Search Results (10)

The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, in southeastern Mexico, is a major conservation area known for its tropical forests, emblematic wildlife species, and long history of Maya occupation. Established in 1989 as a federal Natural Protected Area, it was incorporated into UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program in 1993 and designated a mixed World Heritage Site in 2014. Its socioecological trajectory is distinctive: conservation efforts advanced alongside the contemporary rural settlement resulting from agrarian reform and subsequent development and welfare policies. This article examines the persistent imbalance between ecological conservation and socioeconomic development surrounding the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, focusing on water vulnerability in adjacent communities. The study integrates environmental history with household-level survey data on water access and vulnerability among 200 households in eight communities in the Biosphere Reserve’s transition zone, complemented by interviews with key water-management stakeholders. We document the consolidation of conservation through management plans, advisory councils, payments for ecosystem services, scientific research, and expanding voluntary conservation areas. Yet these advances contrast sharply with everyday socioeconomic realities: 68% of households face prolonged water scarcity, with an average of more than 30 days annually without water. Calakmul’s case highlights structural mismatch between conservation and local human well-being in Natural Protected Areas contexts. Full article

This study explores the detection and classification of aguadas (ponds) in the Bajo El Laberinto region, in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche, Mexico, using remote sensing techniques. Lidar-derived digital elevation models (DEMs), orthophotos and satellite imagery from multiple sources were employed to identify and characterize these water reservoirs, which played a crucial role in ancient Maya water management and continued to be vital for contemporary wildlife. By comparing different visualization techniques and imagery sources, the study demonstrates that while lidar data provides superior topographic detail, satellite imagery—particularly with nominal 3 m, or finer, spatial resolution with a near-infrared band—offers valuable complementary data including present-day hydrological and vegetative characteristics. In this study, 350 aguadas were identified in the broader region. The shapes, canopy cover, and topographic positions of these aguadas were documented, and the anthropogenic origin of most features was emphasized. The paper’s conclusion states that combining various remote sensing datasets enhances the identification and understanding of aguadas, providing insights into ancient Mayan adaptive strategies and contributing to ongoing archaeological and ecological research. Full article

White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii) are two endangered ungulates that inhabit the Maya Forest in Southern Mexico. These species need water sources almost every day to fill their ecological and physiological needs. How have they survived in a landscape like the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve where the water is very scarce and temporal? We analyzed 10 years of data for both species, collected through the intensive use of camera traps located in 18 ephemeral ponds of the Mexican side of the Maya Forest. These data in combination with occasional data on individual movements of both species collected with radiotelemetry allowed us to describe changes in occupancy, abundance, and movements that show the different strategies these species must cope with during dry periods. The white-lipped peccary population passed through cycles and disappeared from periods of water scarcity, and later, they appeared and stayed close to a few sources of water while the tapir population remained constant and occupied almost all sources of water throughout the years. This contribution increases the ecological knowledge and survival strategies of two endangered tropical ungulates of Mesoamerican Forests that have been disappearing at alarming rates in other forests of the region. Full article

The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR) is in the south of the Yucatán Peninsula and is known for its great biological diversity. However, despite the great diversity of species, they are under intense pressure from hunting activities, especially the larger ones that can be used for human food. Therefore, the objective of this study was to obtain knowledge about the hunting importance of populations of three species of birds (Crax rubra, Meleagris ocellata, and Penelope purpurascens) in the southern zone of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche. Sampling was conducted with transects where a total of 46 camera traps were installed from November 2021 to November 2022, distributed in two types of vegetation. Likewise, data on species presence were collected and analyzed with Principal Component Analysis and ANOSIM (ANOSIM; R = 0.10, p = 0.22) to relate abundances with vegetation types and seasons of the year. No significant differences were found between the two vegetation types. This study provides relevant information on the populations of game birds in the southern region of Calakmul, which is currently little explored, and constant monitoring of these species throughout the CBR is necessary. Full article

Understanding the process underlying species coexistence is crucial in ecology. This challenge is relevant in tree communities inhabiting contrasting abiotic conditions, such as lowland floodplain and shallow hillslope karstic systems. We examined the influence of topographic variables and spatial factors on the structure of tree communities in the karstic system in Calakmul, Mexico. We measured 7050 trees (diameter at breast height ≥ 3 cm) in 152 circular plots and generated seven topographic variables from a digital elevation model. We employed redundancy analysis and variance partitioning to test the effects of environmental and spatial factors on tree communities. In addition, we used the null Raup–Crick model to uncover the relative importance of the deterministic and stochastic processes driving community assembly. Our study revealed significant floristic distinction between seasonally flooded and upland forests. The topographic wetness index (TWI) contribution to explaining the floristic differentiation in the studied tree assemblages was greater than that of the other topography-related variables. The explanatory power of the environmental and spatial factors varied slightly between datasets. The null model indicated a predominant influence of deterministic over stochastic processes. Our findings reaffirm the role of seasonal flooding as an abiotic filter. Additionally, the TWI can serve to identify flood-prone conditions within shallow depressions. The preservation of adjacent seasonally flooded and upland forests is relevant for the maintenance of tree diversity in the karst of the Yucatan Peninsula, since flooding drives the distribution of species. Full article

Anthropogenic disturbance of tropical humid forests leads to habitat loss, biodiversity decline, landscape fragmentation, altered nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, soil erosion, pest/pathogen outbreaks, among others. Nevertheless, the impact of these alterations in multitrophic interactions, including host–pathogen and vector–pathogen dynamics, is still not well understood in wild plants. This study aimed to provide insights into the main drivers for the incidence of herbivory and plant pathogen damage, specifically, into how vegetation traits at the local and landscape scale modulate such interactions. For this purpose, in the tropical forest of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico), we characterised the foliar damage caused by herbivores and pathogens in woody vegetation of 13 sampling sites representing a gradient of forest disturbance and fragmentation in an anthropogenic landscape from well preserved to highly disturbed and fragmented areas. We also evaluated how the incidence of such damage was modulated by the vegetation and landscape attributes. We found that the incidence of damage caused by larger, mobile, generalist herbivores, was more sensitive to changes in landscape configuration, while the incidence of damage caused by small and specialised herbivores with low dispersal capacity was more influenced by vegetation and landscape composition. In relation to pathogen symptoms, the herbivore-induced foliar damage seems to be the main factor related to their incidence, indicating the enormous importance of herbivorous insects in the modulation of disease dynamics across tropical vegetation, as they could be acting as vectors and/or facilitating the entry of pathogens by breaking the foliar tissue and the plant defensive barriers. The incidence of pathogen damage also responded to vegetation structure and landscape configuration; the incidence of anthracnose, black spot, and chlorosis, for example, were favoured in sites surrounded by smaller patches and a higher edge density, as well as those with a greater aggregation of semi-evergreen forest patches. Fungal pathogens were shown to be an important cause of foliar damage for many woody species. Our results indicate that an increasing transformation and fragmentation of the tropical forest of southern Mexico could reduce the degree of specialisation in plant–herbivore interactions and enhance the proliferation of generalist herbivores (chewers and scrapers) and of mobile leaf suckers, and consequently, the proliferation of some symptoms associated with fungal pathogens such as fungus black spots and anthracnose. The symptoms associated with viral and bacterial diseases and to nutrient deficiency, such as chlorosis, could also increase in the vegetation in fragmented landscapes with important consequences in the health and productivity of wild and cultivated plant species. This is a pioneering study evaluating the effect of disturbances on multitrophic interactions, offering key insights on the main drivers of the changes in herbivory interactions and incidence of plant pathogens in tropical forests. Full article

Despite the risks associated, some species choose to shield behind a predator to decrease predation risk by another predator. In this study, we demonstrate how Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) use humans as a “shield” to reduce the risk of being preyed upon by jaguars (Panthera onca). We collected georeferenced photographic records of 23 tapirs (seven of them injured) sighted near human settlements (0 to 5 km) in the Calakmul region of Mexico from 2008 to 2019. Using multidimensional scale analysis, we determined which possible factors (tapir health status, injuries, distance to the settlement, as well as seasonality) are related to the decision of tapirs to approach human settlements. To support our claims of jaguars’ attacks, we described the pattern of injuries believed to have been inflicted by jaguars on tapirs, and we analysed photographs and videos of species of the genus Panthera attacking larger prey than themselves to establish a pattern of injuries and compare it to the injuries observed on tapirs. Our study shows that tapir sightings near human settlements are related to health deterioration, injuries by jaguars and seasonality. The injuries found on tapirs are similar to those caused by other big cats on large prey, providing strong support for jaguar-inflicted wounds. Further studies should investigate whether the increasing human presence in different habitats in the Neotropical region could be influencing the behaviour and distribution of prey and predators. Full article

It can be challenging to set protected area entrance fees without information on how much visitors are willing to pay. It is particularly difficult for agencies managing multiple sites to set fees without conducting surveys at each location. In order to examine how willingness to pay estimates would vary across sites with distinctive profiles, 877 visitors at five Mexican protected sites (Calakmul, Cobá, Palenque, Sian Ka’an, and Yum Balam) were interviewed through double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation surveys. The results suggest that visitors would be willing to pay higher entrance fees, with mean maximum willingness to pay estimates of 2.8–9.8 times current fees, ranging from US$15.70 to US$25.83. Visitor demand was found to be relatively inelastic, with aggregate fee rises of 26% estimated to result in a 5% decrease in visitation. These results suggest that there is room to raise revenues through moderate fee increases without a concomitant drop-off in visitation. Full article

The Mexican Forest Code establishes structural reference values to differentiate between secondary and old-growth forests and requires a management plan when secondary forests become old-growth and potentially harvestable forests. The implications of this regulation for forest management, restoration, and conservation were assessed in the context of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which is located in the Yucatan Peninsula. The basal area and stem density thresholds currently used by the legislation to differentiate old-growth from secondary forests are 4 m²/ha and 15 trees/ha (trees with a diameter at breast height of >25 cm); however, our research indicates that these values should be increased to 20 m²/ha and 100 trees/ha, respectively. Given that a management plan is required when secondary forests become old-growth forests, many landowners avoid forest-stand development by engaging slash-and-burn agriculture or cattle grazing. We present evidence that deforestation and land degradation may prevent the natural regeneration of late-successional tree species of high ecological and economic importance. Moreover, we discuss the results of this study in the light of an ongoing debate in the Yucatan Peninsula between policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), landowners and researchers, regarding the modification of this regulation to redefine the concept of acahual (secondary forest) and to facilitate forest management and restoration with valuable timber tree species. Full article

Worldwide the search is on for sustainable solutions to the competing needs for forest conservation and agricultural development. A strategy with contemporary salience arises in intensive, sedentarized agriculture that can protect forests and enhance livelihoods for forest dwellers. This paper investigates why intensive agriculture does not limit deforestation in southeastern Mexico’s Calakmul Municipality. It argues that agriculture faces challenges from a range of biophysical and socioeconomic factors in tropical regions and that this encourages expanded land use for intensive farmers. Full article