Written by Keisha Bates.

Tamaulipas is a Mexican state that borders southern Texas and is part of one of the world’s top five megadiversity countries! This means it possesses a wide variety of plants and animals that are extremely important to conserve (Gil et al. 2004). However, human activities such as farming and deforestation have begun to destroy this environment. Since protected natural areas are effective at preserving plant and animal diversity (Ortega-Huerta and Peterson 2004), many parks and reserves have been created to protect the Tamaulipas environment. El Cielo Biosphere Reserve is the largest of these reserves, possessing 67% of the total protected area in Tamaulipas (Gil et al. 2004).

El Cielo helps protect 74% and 58% of birds and mammals, respectively, that are endangered or threatened in northeastern Mexico (Ortega-Huerta and Peterson 2004). Many of these birds and mammals are endemic, meaning they are found only in the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve or surrounding area (Wildshare International 2008). It is also one of the most important areas in Central America for tropical migrant birds (Grams and Faaborg 1997). This is why bird-watching in El Cielo is an extremely popular adventure (Sosa et al. 1997). You can see anything from Aztec parakeets to keel-billed toucans to singing quails to 15 different species of hummingbirds (Wildshare International 2008)!

El Cielo is also one of the most diverse butterfly hotspots in northeastern Mexico (Wildshare International 2008) and has over 200 species of birds and over 70 species of mammals (Ortega-Huerta and Peterson 2004)! Much of the species diversity is due to the fact that Tamaulipas is located between the United States and Central America. This means that it possesses not only North American coniferous forests, deserts, and oak forests, but also Central American tropical rainforests and dry forests (Gil et al. 2004). Thus, a mixture of species from all these environments can be found in El Cielo, creating a beautiful, interesting, and exciting place to explore!



Want to Learn More?

Gil, P. R., E. Ezcurra, E. Peters, E. Pallares, and A. Ezcurra. 2004. The great Tamaulipan natural province. Gobierno del Estado de Tamaulipas, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Grams, W. K. and J. Faaborg. 1997. The distribution of neotropical migrant birds wintering in the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Condor 99:658-670.

Ortega-Huerta, M. A. and A. T. Peterson. 2004. Modeling spatial patterns of biodiversity for conservation prioritization in North-eastern Mexico. Diversity and Distributions 10:39-54.

Sosa, V. J., A. Hernández and A. Contreras. 1997. Gomez Farias region and El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Available from http://botany.si.edu/projects/cpd/ma/ma9.htm (accessed October 2009).

Wildshare International. 2008. Bienvenidos to El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. Wildshare International. Available from http://www.elcielobiosphere.org/ (accessed October 2009).

Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World

Marine Ecoregions of the World







This page was created from an environmental education writing project generated in the Fall 2009 Bio245 Conservation Biology class. Content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Gustavus Adolphus College.

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