The Central American pine-oak forests stretch along the mountainous spine of northern Central America, from the Chiapas highlands and Sierra Madre de Chiapas in southern Mexico through the uplands of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into Nicaragua. As the name suggests, these montane woodlands are dominated by pines (Pinus species) and oaks (Quercus species), with pines tending to prevail at higher elevations and oaks lower down, alongside trees such as American sweetgum. They occupy a mid-elevation band roughly between 600 and 1,800 meters, giving way to cloud forest higher up and grading into tropical moist forest on the Caribbean slope and tropical dry forest on the Pacific slope. The region is an Endemic Bird Area and the celebrated home of the resplendent quetzal, though much of its forest is now considered critically threatened, with the stands in El Salvador almost entirely cleared. For gardeners, it is the native ground of American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), a popular ornamental shade tree prized for its fall color.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 14.6°N, 89.1°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.4°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
42,987 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical coniferous forests biome
Subtropical and tropical forests dominated by conifers such as pines, typically in semi-arid climates with seasonal rainfall. They often occupy higher elevations and carry fire-adapted understories.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical coniferous forests ecoregions to explore: