Premium
Dry vegetation in relation to the physical environment in the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico
Author(s) -
VillersRuiz Lourdes,
TrejoVázquez Irma,
LópezBlanco Jorge
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2003.tb02178.x
Subject(s) - ordination , vegetation (pathology) , ecoregion , peninsula , shrubland , physical geography , geography , altitude (triangle) , ecology , vegetation classification , abundance (ecology) , tropical vegetation , tropics , ecosystem , biology , medicine , geometry , mathematics , pathology , archaeology
. An ordination analysis of vegetation and flora of Los Cabos Region, Baja California Peninsula, Mexico and its relationships with their environment and geomorphic characteristics was studied at 38 sites, selected based on ecoregion mapping units (EMU) previously delineated for the study area. Multivariate methods were used to analyse the relationship between physical characteristics of the environment and the two primary vegetation types, the Dry tropical forest (DTF) and the Xerophilous scrubland (XS), which together represent 83% of the vegetation cover in the study area. Sites were grouped based on both physical characteristics and relative abundance of plant species. The results of the statistical analysis suggest that altitude, rainfall, temperature, and lithology can help explaining differences between these important vegetation types. In the case of XS, the morpho‐physiognomic characteristics of vegetation in each site discriminated between two scrub types.