Search Results (176)

Guadua amplexifolia J. Presl is a Neotropical bamboo native to southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, where it thrives in riparian zones of the San Jorge River basin. Despite its ecological and socio-economic importance, its environmental dynamics and provision of ecosystem services remain poorly understood. This study (1) quantifies spatial and temporal land use/cover changes in the municipality of Montelíbano between 2002 and 2022 and (2) evaluates the ecosystem services that local communities derive from in 2002, 2012, and 2022, and they were classified in QGIS using G. amplexifolia. We applied a supervised classification of Landsat imagery (2002, 2012, 2022) in QGIS, achieving 85% overall accuracy and a Cohen’s Kappa of 0.82 (n = 45 reference points). For the social assessment, we held participatory workshops and conducted semi-structured interviews with artisans, fishers, authorities, and NGO representatives; responses were manually coded to extract key themes. The results show a 12% decline in total vegetated area from 2002 to 2012, followed by an 8% recovery by 2022, with bamboo-dominated stands following a similar pattern. Communities identified raw material provision (87% of mentions), climate regulation (82%), and cultural–recreational benefits (58%) as the most important services provided by G. amplexifolia. This is the first integrated assessment of G. amplexifolia’s landscape dynamics and community-valued services in the San Jorge basin, highlighting its dual function as a renewable resource and a natural safeguard against environmental risks. Our findings offer targeted recommendations for management practices and land use policies to support the species’ conservation and sustainable utilization. Full article

Cyber-physical systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) have been applied in industrial automation and infrastructure management for decades. They are hybrid tools for administration, monitoring, and continuous control of real physical systems through their computational representation. SCADA systems have evolved along with computing technology, from their beginnings with low-performance computers, monochrome monitors and communication networks with a range of a few hundred meters, to high-performance systems with advanced 3D graphics and wired and wireless computer networks. This article presents a methodology for the design of a SCADA system with a 3D Visualization for Drinking Water Supply, and its implementation in the Lerma Basin System of Mexico City as a case study. The monitoring of water consumption from the wells is presented, as well as the pressure levels throughout the system. The 3D visualization is generated from the GIS information and the communication is carried out using a hybrid radio frequency transmission system, satellite, and telephone network. The pumps that extract water from each well are teleoperated and monitored in real time. The developed system can be scaled to generate a simulator of water behavior of the Lerma Basin System and perform contingency planning. Full article

Although lagoons are sites of water accumulation and runoff where a variety of animal species and plant varieties inhabit, they have also been positioned as spaces where rituals and religious practices take place, from which the transmission of knowledge emanates, and social activities are strengthened. The Laguna de Cajititlán (Cajititlán Lagoon) in the town of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco, México is a lacustrine landscape that faces a state of fragility due to incessant processes of urbanization along with basin desiccation and wastewater pollution. However, the community of Cajititlán has managed to protect its lacustrine landscape through the rescue of the religious tradition of the Procesión Los Santos Reyes (Procession of the Wise Men). Therefore, the objective of this article is to analyze how this tradition, as cultural heritage, has influenced the conservation of the lacustrine landscape. We conclude that cultural heritage and the lacustrine landscape are bidirectionally correlated because fostering Indigenous traditions like the Procesión in Cajititlán, as a manifestation of devotion and faith, enhances identity, promotes tourism, and supports conservation practices and the sustainability of the lacustrine landscape. At the same time, conservation of the lacustrine landscape enables the preservation of cultural heritage, generating an interdependent relationship between these elements. Full article

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is a complex oceanic basin with a maximum depth of 4000 m. It is a complex hydrodynamic system formed by different water masses with distinctive physical and biological characteristics that shape its rich biodiversity. In this study, as a contribution to better understanding the microbial communities inhabiting the meso- and bathypelagic zones of the Mexican Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the GoM, an extensive set of seawater samples was collected at three depths (350–3700 m) during three oceanographic cruises. The V4-16S rRNA gene analysis identified Pseudomonadota (27.1 ± 9.8%) and Nitrosopumilales (26.4 ± 2.3%) as the dominant bacterial and archaeal members, respectively. The depth, salinity, and apparent oxygen utilization were key environmental drivers, which explained 35% of the community variability. The mesopelagic zone presented a more homogeneous structure characterized by a nitrifier community, while the bathypelagic was more heterogeneous, with hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and methanogens serving as the key players. This study is the first to report the archaeal community in the deeper waters of the Mexican EEZ of the GoM, playing crucial roles in the nitrogen and carbon cycles, highlighting the region’s ecological complexity and the need for further research to understand the broader biogeochemical implications of these processes. Full article

This study investigates the relationships between surface deformations and groundwater management in the Metropolitan Region of Guatemala (MRG), a geologically complex area subjected to different types of ground deformation, integrating five municipalities around Guatemala City. Deformation patterns were characterized through Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) and compared with groundwater piezometric data. The MT-InSAR technique allowed the identification of the main deformation areas in the MRG. Previously reported maximum subsidence rates ranged from −60 mm/year to −20 mm/year, with local maxima fitting with the extraction well fields of Villanueva and Petapa, in the South basin. Subsidence bowl or depression cone deformation areas were identified and located, similar to those described in the literature for other urban areas, such as Jakarta, Semarang, and Mexico City, among others. This study contextualizes these findings within the detailed hydrogeological framework of the region, highlighting the long-standing generalized exploitation of groundwater resources for urban, agricultural, and industrial uses. Historical data on water wells, piezometric levels, and groundwater flow patterns indicate that groundwater extraction has surpassed the natural recharge rates, particularly in the southern and eastern hydrological basins in the study area. This research identifies a critical need for sustainable water management, emphasizing the importance of integrating MT-InSAR into groundwater monitoring schemes. Full article

Water planning and governance strategies must adapt to challenges associated with population growth, climate change, and projected water shortages. In the Western United States, agriculture is the dominant water use, and agricultural water users are being asked to conserve or share their water with other uses. Managing scarce water supplies at the local level often involves creative solutions, many of which are not well documented, especially in the agricultural sector. It is therefore critical to understand ideas to manage scarce water resources from the perspective of agricultural water users and those who work with them. In our research, we used interviews to explore how agricultural water users are managing increasing water scarcity in the Middle Rio Grande basin of central New Mexico and what enables or prevents them from taking innovative action to manage water scarcity. We hypothesized that we would find undocumented water use innovations born out of water users’ responses to lower and more variable water availability in recent years. We primarily recruited interviewees through snowball sampling, with a total of 42 (47%) agricultural water users, decision makers, and non-profit leaders influencing agricultural water governance in the basin accepting our invitation to participate. Our approximately one-hour, semi-structured and open-ended interviews explored agricultural water users’ lived experiences with water governance and opportunities to manage water scarcity. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using HyperRESEARCH software (version 4.5.4). Our results did not support our hypothesis. Instead, we found that agricultural water users struggled to implement well-known innovations amid the pressures of water scarcity, supply uncertainty, administrative complexity, and constraints on their time, labor, and money. Water users and decision makers were mutually interested in implementing innovations in crop choice, flexibility in water storage, use, and management, stricter enforcement of water use efficiency, and access to more efficient irrigation equipment. However, high costs, a lack of knowledge, education, and training, and challenges related to water distribution and scheduling prevented agricultural water users from accessing these and other innovations. Recommendations include incentive-based policies to promote agricultural water use innovations that require high initial costs, improved water accounting at the basin and regional levels to promote flexible and reliable access to agricultural water, targeted education and outreach programming on alternative irrigation methods and cropping patterns, and improved access to irrigation scheduling information to support agricultural water users in planning for water scarcity. Full article

Frequent salt tectonic activities within the Perdido fold belt complicate hydrocarbon accumulation, severely constraining hydrocarbon exploration. In this paper, the characteristics and differences of hydrocarbon accumulation in the Wilcox and Frio Formations in the central and eastern regions of the Perdido fold belt are analyzed through geochemical analysis, hydrocarbon generation simulation, and regional tectonic restoration. The results indicate the following: (1) Hydrocarbon in the Wilcox and Frio Formations in both the central and eastern regions of the Perdido fold belt originates from the Jurassic Tithonian source rocks. (2) Source rocks in the central and eastern regions entered the oil generation threshold in the late Paleocene and reached the oil generation peak in the late Eocene. Compared with the central region, the eastern region reached the gas generation threshold earlier, which is influenced by the activities and differential distribution of salt in the Perdido fold belt. (3) Hydrocarbon accumulation in central and eastern regions is divided into four stages, showing a “terraced single-layer” and “dual-layer” accumulation pattern in the central and eastern regions of the Perdido fold belt, respectively. (4) Central and eastern regions represent discrepancies in the petroleum systems elements of reservoirs, caprocks, traps, generation, charging, and preservation of hydrocarbon. Full article

The pursuit of effective climate change mitigation strategies is driving research into geological carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage. The present work explores the interaction of CO₂ with carbonate rocks from the El Abra formation in the Tampico-Misantla basin, focusing on the comparative influence of organic matter (OM) content on mineralization processes, hypothesizing that variations in OM content significantly modulate the mineralization process affecting both the rate and type of carbonate formation. Expanding on a previous study, CO₂ is studied and injected under high-pressure (1350-2350 PSI) and high-temperature (60–110 °C) conditions into two contrasting samples: one with high OM content and another with low OM content. Structural, morphological, and physical adsorption changes were evaluated through Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analyses. The findings indicate that the mineralogy of El Abra promotes secondary carbonate precipitation, with rock–fluid interactions significantly enhanced by brine presence. Samples with high OM exhibited a dramatic reduction in average particle size from 13 μm to 2 μm, along with the formation of metastable phases, such as vaterite—evidenced by XRD peak shifting and modifications in the FT-IR spectrum of carbonate bands. Meanwhile, low-OM samples showed an increase in particle size from 1.6 μm to between 3.26 and 4.12 μm, indicating predominant recrystallization. BET analysis confirmed a significant porosity enhancement in high-OM samples (up to 2.918 m²/g). Therefore, OM content plays a critical role in modulating both the rate and type of mineralization, potentially enhancing physical storage capacity in low-OM samples. These integrated findings demonstrate that OM critically governs calcite dissolution, secondary carbonate formation, and microstructural evolution, providing key insights for optimizing CO₂ storage in complex carbonate reservoirs. Full article

Citrus commercial species are the most important fruit crops in the world; however, their cultivation is seriously threatened by the fast dispersion of emerging diseases, including Huanglongbing (HLB) citrus greening. HLB disease is vectored by psyllid vectors and associated with phloem-limited α-proteobacteria belonging to the Candidatus Liberibacter genus. Climatic change and trade globalization have led to the rapid spread of HLB from its origin center in Southeast Asia, causing a great economic impact in the main production areas, including East Asia (China), the Mediterranean basin, North America (the United States), and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico). Despite important advances to understand the HLB epidemiology, Candidatus Liberibacter genetics, psyllid vector control, the molecular citrus–Candidatus Liberibacter interaction, and the development of integral disease management strategies, the study areas have been mostly restricted to high-tech-producing countries. Thus, in this review, we provide an overview of the epidemiology, distribution, genetic diversity, management aspects, and omics analysis of HLB in Latin America, where this information to date is limited. Full article

The Santiago–Guadalajara River Basin has an area of 10,016.46 km². The Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, within the basin, is the second-largest city in the country, with more than 5 million inhabitants. The growth of the urban population, as well as industrial and agricultural activities with insufficient infrastructure for the sanitation of wastewater and its reuse, have caused environmental deterioration of surface waters and gradual depletion of groundwater resources. To assess the level of contamination in surface waters from the presence of heavy metals in the basin, a monthly monitoring campaign was carried out at 25 sampling stations located in the main and tributary streams from July 2021 to April 2022. The following decreasing sequence was found according to the mean concentration values: Fe > Al > Mn > B > Ba > Zn > As > Cu > Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd. The Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) method was applied to assess the level of risk to aquatic life, finding an average global HPI value of 305.522 for the basin, which classifies it as in the critical contamination range. The results also reflect health risks due to the presence of As, Cd, and Ni in some monitored stations. It will be necessary to expand the monitoring network, identify the point and non-point sources of contamination, and implement measures for pollution control to protect aquatic life and human health due to the presence of heavy metals in the river. Full article

This study examines the critical water management crisis facing the Río Turbio Basin (RTB) in Mexico’s Bajío region, Guanajuato. The RTB’s challenges are driven by a convergence of environmental degradation, industrial pollution, groundwater over-extraction, and fragmented governance structures. Intensified by climate change, urban expansion, and rising industrial demands, these issues place the basin’s long-term sustainability at serious risk. Employing a qualitative approach, this research synthesizes insights from expert interviews and stakeholder perspectives, highlighting the social, economic, environmental, and institutional dimensions of the crisis. Key findings point to a lack of collaboration among governmental bodies, industry, and local communities, resulting in escalating water scarcity, economic vulnerability in agriculture, and rising social tensions over resource allocation. The RTB exemplifies broader regional water management issues, where institutional fragmentation and the absence of strategic, basin-specific policies undermine sustainable practices. Without coordinated, multi-sectoral interventions, projections indicate worsening declines in water quality and availability, with potentially irreversible effects on ecosystems and public health. This study underscores the need for integrated water resource management (IWRM) strategies, combining technological, regulatory, and community-driven solutions to address the unique socio-environmental challenges of the Bajío region. Full article

The lakes known as El Sol and La Luna are high mountain water deposits located in Mexico within an inactive volcanic system. These lakes are of ecological importance because they are unique in Mexico. However, currently, the lakes have experienced changes in their shape and an increase in algae blooms, coupled with the degradation of the basin, which has alerted government entities to the need to address the lakes’ problems. To address the environmental status of El Sol and La Luna, a trophic study was conducted during the period of 2021–2023, including an analysis of the influence of climatic variables, lake water quality, and eutrophication conditions. The trophic state was established based on the eutrophication index. The Pearson correlations defined the eutrophication interrelation between the distinct factors influencing the lakes’ status. El Sol registered higher eutrophication conditions than La Luna. El Sol was identified as seasonal eutrophic and La Luna as transitioning from oligotrophic to mesotrophic, showing high levels of chlorophyll, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen and low water transparency. The principal factors altering the eutrophic conditions were water pollution and climatic variables (precipitation and ambient temperature). Eutrophication was the prime factor impacting perimeter loss at El Sol, whereas at La Luna, it was due to a decline in precipitation. Full article

Santa María Bay–La Reforma (SMBLR), with its 58,300 ha is one of Mexico’s most extensive estuarine lagoon systems. It is made up of islands, estuaries, and mangrove areas, which provide a vital part of the habitat and refuge of a significant number of birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The fishing of blue and brown shrimp, marine and estuarine fish, as well as the exploitation of crab and bivalve mollusks, represent an important economic value for the communities that live there and for the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. This state ranked second in fisheries production and first in aquaculture production by 2023. However, the biological richness of this ecosystem has historically been threatened by economic activities such as agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture that, via watersheds, translate into continuous inputs of nutrients and other pollutants. This has led to modifications to the system such as changes in the structure of pelagic and benthic communities, mainly in response to eutrophication. To understand the dynamics of nutrient inputs to the ecosystem, this work presents a comparative analysis of the system’s carrying capacity and the magnitude of the main economic activities from 2007 to 2019. We found that during each season of the year and its transitions, the system functions as a nitrogen and phosphorus sink, which is associated with autotrophic net ecosystem metabolism and nitrogen fixation processes. We suggest that while water residence times in SMBLR are short, these are strongly influenced by the high volumes of water and nutrient loads determined by the spatio-temporal variations in hydrological drainage from the basins of influence of the system. The discharge of agriculture and aquaculture drains into SMBLR are areas of concern due to the high amount of nutrients. Although SMBLR is mostly an autotrophic system, there are signs that the carrying capacity during some seasons has been exceeded, and adverse ecological and socioeconomic effects in the basin are evident. Full article

Biologists commonly use standard sampling protocols to ensure that data are comparable spatiotemporally. Data also need to be precise to allow for statistically meaningful comparisons. However, the effort needed to precisely sample desert fishes is unclear. We used a resampling approach to evaluate the effort requirements needed to precisely sample fishes among six wadeable rivers in the Gila River basin, New Mexico. We evaluated the number of samples that are necessary to obtain relative density estimates that had 25% relative standard error 80% of the time. We also estimated the effort needed to precisely characterize species richness. Our results indicate that precisely sampling fish in the Gila River basin is difficult. Sonora Sucker Catostomus insignis, Desert Sucker C. clarkii, Longfin Dace Agosia chrysogaster, and Speckled Dace Rhinicthyes osculus were generally the only species that could be precisely sampled. Characterizing the native species assemblage in the Gila River basin required between two and seven reaches, whereas the entire species assemblage could only be characterized in 50% of the study systems. The challenge of precisely sampling fish in the Gila River basin suggests that alternative sampling methods may be required to characterize changes in density or species distribution in desert Southwest systems. Full article

Pentavalent antimonials are the first line for leishmaniasis treatment, although they induce many adverse side effects and treatment failure and parasite resistance have been detected. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the main clinical manifestation of the disease in Oaxaca State, Mexico; however, its presence is under-registered, and information about the Leishmania species that circulate and cause the disease in the region is limited. In this study, the presence of Leishmania was analyzed in 24 skin smears and 2 biopsies from lesions suspicious for leishmaniasis in inhabitants of the Tehuantepec Isthmus and Papaloapan Basin regions, Oaxaca State. By ITS1-PCR, the species of clinical isolates were identified. Moreover, the susceptibility of clinical isolates to leishmanicidal drugs was assessed. Skin smears were negative for the presence of Leishmania spp.; meanwhile, parasite amastigotes were observed in tissue biopsies; however, by ITS1-PCR, 46% of the samples were determined to be positive for the parasite. Six clinical isolates were identified as L. mexicana and had lower susceptibility to Miltefosine and Amphotericin B than the L. mexicana reference strain. No leishmanicidal activity of Glucantime was detected. Further studies with increased patient sample sizes and genotypic studies will describe in detail parasite susceptibility to reference drugs in the region. Full article