Madrean discovery expeditions program, Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

There are 55 Sky Island mountain ranges or mountain complexes connected by oak woodland corridors in the Madrean Archipelgo between the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora and the Mogollon Rim in Arizona. Thirty-two of them ar in Sonora, Mexico. In 2009 Sky Island Alliance began the Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment (MABA) Program to document the biodiversity of Sonoran Sky Islands. MABA biotic inventory Expeditions explored nine Sky islands, and Mini-Expedtions to three other areas. All observations of animals and plants are publicly available in the MABA database. In 2015 GreaterGood.org (GGO) created the Madrean Discovery Expeditions (MDE) Program and the MDE database (madreandiscovery.com) to continue documenting the animals and plants of the Sonoran Sky Islands. Groups of biologists, land managers, teachers, students, photographers, etc. participated in MDE Expeditions to the Sierras Buenos Aires, Cucurpe, Elenita, Juriquipa, and el Tigre. Mini-Expeditions visited the Sierras el Alacrán, de la Madera (Magdalena), Manzanal, and San José, and the lower Río Bavispe Valley. There were 30-80 participants/Expedition, on 33 field days, and 26,276 participant/hours on six MDE Expeditions. About 1000 biological observations are made on each Expedition. The MDE and MABA databases are the primary sources of of biological information for conservation, research, and education in Sonora.

Parent Publication

• Collaboration Now for the Future: IV Conference on the Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago

Citation

Van Devender, Thomas R.; Horton, Noah; Turner, Dale S. 2022. Madrean discovery expeditions program, Sonora, Mexico. In: Neary, D. G.; Gottfried, G. J., eds. Collaboration Now for the Future: IV Conference on the Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago. Proceedings RMRS-P-79. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 318-322.