Mayan+Environment

ENVIRONMENTS

//There at three Rivers that lie near the heart of the Classical Maya Lowlands, and the ancient Maya sites of La Milpa and Dos Hombres. La Milpa and Dos Hombres were medium-sized ancient Maya cities with surrounding smaller sites; La Milpa had a peak population of around 48,000 in the Late Classic period (A.D. 550-850). The area is part of the Maya Forest one of the few places on earth where visitors can look up from a stone city ten centuries old to watch spider monkeys turning somersaults through a tropical forest canopy. //

//Elevations of the region's tropical lowland environments range from less than 20 meters(tried converting to miles no luck) above sea level at Booth's River to more than 250 meters in the Three Rivers, near the southeastern margins of the Yucatán Peninsula, The grabens are largely bajos (flat depressions) containing wetland ecosystems. The uplands are covered with karst features such as dolines and steep karst hills. //

//Natural vegetation in the region is subtropical moist forest, a medium-high, broadleaf, evergreen vegetation with a few dry-season deciduous trees. It has been suggested that in the Late Classic Maya cleared much of this "climax" forest. //

//The climate is perennially hot and humid, with about 1,500 millimeters of rainfall annually. Temperature varies little, from a mean monthly maximum of 79.7'F to one of 87-122’F. The soil-moisture regime is marginally tropudic (or aquici n many bajos). The wet season is June through December, with peaks in June and September. //

//The January-May dry season has periodic severe moisture deficits that are exacerbated by the low plant-available water capacity of the region's fine, clay soils. The end of the dry season in April and May shows dramatic signs of water deficits, with great soil cracks and widespread leaf wilting. //

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