MODELLING THE POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOUNTAIN HUMID FOREST IN MÉXICO

Abstract

The different names for Mountain Mesophyll Forest (MMF) are evaluated, comparing them to the concept of Mountain Humid Forest (MHF) as a biome. This evaluation is made both in the geographic space and in the environmental one. The comparisons are made with a model of potential distribution of the MHF and information from specimens in the plant collection for the state of Veracruz, México, and with vegetation maps of the MMF. The impact of climate change is evaluated through modelling of the potential distribution of two endemic species of this biome. The MHF covers, geographically and environmentally, the MMF names. Climate change could affect in a radical way the MHF, since the two endemic species modelled could lose more than 95 % of their surface.