From the High Sierra Madre to the Coast in Sonora - Changes in Vegetation Along Highway 16

Scenically spectacular, the Sierra Madre Occidental is challenging to researchers in ecology as well as in geology. Like mountain gradients elsewhere in tropical Mexico, it offers a variety of habitats and species. In this section we will introduce some ecological concepts related to the description of gradients, and picture some of the major features of the vegetation that stretches along the east-west transition drawn by the highway 16 from Maycoba to Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora.