Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates

It is unclear how land use change, reduction in tree cover and human footprint impact species occurrence and co-occurrence especially at a large regional scale. This is particularly prevalent for species with complex life cycles, for example odonates (dragonflies and damselflies). We evaluated richn...

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Main Authors: Karina Cuevas-Yáñez, Mariana Benítez, Maya Rocha, Alex Cordoba-Aguilar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2017-08-01
Series:Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revista.ib.unam.mx/index.php/bio/article/view/1913
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author Karina Cuevas-Yáñez
Mariana Benítez
Maya Rocha
Alex Cordoba-Aguilar
author_facet Karina Cuevas-Yáñez
Mariana Benítez
Maya Rocha
Alex Cordoba-Aguilar
author_sort Karina Cuevas-Yáñez
collection DOAJ
description It is unclear how land use change, reduction in tree cover and human footprint impact species occurrence and co-occurrence especially at a large regional scale. This is particularly prevalent for species with complex life cycles, for example odonates (dragonflies and damselflies). We evaluated richness of odonates in Mexico in terms of land use, tree cover and human footprint. We also analyzed how odonate species co-occur to interpret our richness analysis using a community perspective. We used odonate collecting records from year 2000 to 2014. Odonate geographical records were more abundant in forest and agricultural areas, and decreased in areas without vegetation. Although our results may suffer of incomplete samplings, there was a positive relationship between species richness and tree cover, and a quadratic relationship with human footprint was observed. These results indicate that some degree of forest disturbance may still sustain relatively high odonate richness levels. Finally, species tend to co-occur in particular ensembles with some species being key in their ecological communities. Further studies should detail the role these key species play in their environments to provide community stability.
format Article
id doaj-art-817c46c01aea4aa8818ef03a1f71cb22
institution DOAJ
issn 1870-3453
2007-8706
language English
publishDate 2017-08-01
publisher Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
record_format Article
series Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
spelling doaj-art-817c46c01aea4aa8818ef03a1f71cb222025-08-20T02:58:50ZengUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoRevista Mexicana de Biodiversidad1870-34532007-87062017-08-0188310.1016/j.rmb.2017.06.008Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonatesKarina Cuevas-Yáñez0Mariana Benítez1Maya Rocha2Alex Cordoba-Aguilar3Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoIt is unclear how land use change, reduction in tree cover and human footprint impact species occurrence and co-occurrence especially at a large regional scale. This is particularly prevalent for species with complex life cycles, for example odonates (dragonflies and damselflies). We evaluated richness of odonates in Mexico in terms of land use, tree cover and human footprint. We also analyzed how odonate species co-occur to interpret our richness analysis using a community perspective. We used odonate collecting records from year 2000 to 2014. Odonate geographical records were more abundant in forest and agricultural areas, and decreased in areas without vegetation. Although our results may suffer of incomplete samplings, there was a positive relationship between species richness and tree cover, and a quadratic relationship with human footprint was observed. These results indicate that some degree of forest disturbance may still sustain relatively high odonate richness levels. Finally, species tend to co-occur in particular ensembles with some species being key in their ecological communities. Further studies should detail the role these key species play in their environments to provide community stability.https://revista.ib.unam.mx/index.php/bio/article/view/1913DragonflyDamselflyLand useHuman footprintSpecies richnessForest
spellingShingle Karina Cuevas-Yáñez
Mariana Benítez
Maya Rocha
Alex Cordoba-Aguilar
Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Dragonfly
Damselfly
Land use
Human footprint
Species richness
Forest
title Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
title_full Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
title_fullStr Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
title_full_unstemmed Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
title_short Large-scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in Mexican odonates
title_sort large scale human environmental intervention is related to a richness reduction in mexican odonates
topic Dragonfly
Damselfly
Land use
Human footprint
Species richness
Forest
url https://revista.ib.unam.mx/index.php/bio/article/view/1913
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AT marianabenitez largescalehumanenvironmentalinterventionisrelatedtoarichnessreductioninmexicanodonates
AT mayarocha largescalehumanenvironmentalinterventionisrelatedtoarichnessreductioninmexicanodonates
AT alexcordobaaguilar largescalehumanenvironmentalinterventionisrelatedtoarichnessreductioninmexicanodonates