Composition, structure and diversity of Tziritzícuaro tropical dry forest tree community, Balsas Watershed, Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract

We characterized the composition, structure and diversity of tropical dry forest trees at Tziritzícuaro,municipality of La Huacana, in the Depresión del Balsas, Michoacán. We sampled all trees that were rooted inside 36plots of 100 m2 (0.36 ha) with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm. A total of 78 species, including 50 generaand 24 families were recorded. Fabaceae was the most important family respect to the number of species (24), genera(14) and individuals (274). It was recorded a total of 1 013 individuals and 2 313 stems. Basal area, cover and heightaverage were of 0.18 m2, 310 m2 and 5 m, respectively. The average of species richness was of 10 species, with a meanvalue of Fisher α= 8. The tropical dry forest studied shares comparable characteristics to similar communities locatedin other parts of Mexico and the Neotropics, this enable to confirm patterns previously detected in the composition,structure and diversity of this vegetation type.