What are the Ecoregions of Guatemala?

The ecoregions of Guatemala are different areas of the country that are distinguished from each other because they host different species, are separated by geographical features, or have different climates and geomorphologies.

Guatemala is one of the countries with the most biological diversity in the world; therefore, it presents a large number of different ecosystems and ecoregions.

The World Wildlife Fund divides the country into 9 types of ecoregions, with subdivisions in most of these. In total, Guatemala has five types of terrestrial ecoregions, two types of freshwater ecoregions and two of marine type.

Depending on the type of ecosystem in which each of the ecoregions is found, they are usually divided into three types: terrestrial, freshwater and marine. Each of these types is subdivided based on the type of biome where they are present.

Ecoregions of Guatemala

1- Terrestrial ecoregions

They are the most abundant in Guatemala. There is a wide variety of terrestrial ecoregions in the country, each with a different climate, species and ecology..

In total, there are 5 types of terrestrial biomes, with a total of 14 different ecoregions:

Humid tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests

They are the most abundant biomes in the country. The most important are the humid Atlantic forests of Central America and the montane forests of Central America and Chiapas..

The humid forests of Petén-Veracruz, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and those of Yucatán also stand out..

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

There are mainly two types: the dry forests of Central America and the dry forests of the Chiapas depression.

Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests

The main ones are the pine-oak forests of Central America.

Deserts and xerophilous scrub

There is only one version of this type of biome: the thorny scrub of the Motagua Valley.

Mangroves

They are the second most varied type of biome in the country. They are usually subdivided into four types: the mangroves of the coast of Belize, those of northern Honduras, the mangroves of Tehuantepec-El Manchón and those of the dry coast of the North Pacific..

2- Freshwater ecoregions

Freshwater ecoregions are those located within rivers, lakes and other large areas of non-salty water.

Because Guatemala is not a country with a great abundance of lakes, there are only ecoregions in rivers. Normally there are two large types of freshwater biome in the country, which are subdivided into 4 different types of ecoregions.

Tropical and subtropical coastal rivers

The three ecoregions of this type are Grijalva-Usumacinta, Quintana Roo-Motagua and Chiapas-Fonseca.

Tropical and subtropical highland rivers

There is only one such ecoregion in the country. It is known as upper Usumancita.

3- Marine ecoregions

They are the ecoregions located in the seas of each country. In Guatemala there are two large biomes of this type, with a total of two ecoregions. They are as follows:

Tropical northwest Atlantic

Includes the ecoregion known as Western Caribbean.

Tropical eastern pacific

The ecoregion of this type in Guatemala is called Chiapas-Nicaragua.

References

1. "Ecorregiones de Guatemala" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: December 19, 2017 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
2. "Transcription of Ecorregiones Guatemala" in: Scribd. Retrieved on: December 19, 2017 from Scribd: es.scribd.com
3. "Ecorregiones de Guatemala" in: Prezi. Retrieved on: December 19, 2017 from Prezi: prezi.com
4. "Ecoregion" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: December 19, 2017 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org
5. "Ecoregions in Guatemala" in: WikiWand. Retrieved on: December 19, 2017 from WikiWand: wikiwand.com