Ecosystems degradation, and consequently biodiversity loss, has severe impacts on people around the world. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is one of the international initiatives that have emerged to inform policy makers and aid decisions to prevent further global biodiversity loss, focusing on the interdependence between natural systems and human culture. IPBES promotes the use of scenarios and modelling approaches as a fundamental tool to advance the understanding of the relationships between drivers of change, Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), and social systems. Local-scale case studies with a system approach demonstrating how current knowledge can be used to inform decision-making are still scarce. Here, we present a comprehensive conceptual model and a series of four scenarios under different policies for shea tree species management, as a case-study of applying systems thinking and the NCP concept to a local-scale socio-ecological system. We first characterized the central processes, NCP, drivers and pressures affecting the shea tree system, to investigate the impacts of the multiple uses of the shea tree species on the system as a whole. We then described potential policy options, developed four scenarios, and evaluated them by a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN). We predicted qualitative outcomes of the proposed scenarios: Business-as-usual (BAU), “Conservation and fair trade”, “Agroforestry and fair trade” and “Industrial development”. We found that the scenarios focussing on conservation, fair trade and agroforestry, can improve the conservation status of shea trees, and enhance wellbeing in the local communities. In this case study, we demonstrate that the development of a comprehensive conceptual model at a local scale can be a useful exercise to identify opportunities for effective policy strategies and social innovation. The shea tree case study can provide an example for modelling non-timber forest products in other regions around the world that face similar drivers and pressures. Species for which this model could be adapted include Central and South American species such as the Brazilian nut (Bertholletia excelsa), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), andiroba (Carapa guianensis), açai (Euterpe oleracea) and the wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense). The model and workflow applied here may thus be used to understand similar socio-ecological systems with local and international economic value across the Neotropical region.

The Mexican Republic ranks fifth in the world in terms of amphibian diversity, and within Mexico, the state of Oaxaca has the greatest amphibian richness and endemism. Unfortunately, various factors, such as land use change and global warming, have caused a global crisis that threatens the conservation of this class. In the face of these threats, an analysis of beta diversity provides information that can be applied to conservation strategies, since its study reveals the spatial scaling of diversity loss and clarifies the mechanisms of regional diversity maintenance. In this work, we analyzed the beta diversity at the species and higher taxa level (order, family, subfamily, genus and species) for the amphibians of Oaxaca and their replacement components and the differences in richness for anurans and caudates separately between physiographic subprovinces. Very high beta diversity was recorded, with higher diversity occurring among caudates (0.92) than among anurans (0.84). Species replacement was the component that most contributed to this result, and the subprovinces with substantial environmental differences had the most dissimilar amphibian communities. The results of this study show the need to implement conservation strategies in subprovinces with high amphibian richness and endemism levels, following the example of Sierra Madre de Oaxaca (SMO), where local communities have developed conservation actions in most of the territory.

The Mexican Republic ranks fifth in the world in terms of amphibian diversity, and within Mexico, the state of Oaxaca has the greatest amphibian richness and endemism. Unfortunately, various factors, such as land use change and global warming, have caused a global crisis that threatens the conservation of this class. In the state of Oaxaca, few studies of amphibians have been carried out at the state level. Several research has shown that an analysis of beta diversity provides information that can be applied to conservation strategies. In this work, we analyzed the beta diversity at the species level and higher taxon level for the amphibians of Oaxaca and their replacement components and the differences in richness for anurans and caudates separately between physiographic subprovinces. Very high beta diversity was recorded, with higher diversity occurring among caudates than among anurans. Replacement was the component that most contributed to this result, and the subprovinces with substantial environmental differences had the most dissimilar amphibian communities. The results of this study show the need to implement conservation strategies in subprovinces with high amphibian richness and endemism levels, following the example of Sierra Madre de Oaxaca (SMO)

Los pescadores artesanales reciben de la naturaleza servicios ecosistémicos culturales (SC) que son esenciales para su bienestar y que pueden afectarse por intervenciones de desarrollo que ignoran su importancia y ubicación. En este estudio cuantificamos la relevancia de estos SC, analizando las relaciones espaciales de su flujo e identificando las amenazas que los comprometen, a través de encuestas, entrevistas semiestructuradas, mapeo participativo y valoración social a pescadores de la subcuenca del río Mascota, estado de Jalisco, México. Los anáilsis revelaron que los SC integran la identidad colectiva e individual de los pescadores y ocurren en los ríos y cuerpos de agua próximos a las localidades principales. Las amenazas fueron disminución de la abundancia de peces y captura debido a malas prácticas, alteraciones de los ríos y pérdida del bosque de ribera. Esta investigación visibiliza el valor de los SC y propone acciones para su inclusión en los planes regionales de desarrollo.

The geographic landscape is a recurrent unit of analysis in vulnerability studies. Single descriptions are often used to show the elements exposed in these landscapes. However, the concept requires specifying the components of the landscape and its functioning as a unit. Thus, the purpose of this research was to use the analysis of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) to describe the global contribution of landscape elements to human activities, prioritizing the units in which the effects of climate change may imply greater impacts on the human population. For this, we analyzed six categories of nature’s contributions applied to the landscape units in a fragment of the Mexican Pacific coast. The units with mangrove cover had the highest nature contributions. It is expected that the application of this approach in the exposure component of vulnerability studies will allow a better understanding of the non-return relationship and the search for adaptive nature-based solutions.

El presente estudio evalúo la diversidad alfa y beta del ensamblaje de peces de la cuenca del río Ameca incorporando su estructura taxonómica. Para ésto, se integraron registros de bases de datos, literatura científica y datos de campo. Se utilizaron índices de distintividad taxonómica para evaluar el ensamblaje de peces y la diversidad beta se determinó con índices de disimilitud de especies y taxonómica. Se presenta el listado taxonómico más actualizado parael área conformado por 74 especies, entre las cuales se presentan nuevos registros, especies translocadas, introducidas y ampliaciones de distribución. Se revelan discrepancias espaciales entre la riqueza y la diversidad taxonómica de la ictiofauna, ya que la riqueza es mayor en las partes altas, mientras que la diversidad taxonómica es superior en las partes bajas. Así mismo, se detectaron diferencias en la composición del ensamblaje de peces tanto a nivel de especie como a niveles taxonómicos supraespecíficos, que se presentan entre las partes altas y bajas, ésto enfatiza la importancia de mantener la conectividad entre los ríos de la región. El enfoque de especies y taxones superiores de este estudio ofrece información más completa sobre el ensamblaje de peces que permitirá priorizar áreas para suconservación bajo una perspectiva integral.