Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Neto and de Carvalho (2004), Luis Martínez et al. (2005), Luna-Vega et al.
(1999, 2001), Maldonado and Uriz (1995), Marino et al. (2001), Marks et al.
(2002), Martínez Gordillo and Morrone (2005), Melo Santos et al. (2007),
Méndez-Larios et al. (2005), Michaux and Leschen (2005), Mihoc et al.
(2006), Moline and Linder (2006), Moreno et al. (2006), Morrone (1994a,
1998), Morrone and Coscarón (1996), Morrone and Escalante (2002), Mor-
rone and Lopretto (1995), Morrone et al. (1997, 1999, 2002), Mota et al.
(2002), Myers(1991), Navarro et al. (2004), Pizarro Araya andJerez(2004),
Porzecanski and Cracraft (2005), Posadas (1996), Posadas et al. (1997),
Quijano-Abril et al. (2006), Racheli and Racheli (2003, 2004), Raherilalao
and Goodman (2005), Reyes-Castillo et al. (2005), Ribichich (2005), Riddle
and Hafner (2006), Roig-Juñent et al. (2002), Rojas Soto et al. (2003),
Ron (2000), Rosen (1988a), Rosen and Smith (1988), Rovito et al. (2004),
Rundle et al. (2000), Seeling and Fauth (2004), Sfenthourakis and Giokas
(1998), Silva and Gallo (2007), Smith (1988, 1992), Smith and Xu (1988),
Soares and de Carvalho (2005), Trejo-Torres and Ackerman (2001, 2002),
Tribsch (2004), Unmack (2001), Vargas et al. (1998, 2003), Vergara et al.
(2006), Waggoner (1999, 2003), Watanabe (1998), Winfield et al. (2006), Xu
(2005), Yeates et al. (2001), and Zhang (2002).
Mexican mountain cloud forests, located in humid and temperate zones between
600 and 3,000 m height, exhibit a high biotic diversity and a fragmented distribu-
tion, similar to an archipelago, where each island has a particular biotic composi-
tion. Some authors (Luna et al. 1989; Puig 1989; Rzedowski 1978) suggested that
these forests are made up of three different cenocrons: one comprising Nearctic
taxa, basically corresponding to temperate trees; another with Neotropical taxa,
basically grasses, epiphytes, and shrubs; and another with endemic taxa, not very
important at the generic level but more significant at the specific level. Luna-Vega
et al. (1999) undertook a PAE with the purpose of postulating a preliminary hypo-
thesis on the relationships between different fragments of Mexican cloud forests.
The authors analyzed twenty-four localities of Mexican cloud forests belonging
to the Mountain Mesoamerican phytogeographic region (Rzedowski 1978) or the
Mexican Transition Zone (Halffter 1987; Morrone 2004c). They selected species
of vascular plants, using distributional data from several floristic studies and data-
bases from the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad
(Conabio). They built a data matrix of 1,267 species × 24 localities, including also
a hypothetical area coded with all “0” to root the cladogram. The data matrix was
analyzed with PAUP 4.0.1 (Swofford 1999).
