El Cielo Biosphere Reserve
The El Cielo Biosphere Reserve is located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas near the town of Gómez Farias. The reserve protects the northernmost extension of tropical forest and cloud forest in Mexico. It has an area of made up mostly of steep mountains rising from about to a maximum altitude of more than.
The state of Tamaulipas protected the area in 1985 and in 1987 it was formally recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme.
History
The El Cielo area attracted little attention until the 1930s. In 1935, A Canadian farmer and horticulturalist named John William Francis Harrison established a homestead he named Rancho El Cielo at elevation in the cloud forest. Noted ornithologist George Miksch Sutton began fieldwork in Mexico in the late 1930s, and by 1941 Sutton and Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. embarked on a series of extended stays in the Gómez Farias region and found their way to Harrison's small ranch followed by a succession of ornithological publications. Sutton's protégé, Paul S. Martin also conducted extensive fieldwork in the region from 1948 to 1953, publishing herpetological studies that culminated with his Biogeography of Reptiles and Amphibians in the Gómez Farias Region, Tamaulipas, Mexico, considered by some to be one of the finer examples of a biogeography in any region or discipline, "a classic treatise in historical biogeography". Extensive logging and roads penetrated the area in the 1950s. In 1965, to protect the ecosystem, Harrison transferred his land to a non-profit corporation in cooperation with Texas Southmost College and the Gorgas Science Foundation. In 1966, Harrison was murdered in a land dispute with local farmers.Harrison's farm is now the El Cielo Biological Research Center. In 1983, the Gorgas Science Foundation established Rancho El Cielito by purchasing land along the Sabinas River, just outside the reserve, to preserve part of a riparian ecosystem.
Geography
The reserve has two core areas in which most human travel and exploitation are prohibited. One, in area, protects tropical forests while the larger core area of includes a cross section of the altitudes and climates of the area, especially the cloud forest. The remainder of the reserve is a buffer zone in which human activities, including limited logging, is permitted. Several communities within the reserve offer facilities for visitors and are reachable by road. An ecological interpretive center is reached by paved road a few miles west of the town of Gómez Farías. The interpretive center, located at an elevation of offers good views of the tropical forest and facilities for visitors.The reserve occupies portions of four Mexican municipalities in the state of Tamaulipas: Jaumave, Llera de Canales, Gómez Farías, and Ocampo. Within it are 26 ejidos and about of agricultural land used mostly to cultivate corn, beans, and rice. The principal access is a road, initially paved, from the town of Gomez Farias into the interior and higher elevations. The community of Alta Cima, at an elevation of has modest lodging and restaurants for visitors. Camping is allowed.
The highest point in the reserve is located at 23 14N, 99 30W. The lowest elevations are about at the eastern, northern, and southern boundaries. The reserve is characterized by steep, north-south trending mountain ranges, eastern extensions of the Sierra Madre Oriental, made up of limestone. Typical of karst topography, caves, sinkholes, and rock outcrops are common.
Flora
Several distinct vegetation types are found in the reserve. Vegetation in the drier northern and western portions of the reserve up to an elevation of consists of desert and semi-desert shrublands, the montane Tamaulipan matorral and the lowland Tamaulipan mezquital. Shrubs and small trees generally do not exceed in height except in riparian locations. Annual precipitation in the shrublands is less than.In the eastern part of the reserve, sub-tropical semi-deciduous forests are found at elevations of from and above sea level. The closed canopy forests averages about in height. Annual precipitation of this zone is usually from to more than.
The principal reason for the establishment of El Cielo was the prevalence of cloud forests, distinguished by heavy precipitation, foggy conditions, and abundant mosses and fungi, at elevations of to. The El Cielo cloud forests receive precipitation of about annually. The closed canopy forests reach a height of about.
Oak forests,, mixed oak-pine forest, and pine forests are found at elevations of to the top of highest summits in the reserve. These forested highland areas are drier than the cloud forests with an average precipitation of annually.
All of the vegetation types experience a wet season from May to October and a dry season from November to April. More than 1,000 species of plants have been recorded from the cloud forests consisting of 56 percent tropical species, 20 percent temperate, 19 percent cosmopolitan, and 5 percent other. Included are species associated with the temperate climate of the eastern United States such as maple, hickory, hornbeam, and redbud.
A botanical garden and arboretum is located in Alta Cima at an elevation of.
Fauna
Mammals: Six species of cats, none abundant, are found in the reserve: jaguar, mountain lion, ocelot, margay, jaguarundi, and bobcat. A small population of black bears is also present. At least 255 species of birds are resident in the reserve and more than 175 migratory species have been recorded. Both birds and mammals are a mixture of temperate and tropical species.The large cats, jaguars and mountain lions, are generally regarded favorably by the people living in the reserve. Mountain lions are more often seen in the cloud forests and the higher elevations of the reserve, while jaguars are more common in the lower-elevation tropical forests.
Camera traps set out in tropical forests photographed eight male, female, and juvenile jaguars in a survey area of. The investigators estimated a density of six jaguars per. The principal prey animals of the jaguar are the lowland paca, Central American red brocket deer, white-tail deer, Virginia opossum, collared peccary, racoon, and great curassow. In addition the jaguar sometimes preys on domestic animals.
Birds: The area is very rich in bird diversity, just a few of the tropical species occurring in the area include the bare-throated tiger-heron, boat-billed heron, plumbeous kite, ornate hawk-eagle, bat falcon, great curassow, yellow-headed parrot, military macaw, squirrel cuckoo, northern potoo, green-breasted mango, mountain trogon, blue-crowned motmot, pale-billed woodpecker, ivory-billed woodcreeper, barred antshrike, yellow-throated euphonia.
Reptiles: Although Morelet’s crocodile and several species of turtles occur in Tamaulipas, they are largely absent from the mountain slopes of El Cielo, however, the Mexican box turtle has been recorded at lower elevation in the area. Paul Martin recorded 24 species of lizards and 44 snakes. Lizards include lower elevation species like the casque-headed lizard, Mexican spiny-tailed iguana, and rainbow ameiva. Higher elevations support populations of banded arboreal alligator lizard, minor spiny lizard, Dice’s short-nosed skink, Madrean tropical night lizard, and the flathead knob-scaled lizard.
The Tamaulipan montane gartersnake is endemic to El Cielo. Other snake snakes include the boa constrictor, speckled racer, mountain earth snake, blunthead tree snake, Mexican parrot snake, brown vine snake, Gaige’s pine forest snake, tropical tree snake, and the terrestrial snail sucker. Venomous snakes like the Tamaulipas rock rattlesnake and Totonacan rattlesnake occur in the cloud forest, and the terciopelo can be found on the lower slopes.
Amphibians: Two endemic salamanders are known from, the El Cielo salamander and graceful flat-footed salamander. Other species include the Tamaulipan false brook salamander, broadfoot mushroomtongue salamander and Bell’s salamander. Frogs and toads from the region include the Rio Grande leopard frog, Mexican treefrog, small-eared treefrog, mountain treefrog, long-footed chirping frog, and predominantly subterranean species like the barking frog and Adorned Robber frog. At lower elevations the sabinal frog, veined treefrog, and the burrowing toad may be found.
Fishes: Although the steep mountain slopes and karstic environment do not support a large fish diversity, lower elevation tributaries in the Rio Guayalejo drainage, such as the Rio Sabinas and Rio Frio and associated springs and creeks contain species like the longnose gar, red shiner, lantern minnow, pigmy shiner, Mexican tetra, gold gambusia, Forlón gambusia, Gulf gambusia, mountain swordtail, and variable platyfish, Tamesí molly, and the Amazon molly, an all female species, reproduces through gynogenesis. The phantom blindcat is known only from subterranean waters and has been collected by cave drivers at depths of 50 meters in Rio Frio cave systems.