Each year, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico attracts thousands of people from Mexico and around the world to witness the overwintering phenomena of aggregating and migrating monarch butterflies. Thus, conservation and tourism are central components to the management of this protected area. Despite the popularity of tourism, few researchers have described the on-site experiences provided to visitors of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. An ethnographic study documented the infrastructure, trails, signage, visitor management, and education strategies provided to visitors in this Reserve. The goal of this study was to examine how anthropogenic impacts from tourism activities are currently managed, and to present suggestions that could enhance the conservation of monarch butterflies and tourism experiences in this iconic protected area.

In light of existing regulations regarding the use of nematicides coupled with the global loss of agricultural outputs due to nematodes, new strategies are needed to ensure soil ecosystem health while promoting crop production without the use of potentially dangerous chemicals. Proof of concept methodologies can be used by soil/agricultural scientists interested in identifying potential shortcomings of a given strategy and to identify additional parameters for future work. Using this limited approach allows for the dissemination of information in a stepwise fashion so that changes in research strategies can be initiated prior to final 'definitive’ results. This work tests the viability of using coal fly ash, stabilized biosolids, or a mixture of the two to manage plant-parasitic nematode populations and increase carrot yield.

Habitat loss affects the nature of biotic interactions in all ecosystems and at all levels of the food web. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to soil nematodes in tropical habitats despite their important role in ecosystem functioning worldwide. Here, we analyzed the influence of anthropogenic habitat disturbance on the absolute and relative density and composition (i.e., trophic guilds) of soil nematode communities associated with the rhizosphere of the tropical herb Heliconia collinsiana in continuous mature forests and human-induced secondary forests. We compared nematode densities based on the following feeding guilds: bacterivores, fungivores, herbivores and predators. Thereafter, we classified herbivorous nematodes into genera and described soil properties in both habitat types including pH, electrical conductivity, and organic matter content. Herbivores were significantly the most abundant feeding guild for both habitats represented by Criconemella spp., Helicotylenchus spp., and Meloidogyne spp., which showed no significant differences in density between habitats. Relative but not absolute nematode density differed between habitats, with fungivore nematodes being significantly lower in secondary forests. No significant differences in soil properties were detected. Overall, our results suggest that forest disturbance affects the nematode community associated with the rhizosphere of H. collinsiana which may affect forest succession and the dynamics of the soil biota. Our study contributes to the understanding of biotic interactions in conserved and disturbed tropical habitats.