Composition, structure and diversity of tree and shrub strata in a tropical deciduous forest at Tehuacán Valley, Mexico

An analysis of the floristic composition, structure and diversity of the tree and shrub strata was carried out at the tropical deciduous forest of El Picante hill, located in San Jose Tilapa, Puebla. Five transects (T1-T5) were located along the elevation range of 1,055 to 1,095 m asl and the “point-centred quarter” sampling method was used. A total of 53 taxa belonging to 47 genera and 28 families were recorded. The best-represented families were Fabaceae, Cactaceae, Asteraceae and Burseraceae. The main indicators in the tropical deciduous forest were those taxa with the highest importance value indexes (IVI), in the tree stratum were Ceiba aesculifolia, Bursera morelensis and B. aptera , while in the shrub stratum were Lippia graveolens, Parthenium fruticosum and Acaciella angustissima . T4 recorded the highest richness, on the other hand, T5 stood out by the presence of the greatest abundance of trees and shrubs. This study complements the structure and diversity knowledge of this ecosystem in Tehuacan Valley, Mexico.