Vegetation and land use 2009: Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

A detailed mapping of vegetation and land use in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, reveals critical insights into one of the world's most vital protected areas. The study, conducted using high-resolution aerial photographs (40 cm/pixel) from 2009, identified plant communities through photo-interpretation and field surveys, digitized at a scale of 1:5,000. This approach combined traditional photo-interpretation techniques with geographic information systems (GIS), producing an ortho-corrected mosaic that provides precise data on the reserve's ecological structure. The findings are based on Mexico's national forest inventory classification system and offer a comprehensive spatial analysis of this UNESCO site, which hosts millions of migrating Monarch butterflies annually.

López-García, J., & Guzmán, Á. V. (2010). Vegetation and land use 2009: Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Journal of Maps, 6(1), 665–673. https://doi.org/10.4113/jom.2010.1123