Abundancia y estructura poblacional de Crocodylus acutus (Reptilia: Crocodylidae) en la laguna Palmasola, Oaxaca, México

Abstract

Population ecology of Crocodylus acutus (Reptilia: Crocodylidae) in Palmasola lagoon, Oaxaca, Mexico. Abundance and population structure are important parameters to evaluate and compare the conservation status of a population over time in a given area. This study describes the population abundance and structure of Crocodylus acutus in Palmasola lagoon, Oaxaca. The field works consisted of night surveys during the new moon phase, between the 21:00 and 24:00h. These were conducted during the dry and wet seasons and counted the number of individuals to obtain population estimates. Recorded encounter rates ranged from 32 to 109.3ind./ km in 40 journeys deployed with an average time of 18 minutes browsing. The estimated population size using the Messel´s model ranged from 32.7 to 93 individuals. For both seasons, there was a marked dominance of subadults, followed by juveniles and to a lesser extent adult individuals, as well as undetermined individuals (i.e. unknown body/size/length), in both seasons. There was also a significant association with mangrove areas (26.1%) by juveniles; the subadults´s individual use of superficial water (22.7%) and mangrove areas (15.7%); meanwhile the adults were observed on superficial water (9.7%). This information contributes to our understanding of the population ecology of C. acutus in the Palmasola lagoon where the estimated population size seems to show higher values when compared to other reports in the country. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (1): 165-172. Epub 2014 March 01.

Increasing Population Status of Broad-Snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris) Based on Sustainable Use Strategies in a Managed Protected Area in Santa Fe, Argentina

“…Key parameters for evaluation include population abundance and structure, and if possible, comparing the conservation status of the population over time in similar study areas [14]. Accurately estimating these parameters is crucial for making informed decisions regarding the implementation of management programs and sustainable use [15,16]. However, conducting these estimates is a challenge due to numerous variables that can impact the accuracy of the methods used [17].…”

Estimación poblacional del cocodrilo americano (Crocodylus acutus) en el Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua, Oaxaca, México

“…Además, es una de las especies de cocodrilos con mayor cobertura de investigaciones en el país (García-Grajales y López-Luna, 2010), posiblemente por su amplia distribución geográfica (costas del golfo de México, el Caribe y Pacífico mexicano) (Ernst, Ross y Ross, 1999). Sin embargo, el conocimiento sobre el estado de sus poblaciones en México aún presenta vacíos geográficos de información (García-Grajales y López-Luna, 2010), específicamente en los estados de Michoacán, Guerrero y Oaxaca (García-Grajales y Buenrostro-Silva, 2014a).…”

“…En Oaxaca se han realizado trabajos sobre ecología y conservación de cocodrilos americanos que muestran datos poblacionales (Brandon-Pliego, 2007;García-Grajales y Buenrostro-Silva, 2014aGarcía-Grajales y Espinosa-Reyes, 2001). No obstante, aún existen zonas del estado en las que se desconoce la situación poblacional de la especie.…”