Abstract

SIQUEIROS-DELGADO, María Elena; RODRIGUEZ-AVALOS, José Alberto; MARTINEZ-RAMIREZ, Julio  and  SIERRA-MUNOZ, José Carlos. Current status of the vegetation of Aguascalientes, Mexico. Bot. sci [online]. 2016, vol.94, n.3, pp.455-470. ISSN 2007-4476.  https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.466.

Aguascalientes is one of the smallest states of Mexico. However, it displays an interesting mosaic of plant communities that have not been studied deeply before. Therefore, it was carried out a study of the vegetation of Aguascalientes, with a deep field exploration embracing all plant communities of Aguascalientes and utilizing image satellite visual analysis techniques and SIG tools. The current paper tries to show a general view of the Aguascalientes vegetation, indicating the percentages of the covered area of each vegetal formation by its climatic affinity (temperate, subtropical and xerophytic). Also, it pursues to present the current situation of the vegetation and its conservation expectations. Twelve vegetation types with 15 local subtypes and 50 plant associations were recorded. The temperate communities were the most widely distributed, with a 30.48 % of covered surface; xerophytic vegetation follows with a 21.52 % of covered surface; finally the subtropical vegetation occupies the 6.58 % of the state. Hydrophytic vegetation is only present in permanent reservoirs as dams or streams, and it covers only 0.37 % of the state surface. The most disturbed area in the state is the subtropical zone, specially the subtropical shrub communities, while the most conserved is the temperate grasslands, specially the mountain grasslands, maintained as primary very well preserved community.

Keywords : Vegetation types; temperate forest; semiarid schrubs.

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