Las áreas naturales protegidas (ANP) son muy importantes para frenar el impacto antrópico. Sin embargo, es difícil medir su efectividad debido a que se carece de información de referencia. Evaluamos la variación espaciotemporal en la estructura y composición de la comunidad de mamíferos medianos y grandes (> 500 g) en la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote (REBISO) y comparamos la riqueza de especies registradas entre 2013 y 2016 vs. las especies reportadas en 1996. Además, comparamos la riqueza y la composición de especies entre la zona núcleo, la de amortiguamiento y el área de influencia. En 2,835 días cámara-trampa se registraron 19 especies (79.2% de las previamente reportadas) pertenecientes a 13 familias y 7 órdenes. Cuniculus paca y Dasyprocta mexicana fueron las especies más frecuentes. Leopardus pardalis y L. wiedii fueron más frecuentes en la zona núcleo que en la zona de amortiguamiento o área de influencia, mientras que Didelphis virginiana y Nasua narica, fueron más frecuentes en la zona de amortiguamiento o en el área de influencia que en la zona núcleo. Los muestreos multianuales son fundamentales para tener una línea base que permita evaluar el efecto de las perturbaciones sobre la biodiversidad en las ANP.

Activity patterns of terrestrial frugivorous mammals in a Mexican Neotropical forest

Grasslands are one of the most threatened terrestrial biomes leading to a loss of grassland biodiversity, including birds. Here, we studied the wintering grassland bird diversity and community structure in two private livestock ranches in the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico. We explored how bird communities are related to vegetation structure, including shrub cover and invasive exotic natal grass (Melinis repens), two drivers of grassland bird habitat degradation. We used Hill’s numbers to estimate taxonomic species richness and diversity and related these metrics to vegetation covariables using linear models. We employed nonmetric dimensional scaling (NMDS) to explore the importance of vegetation covariates in structuring bird communities. We found that bird species diversity was significantly and negatively related to bare ground cover at a plot level. At the ranch level, shrub cover, grass height and natal grass were important in structuring avian communities, negatively affecting the presence and abundance of grassland specialist bird species. Our results indicated that shrub encroachment and invasive exotic natal grass cover may alter grassland bird communities and should, therefore, be considered in grassland bird conservation management.

Environmental degradation has altered animal population dynamics, making the monitoring of parasitic communities in wildlife relevant because of their potential impact on environmental and public health. Through the compilation of ectoparasite data in three wild canids of Mexico, an updated list of ectoparasite species recorded on them in Mexico is reported. The goal is to understand the current state of knowledge about the taxonomic composition of ectoparasite communities in wild canids, specifically which taxa are currently known, locations been recorded, and sites yet to be sampled. Using electronic databases, geographical coordinates were obtained for localities with records of wild canids and their ectoparasites. The records for the canid species and their respective collected ectoparasites were mapped in Mexico. Urocyon cinereoargenteus has the greatest number of ectoparasite species, followed by Canis latrans and Vulpes macrotis. A total of 14 flea species from three families were recorded. The family Pulicidae was the most abundant, followed by Rhopalopsyllidae and Ceratophyllidae. Regarding ticks, only three species of the family Ixodidae were found. No louse records were found. It is recommended to conduct further studies on the composition and structure of ectoparasite communities in carnivores because it provides fundamental data for species conservation.

Mammalogy Notes. Publicación de la Sociedad Colombiana de Mastozoología (SCMas)