Central Mexican matorral

Map of Central Mexican matorral ecoregion.

The Central Mexican matorral is an ecoregion of the Deserts and xeric shrublands Biome of central Mexico.

Setting

The Central Mexican matorral covers an area of 59,400 square kilometers (22,900 sq mi) on the southern portion of the Mexican Plateau.

The Mexican Plateau is bounded on the east by the Sierra Madre Oriental, on the south by the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, and on the west by the Sierra Madre Occidental. The Central Mexican matorral covers much of the southern portion of the plateau, extending from the Valley of Mexico in the southeast to the Bolaños River in the northwest.

The Central Mexican matorral is bounded by the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests to the east and northeast, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests to the southeast, and the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests on the northwest. An isolated enclave of the Central Mexican matorral occupies the Valley of Toluca. The higher mountain ranges of the plateau are home to sky islands of pine-oak forest, isolated by matorral at lower elevations.

To the southwest, the Central Mexican matorral is bounded by tropical dry forests; the Bajío dry forests in the Lerma River basin, and the Sinaloan dry forests in the lower reaches of the Río Grande de Santiago and its tributaries.

To the northwest, the Central Mexican matorral transitions to the Meseta Central matorral, which covers the middle portion of the Mexican Plateau.

The eastern portion of the Central Mexican matorral is drained by the Pánuco River and its tributaries, the central portion by the Lerma River and its tributaries, and the eastern portion by the northern tributaries of the Río Grande de Santiago, including the Rio Verde and Bolaños.

Flora

• See: Flora of Central Mexico (Index).

Fauna

• See: Native birds of Central Mexico (Index).