Background and Aims:

The coastal vegetation of Mazatlán, Mexico, has been scarcely studied due to its removal, which has been caused by the intense transformation of the environment for real estate, tourism, commercial, port and fishing development. However, the Estero del Yugo micro-watershed has one of the last fragments of dry forest in the urban area, which could reveal the biodiversity that the city of Mazatlán had before urbanization. The objectives of this work were to analyze and document the information generated during 25 years in the HCIAD herbarium of the Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. (CIAD) for the Estero del Yugo micro-watershed, to describe the plant communities and to present the floristic inventory, and thus contribute to future conservation and management programs in the study area.

Methods:

HCIAD vascular plant records (1996-2022) were analyzed, including georeferenced field observations. The specimens were identified with the help of specialists, and by consulting bibliography and specimens on digital platforms.

Key results:

The vascular flora comprised 75 families, 275 genera and 393 species of angiosperms, obtained from 756 collection records and 1000 field observations. Fabaceae (57 spp.), Cyperus (12 spp.) and Bromelia pinguin (35 records) were the best represented taxa. Forty-two endemic species to Mexico, 21 regional and three species exclusive to the state of Sinaloa were recognized in addition to four new records for the state. The plant communities present in the area are tropical deciduous forest, coastal tropical scrub, mangrove, water lily, cattail and fire flag wetlands, coastal dune vegetation, halophilous vegetation and urban vegetation. A relict coastal population of Piranhea mexicana was recorded.

Conclusions:

The vascular flora of the Estero del Yugo micro-watershed represents 10% of the flora of Sinaloa. Because of its scenic beauty, socioecological importance, and seriously threatened plant communities in this area, it should be preserved as a municipal nature reserve.

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