Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The biological knowledge, current distribution and conservation status of the species of jackrabbits (Lepus) in risk category distributed in islands of Baja California Sur, Mexico is very useful to take specific actions for its management and conservation. The objective of this work was to spread recent results on the actual state that keep the populations from two species of Lepus with presence in the Islands Margarita and Magdalena (L. californicus magdalenae), Carmen (L. c. sheldoni), and Espiritu Santo (L. insularis). We analyzed their distribution, density, habitat, associate fauna, and human impact in their populations. Additionally, we proposed new risk categories for the species and subspecies of jackrabbits following the criteria of the method of evaluation of extinction risk for the wild species in Mexico (MER), and were included data on their behavior, food habits and signs of reproductive activity.

...

The Campeche state harbors 55 species of bats and it has sites with high multispecific abundance such as the cave called “El Volcán de los Murciélagos” in natural protected areas known as “Zona Sujeta a Conservación Ecológica Balam-Kú” in Calakmul Municipality, Campeche. This paper aims to provide an overview of the field work that has been developed in relation with the quiropterofauna of Campeche, give a study case, and propose conservation strategies for the “El Volcán de los Murciélagos” cave in Calakmul, Campeche. In this cave, it is required to establish short-term muldisciplinaries actions for conservation: including the management and conservation program, studies on population dynamics, environmental education, animal health, and impact of pesticides on food chains such as the crop-insect-bats-raptors (or wildlife in general), and agriculture-human chains.

The kit-fox, Vulpes macrotis, was recorded by a camera-trap in southern Sonora, México. The new record extends their distribution range by 174 km to the southeast from the previous known documented locality, in a mountain environment covered by deciduous tropical forest.

The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve (TCBR), located between the states of Oaxaca and Puebla, is characterized by its high biological, geological and cultural diversity, as well as a high percentage of endemic species. In this site is inhabit by the collared peccary Pecari tajacu, red brocket deer Mazama temama and white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, which are widely used by rural communities. However, more information is required for their sustainable management. The aim of this study was to estimate the potential distribution of these species in the TCBR. Data of species presence and 28 layers of environmental information were used to model the potential distribution through the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm. Considering a total area of 4, 906 km2 for TCBR, the potential distribution of collared peccary, red brocket deer and white-tailed deer, were estimated at 78%, 3% and 92% respectively. Seven variables explained the distribution of the three species. The results suggest that the environmental characteristics of the TCRB offer better conditions for the presence of white-tailed deer and collared peccary, while for the red brocket, the conditions are marginal. We discuss some possible implications for the management of these ungulates according to ecological, social and cultural needs of the region.

With the bat diversity from the state of Oaxaca being so vast, it is necessary to update species inventories and to know in depth the current level of research information on this group. We analyzed both, published and unpublished sources related to bat species from the state with the main goal of enhancing the knowledge on bats from Oaxaca. The bat fauna for Oaxaca consists of 94 species, arranged in 54 genera and 6 families. Altogether, this group represents 68.2% of the total species recorded for the country. A total of 56 bibliographic sources published between 1950 and 2012 were compiled, and from those, 53.7% represents journal articles, 29.6% bachelor theses, 9.3% chapters in books and 7.4% master theses. Topics represented with most frequency in the reviewed records were: checklists (31.5%), diversity (25.9%), new records (20.4%), others (11.1%), autecology (7.4%), and lastly, diet and habitat had the same percentage (1.9%). It is necessary to address issues of current relevance such as habitat fragmentation effect on bat assemblies, organism body condition, and also, possible causes that might affect species richness in the state. In addition, there are geographic locations which still lack information related to distribution of bats; and this is the case for the Putla de Guerrero region, Sola de Vega and Miahuatlán.

White-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus and collared peccary Pecari tajacu are the two native ungulates species present in the Bajo Balsas region. Both are very important from an ecological, social and economical perspective. Therefore, evaluate the effects of changes in land use on their distribution is basic for conservation and management proposes. In this paper we used the ecological niche modeling to generate an hypothetical scenario about the potential distribution of these two species in this region, then using geographic information systems we obtained some landscape metrics to evaluate how changes in land use affects these distributions; finally, we analyzed the protection provided by the Biosphere Reserve of Zicuirán-Infiernillo (RBZI) to these ungulates. The potential distribution of white-tailed deer covered an area of 5,321 km2 and the collared peccary of 5,762 km2. As a result of changes in land use both species lose in their potential distribution an area of 1,011 km2 and 1,303 km2, respectively. The RBZI protects approximately 36% of the distributions of these ungulates in Bajo Balsas. Considering the small patches sizes to maintain minimum viable populations, We suggest that the best strategy for the conservation of these species in this region is a scheme based on source-sink dynamics, taking as a source the RBZI and as a sink the management units (UMA) that are already established in the area.

In this work was determined the pattern of use and selection temporal and spatial of vegetal associations of the Tehuantepec jackrabbit (Lepus flavigularis), endemic species, and in risk of extinction. The data were obtained by the density by count of pellets and direct records of jackrabbits in different vegetal associations and the availability (area) of each one, and it was compared between dry and rainy seasons in Montecillo Santa Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico. Four types of vegetal associations were determined: 1) savannah-morro, 2) savannah-nanchal, 3) thorny scrub, and 4) gallery forest. The savannah-nanchal was selected by the jackrabbit using the densities with the count of pellets (c2 = 202.35, P = 0.05), and the savannah-morro was selected at night according to the records of jackrabbits observed (c2 = 6.98, P = 0.05). The selection of vegetal associations does not differ between the dry and rainy seasons. The Tehuantepec jackrabbit probably selects opened areas with a low density of shrubs. When knowing the vegetal associations selected by the Tehuantepec jackrabbit, it will be possible to identify high-priority sites for its conservation.

At this time there is no hypothesis of kinship in Mexican hares based on a comparison of the molariform tooth enamel, which represent valuable of information for systematic purposes, used to describe fossil and extant species. We describe the patterns of the enamel of five species of hares using the second and third upper premolars and third lower premolar. The enamel pattern was identified and described using a microscope and reference photographs. The enamel pattern was compared among species and informative characters were identified or recognized, in order to discriminate species. We also found that the third lower upper molar and the second upper premolar were the most useful teeth to better discriminate the species. It was found that L. insularis is closer to L. californicus, they share a simple enamel pattern, while L. alleni shows a complex pattern in number of folds and forms, and is more similar to L. callotis and L. flavigularis. It was concluded that these characters distinguish the pattern of tooth enamel, which generally shows little variation within the species, but more significantly among species.

This research assessed the degree of genetic divergence between Lepus insularis and L. californicus xanti from the Baja California Peninsula as a consequence of the geographical isolation of the former using allozymic analyses. Results were compared and contrasted with the similar biogeographical condition for the taxon pair L. c. sheldoni, from Carmen Island, and L. c. martirensis, from the northern range of the Peninsula. Heart and kidney tissues were used to obtain 26 loci by the conventional protein electrophoresis technique with starch gels. Estimations of genetic variability with the software BIOSYS showed that L. c. xanti was the most variable population while in contrast L. insularis was poorly variable. Research data confirmed a clear genetic divergence between L. insularis and L. c. xanti supporting the notion that geographical isolation in Baja California islands may slow or limit gene flow contributing to losses of genetic variation that leads to genetic differentiation.