatemalan black howler.
Yucatán endemic birds, not necessarily limited to the ecoregion, include the ocellated turkey, Yucatan nightjar, Yucatán woodpecker, Yucatan poorwill, yellow-lored parrot, Yucatan flycatcher, Yucatan jay, rose-throated tanager, and orange oriole. Three bird species are endemic to Cozumel - the Cozumel emerald, Cozumel vireo, and Cozumel thrasher.