Maya Forest

{{Infobox forest

| name = Maya Forest

| native_name = Selva maya

| native_lang = es

| native_name2 = Otoch k'aax^g

| native_lang2 = myn

| photo = Tikal (2004) 08.jpg

| photo_caption = Maya Forest encompassing Tikal {{small|/ 2004 photograph by Luis Bartolomé Marcos / via Commons}}

| photo_width =

| map = Mesoamerica

| map_caption =

| map_width =

| map_alt = Location of the Maya Forest in eastern Mesoamerica

| label = Maya Forest

| coordinates = {{coord|17|48|56|N|89|09|07|W|type:forest|display=inline,title}}^b

| county =

| region =

| country = Belize, northern Guatemala, southeastern Mexico^a

| elevation =

| area = ca {{cvt|15000000|ha|km2}} {{small|/ total}}^c
> {{cvt|3000000|ha|km2}} {{small|/ protected}}^c

| max_area =

| date_max_area =

| status =

| established =

| visitation =

| visitation_year =

| events =

| authority =

| website =

| ecosystem =

| classification_WWF = Petén–Veracruz moist forests^d

| classification_EPA =

| classification_CEC =

| disturbance =

| forest_cover =

| species = Breadnut, sapodilla, cocoa, avocados, peppers, wild mamey, mylady, cohune, gumbolimbo, give-and-take, monkey apple, cabbage bark, dogwood, canistel, zapotillo, bayleaf, john crow redwood, hog plum, mahogany, Mayflower, guinep, walking lady, druken Bayman^e

| indicator_plants =

| lesser_flora =

| fauna = Jaguar, scarlet macaw, Baird's tapir, Yucatan black howler monkey, white-lipped peccary, Hickatee turtle, hawksbill turtle, keel-billed toucan, harpy eagle, Yucatan brown brocket, ocellated turkey, Morelet's crocodile^f

| embedded = ^a–g Cf {{notetag|Infobox notes.

^{Note a} Most commonly accepted extent per 'Extent' section of this article.

^{Note b} Centroid of most commonly accepted extent.

^{Note c} Area of protected and unprotected forest per {{harvnb|GC|2021|loc=quote after para. 3}}. Total area values range from {{cvt|14164000|ha|km2}} {{harv|TNC|2020|loc=para. 1}} to {{cvt|15400000|ha|km2}} {{harv|GC|2021|loc=quote after para. 6}}. Protected area values range from {{cvt|3100800|ha|km2}} {{harv|WCF|2019|loc= para. 1}} to 'exceeds four million hectares [40,000 sq km]' ({{harvnb|WWF|2022|loc=para. 1}}, {{harvnb|SM|2017a|loc=para. 1}}).

^{Note d} Classification per WWF xx.

^{Note e} Species per {{harvnb|WCF|2019|loc=para. 6}}, {{harvnb|SM|2017a|loc=para. 5}}, {{harvnb|Bridgewater|2012|p=41}}, and {{harvnb|Hutson|Ardren|2020|p=522}}.

^{Note f} Species per {{harvnb|WWF|2022|loc=para. 3}}, {{harvnb|WCF|2019|loc=paras. 2, 6}}, {{harvnb|TNC|2020|loc=para. 1}}, {{harvnb|SM|2017a|loc=para. 5}}, {{harvnb|GC|2021|loc=para. 3}}, and {{harvnb|Bridgewater|2012|p=3}}.

^{Note g} Name per {{harvnb|Hutson|Ardren|2020|p=525}}.

}}

The Maya Forest is a tropical moist broadleaf forest that covers much of the Yucatan Peninsula, thereby encompassing Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico. It is deemed the second largest tropical rainforest in the Americas, after the Amazon, with an area of circa 15 million hectares (150,000 km²), of which at least 3 million (30,000 km²) lie within protected areas.

Extent

The Maya Forest is considered 'the [second] largest remaining tropical rainforest in the Americas,' after the Amazon.{{sfn|TNC|2020|loc=para. 1}}{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|p=3}} It is widely deemed to cover much of the Yucatan Peninsula, thereby encompassing Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico, and stretching across protected and unprotected areas, and Crown (ie public) and private lands.{{sfn|TNC|2020|loc=para. 1}}{{sfn|WWF|2022|loc=para. 1}}{{sfn|SM|2017a|loc=para. 1}} This coincides with the original definition of the Forest as developed in 1995 for internationally-coordinated conservation efforts, namely, the contiguous tropical rainforest which housed the Classic Maya civilisation within the Maya Lowlands.{{sfn|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|pp=1296-1297}} Some literature, however, {{em|restricts}} the Forest's bounds to only contiguous rainforest within protected areas (eg the Maya Biosphere Reserve and abutting protected areas).{{sfn|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|p=1297}} Other literature, though, {{em|extends}} the Forest's bounds beyond the Peninsula, suggesting it stretches along the Gulf of Mexico littoral beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the west, and along the Bay of Honduras littoral along northern Honduras to the east.{{sfn|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|p=1297}}{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|pp=3-4}}

History

File:The Maya Forest Transboundary Conservation Complex.jpg

= Pre-Columbian =

The Maya Forest is thought to have come into being after the Last Glacial Maximum circa 20,000 years ago.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|p=55}} Prior to such event, an arid climate is thought to have predominated in the Maya Lowlands, leading to dry, open savannahs, rather than a tropical rainforest.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|p=55}}{{notetag|The closest tropical rainforest during the Last Glacial Maximum may have been in southern Central America {{harv|Bridgewater|2012|p=55}}. During glacial minima, rainforests would have expanded, while savannahs would have contracted {{harv|Bridgewater|2012|pp=55, 66}}.}}

The earliest Palaeoindian settlers of the former Maya Lowlands would have encountered a burgeoning Maya Forest, and employed it to hunt and gather food, thereby leaving it largely intact. Their successors, the Maya, were once thought to have similarly kept the Forest in a largely virginal state, but scholarly consensus has flipped on this point. It is now thought that Preclassic or Classic Maya residents deforested large tracts of the Forest for residential and agricultural use, with recovery possible only after the Classic Maya Collapse.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|pp=146, 150}}{{sfn|Hutson|Ardren|2020|pp=521, 525-526}}

= Columbian =

The Maya's successors, the Spanish in Guatemala and Mexico, and the Baymen in Belize, took to logging the Forest since their arrival during the conquest of Yucatan and later settlement of Belize and conquest of Peten.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|p=161}} Though centuries of timber extraction may not have decimated the Forest, they did alter it, for instance, via selective extraction of logwood and mahogany.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|pp=161-162, 171-172}}

Modern conservation efforts were begun in 1817 with the passage of the Crown Lands Ordinance, which regulated logging in the southeastern portion of the Forest, within British Honduran Crown lands. The earliest protected areas within the Forest are believed to have been the Silk Grass or Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserves, gazetted in 1920, both in the southeastern portion of the Forest, within British Honduras. Conservation efforts were not coordinated across state lines, however, until 1995, when a workshop to such end was held at the Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Campeche, Mexico, by the US Man and Biosphere Programme.{{sfn|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|pp=1291, 1296}}{{notetag|Though international coordination was first suggested in the 1970s by the National Geographic via its coverage of an international 'Maya Route' {{harv|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|p=1297}}. As of 2022, international conservation efforts include the GIZ-funded Selva Maya Programme (since 2000), the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor initiative (since 1990s), the Jaguar Corridor initiative, and the Belize-lead Maya Forest Corridor initiative (since 2019) {{harv|Laako|Pliego Alvarado|Ramos Muñoz|Marquez|2022|pp=1302-1304}}.}}

Presently, forest fires, illegal logging, illicit trafficking of flora and fauna, and intensive agriculture are thought to pose 'great threats' to the Forest.{{sfn|WWF|2022|loc=para. 4}}{{sfn|WCF|2019|loc=para. 5}}{{sfn|TNC|2020|loc=para. 3}} A recent study, for instance, found that twenty-first century deforestation has fragmented the Forest, thereby undermining its contiguity.{{sfn|Cuba|Sauls|Bebbington|Bebbington|2022|pp=4-5|loc=sec. 3}} It has been noted, furthermore, that mitigating said threats has proven challenging, given frosty diplomatic relations between Forest-holding states, most especially Belize and Guatemala.{{sfn|WWF|2022|loc=para. 4}}{{sfn|WCF|2019|loc=para. 2}}

Geography

= Physical =

The Forest is a contiguous maze of woods with pockets of savannahs, wetlands, and coastal mangrove stands.{{sfn|Bridgewater|2012|p=53}}{{sfn|Hutson|Ardren|2020|p=520}}

= Human =

As of the 2010s, the Forest houses a population of approximately 588,000 to 600,000 people in non-protected areas, including Maya, Garifuna, mestizo, and Mennonite residents.{{sfn|WWF|2022|loc=para. 2}}{{sfn|SM|2017a|loc=para. 3}} The Forest comprises various protected and unprotected tracts of woods, and itself constitutes the northernmost part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.{{sfn|Cuba|Sauls|Bebbington|Bebbington|2022|p=3|loc=sec. 2.1}}

class="wikitable sortable" \|+ Protected areas of the Maya Forest.{{notetag\|Areas consisting of distinct protected sub-areas, or of protected and unprotected sub-areas, marked with an asterisk (*) in the {{em\|Name}} column. Missing values marked with an en-dash (–).}}
Name ! Country ! Established ! data-sort-type=number \| Size ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
Belize Maya Forest \| Belize \| 2021 \| {{cvt\|96000\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|GC\|2021\|loc=para. 1}}
Rio Bravo \| Belize \| 1995 \| {{cvt\|102790\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|GC\|2021\|loc=para. 2}}{{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 6-8}}{{notetag\|Size given as {{cvt\|115000\|ha\|km2}} in {{harvnb\|GC\|2021\|loc=paras. 1-2}}. Establishment date given as 1980s in {{harvnb\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' para. 6}}.}}
Chiquibul \| Belize \| – \| {{cvt\|106838\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 1-2}}
Maya Golden Landscape* \| Belize \| – \| {{cvt\|311608\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 3-5}}{{notetag\|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the Columbia River Forest Reserve {{harv\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 3-4}}.}}
Vaca Forest \| Belize \| 1930s \| {{cvt\|16339\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' para. 9}}
Mountain Pine Ridge \| Belize \| 1944 \| – \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 10-11}}
Maya Biosphere* \| Guatemala \| – \| {{cvt\|2112940\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 1-19}}{{notetag\|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the national parks of Mirador–Río Azul, Yaxha–Nakum–Naranjo, Tikal, Sierra del Lacandón, and Laguna del Tigre {{harv\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 1-19}}.}}
Southern Peten* \| Guatemala \| – \| {{cvt\|411379\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 20-31}}{{notetag\|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the Chiquibul–Maya Mountains Biosphere Reserve, Machaquilá–Xutilhá Wildlife Refuge, and San Román Biological Reserve {{harv\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 20-31}}.}}
Calakmul Biosphere \| Mexico \| – \| {{cvt\|723185\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 1-3}}
Balam Kú \| Mexico \| – \| {{cvt\|409200\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 4-6}}
Balam Kin \| Mexico \| – \| {{cvt\|110990\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 7-9}}
Sian Ka’an Biosphere \| Mexico \| – \| {{cvt\|528147\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 10-13}}
Bala’an K’aax \| Mexico \| – \| {{cvt\|128390\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 14-15}}
Montes Azules \| Mexico \| 1978 \| {{cvt\|331200\|ha\|km2}} \| Cf {{sfn\|SM\|2017b\|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 16-18}}

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Protected areas of the Maya Forest.{{notetag|Areas consisting of distinct protected sub-areas, or of protected and unprotected sub-areas, marked with an asterisk (*) in the {{em|Name}} column. Missing values marked with an en-dash (–).}}

Name

! Country

! Established

! data-sort-type=number | Size

! class="unsortable" | Notes

Belize Maya Forest

| Belize

| 2021

| {{cvt|96000|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|GC|2021|loc=para. 1}}

Rio Bravo

| Belize

| 1995

| {{cvt|102790|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|GC|2021|loc=para. 2}}{{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 6-8}}{{notetag|Size given as {{cvt|115000|ha|km2}} in {{harvnb|GC|2021|loc=paras. 1-2}}. Establishment date given as 1980s in {{harvnb|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' para. 6}}.}}

Chiquibul

| Belize

| –

| {{cvt|106838|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 1-2}}

Maya Golden Landscape*

| Belize

| –

| {{cvt|311608|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 3-5}}{{notetag|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the Columbia River Forest Reserve {{harv|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 3-4}}.}}

Vaca Forest

| Belize

| 1930s

| {{cvt|16339|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' para. 9}}

Mountain Pine Ridge

| Belize

| 1944

| –

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Belize' paras. 10-11}}

Maya Biosphere*

| Guatemala

| –

| {{cvt|2112940|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 1-19}}{{notetag|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the national parks of Mirador–Río Azul, Yaxha–Nakum–Naranjo, Tikal, Sierra del Lacandón, and Laguna del Tigre {{harv|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 1-19}}.}}

Southern Peten*

| Guatemala

| –

| {{cvt|411379|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 20-31}}{{notetag|Area comprising protected and unprotected sub-areas, including the Chiquibul–Maya Mountains Biosphere Reserve, Machaquilá–Xutilhá Wildlife Refuge, and San Román Biological Reserve {{harv|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Guatemala' paras. 20-31}}.}}

Calakmul Biosphere

| Mexico

| –

| {{cvt|723185|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 1-3}}

Balam Kú

| Mexico

| –

| {{cvt|409200|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 4-6}}

Balam Kin

| Mexico

| –

| {{cvt|110990|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 7-9}}

Sian Ka’an Biosphere

| Mexico

| –

| {{cvt|528147|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 10-13}}

Bala’an K’aax

| Mexico

| –

| {{cvt|128390|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 14-15}}

Montes Azules

| Mexico

| 1978

| {{cvt|331200|ha|km2}}

| Cf {{sfn|SM|2017b|loc=sec. 'Mexico' paras. 16-18}}

Ecology

The Maya Forest comprises more than 20 ecosystems.

It is home to a wide range of animals, including jaguars, monkeys, parrots, tapirs, snakes and crocodiles.

Legacy

The Forest has been deemed 'one of the most important ecological systems globally[, it being] considered the most extensive tropical forest in Mesoamerica[, with] a surface of protected areas that exceeds four million hectares [40,000 sq km].'{{sfn|WWF|2022|loc=para. 1}}{{sfn|SM|2017a|loc=para. 1}}

Notes and references

= Explanatory footnotes =

= Short citations =

= Full citations =

{{cite journal

|last1 = Bray

|first1 = David Barton

|last2 = Duran

|first2 = Elvira

|last3 = Ramos

|first3 = Victor Hugo

|last4 = Mas

|first4 = Jean-Francois

|last5 = Velazquez

|first5 = Alejandro

|last6 = McNab

|first6 = Roan Balas

|last7 = Barry

|first7 = Deborah

|last8 = Radachowsky

|first8 = Jeremy

|date = 2008

|title = Tropical Deforestation, Community Forests, and Protected Areas in the Maya Forest

|journal = Ecology and Society

|volume = 13

|issue = 2

|pages = art. no. 56

|url = https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art56/

|issn = 17083087

}}

{{cite book

|last1 = Bridgewater

|first1 = Samuel

|date = 2012

|title = A Natural History of Belize

|series = Corrie Herring Hooks Series no. 52

|volume =

|publisher = University of Texas Press; Natural History Museum

|location = Austin, TX; London

|url =

|url-access =

|doi = 10.7560/726710

|isbn = 9780292726710

}}

{{cite journal

|last1 = Cuba

|first1 = Nicholas

|last2 = Sauls

|first2 = Laura A.

|last3 = Bebbington

|first3 = Anthony J.

|last4 = Bebbington

|first4 = Denise H.

|last5 = Chicchon

|first5 = Avecita

|last6 = Marimón

|first6 = Pilar D.

|last7 = Diaz

|first7 = Oscar

|last8 = Hecht

|first8 = Susanna

|last9 = Kandel

|first9 = Susan

|last10 = Osborne

|first10 = Tracey

|last11 = Ray

|first11 = Rebecca

|last12 = Rivera

|first12 = Madelyn

|last13 = Rogan

|first13 = John

|last14 = Zalles

|first14 = Viviana

|date = 2022

|title = Emerging hot spot analysis to indicate forest conservation priorities and efficacy on regional to continental scales: a study of forest change in Selva Maya 2000–2020

|journal = Environmental Research Communications

|volume = 4

|issue = 7

|pages = art. no. 071004

|url =https://commons.clarku.edu/context/faculty_geography/article/1424/viewcontent/GeoFacWorks_Bebbington_EmergingHotSpot_2022.pdf

|doi = 10.1088/2515-7620/ac82de

|doi-access= free

}}

{{cite journal

|last1 = Ford

|first1 = Anabel

|last2 = Nigh

|first2 = Ronald

|date = 2009

|title = Origins of the Maya Forest Garden: Maya Resource Management

|journal = Journal of Ethnobiology

|volume = 29

|issue = 2

|pages = 213-236

|url =

|doi = 10.2993/0278-0771-29.2.213

|doi-access= free

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://globalconservation.org/projects/greater-belize-maya-forest/

|title = Greater Belize Maya Forest

|last = GC

|date = 2021

|website = Global Conservation

|publisher = Global Conservation

|place = San Francisco, CA

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230607164918/https://globalconservation.org/projects/greater-belize-maya-forest/

|archive-date = 7 June 2023

}}

{{cite book

|editor-last1 = Hutson

|editor-first1 = Scott R.

|editor-last2 = Ardren

|editor-first2 = Traci

|date = 2020

|title = The Maya World

|series = Routledge Worlds

|volume =

|publisher = Routledge

|location = London and New York

|url =

|url-access =

|oclc = 1159169707

|isbn = 9781351029582

}}

{{cite journal

|last1 = Laako

|first1 = Hanna

|last2 = Pliego Alvarado

|first2 = Esmeralda

|last3 = Ramos Muñoz

|first3 = Dora

|last4 = Marquez

|first4 = Beula

|date = 2022

|title = Transboundary conservation and nature states in the Maya Forest: International Relations, challenged

|journal = Globalizations

|volume = 19

|issue = 8

|pages = 1288-1310

|url =

|doi = 10.1080/14747731.2022.2062844

|doi-access= free

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://selvamaya.info/en/mayan-rainforest/the-selva/

|title = The Tropical Forest

|last = SM

|date = 2017a

|website = Selva Maya

|publisher = Selva Maya Programme

|place = Guatemala City

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230503162311/https://selvamaya.info/en/mayan-rainforest/the-selva/

|archive-date = 3 May 2023

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://selvamaya.info/en/mayan-rainforest/protected-areas/

|title = Protected Areas

|last = SM

|date = 2017b

|website = Selva Maya

|publisher = Selva Maya Programme

|place = Guatemala City

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230806232729/https://selvamaya.info/en/mayan-rainforest/protected-areas/

|archive-date = 6 August 2023

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/mexico/maya-forest/

|title = Maya Forest

|last = TNC

|date = 2020

|website = The Nature Conservancy

|publisher = The Nature Conservancy

|location = Arlington, VA

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230330235928/https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/mexico/maya-forest/

|archive-date = 30 March 2023

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://programs.wcs.org/5greatforests/en-us/Wild-Places/Selva-Maya

|title = Selva Maya

|last = WCF

|date = 2019

|website = The 5 Great Forests Initiative

|publisher = Wildlife Conservation Society

|location = Bronx, NY

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230726192954/https://programs.wcs.org/5greatforests/en-us/Wild-Places/Selva-Maya

|archive-date = 26 July 2023

}}

{{cite web

|url = https://www.wwfca.org/en/landscapes/maya_forest/

|title = Maya Forest

|last = WWF

|date = 2022

|website = WWF

|publisher = World Wide Fund For Nature

|location = Gland, Switzerland

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230328171536/https://www.wwfca.org/en/landscapes/maya_forest/

|archive-date = 28 March 2023

}}

External links

[https://selvamaya.info/en/ Selva Maya Programme], official website of the GIZ-funded Belize–Guatemala–Mexico initiative to protect the Maya Forest, established 2000.

Category:Ecoregions of North America

Category:Natural history of Belize

Category:Natural history of Guatemala

Category:Natural history of Mexico

Category:Geography of Belize

Category:Geography of Guatemala

Category:Geography of Mexico

Category:Neotropical ecoregions

Category:Rainforests

Category:Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests