Balsas dry forests

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The Balsas dry forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern Mexico.

[edit] Setting

The Balsas dry forests occupy the basin of the Balsas River. the ecoregion covers an area of 62,400 square kilometers (24,100 square miles), extending across portions of Michoacan, Guerrero, Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, and Oaxaca states. The Balsas Valley, and the Balsas dry forests, extend east and west between the ranges of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt to the north and the Sierra Madre del Sur to the south. The surrounding mountains are home to pine-oak forests: the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests to the north and northwest, the Sierra Madre del Sur pine-oak forests to the south, and the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine-oak forests to the east. The xeric Tehuacan Valley matorral lies to the northeast. The Balsas dry forests meet the coastal Southern Pacific dry forests where the Balsas breaks through the Sierra Madre del Sur on its way to the Pacific Ocean.

[edit] Climate

The climate of the Balsas dry forests is tropical and subhumid. Rainfall is less than 120 centimeters (47 inches) per year and seasonal, with a dry season that can last up to eight months.