Assessing the extent and diversity of riparian ecosystems in Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

Conservation of forested riparian ecosystems is of international concern. Relatively little is known of the structure, composition, diversity, and extent of riparian ecosystems in Mexico. We used high-and low-resolution satellite imagery from 2000 to 2006, and ground-based sampling in 2006, to assess the spatial pattern, extent, and woody plant composition of riparian forests across a range of spatial scales for the state of Sonora, Mexico. For all 3rd and higher order streams, river bottomlands with riparian forests occupied a total area of 2,301 km 2 . Where forested bottomlands remained, on average, 34% of the area had been converted to agriculture while 39% remained forested. We estimated that the total area of riparian forest along the principal streams was 897 km 2 . Including fencerow trees, the total forested riparian area was 944 km 2 , or 0.5% of the total land area of Sonora. Ground-based sampling of woody riparian vegetation consisted of 92, 50 m radius circular plots. About 79 woody plant species were noted. The most important tree species, based on cover and frequency, were willow species Salix spp. (primarily S. goodingii and S. bonplandiana), mesquite species Prosopis spp. (primarily P. velutina), and Fremont cottonwood Populus fremontii. Woody riparian taxa at the reach scale showed a trend of

Assessing Riparian Vegetation Condition and Function in Disturbed Sites of the Arid Northwestern Mexico

“…Shrub cover is variable among all sites, the lowest percentages in Aguilar Ranch, Cienega and San Juan Ranch can be due to the constant presence of cattle and the negative effect it has on shrubs [4,11,26,[52][53][54][55]. Trees cover more than 30% of the area in most sites (Figure 4), which indicates certain stability among the canopy.…”

“…Ricinus communis is considered as an indicator of disturbed habitats [63]. Nicotiana glauca is widely common in Sonoran rivers [64] and high dominant values in its presence have been found in many places where half of the land has been transformed to agriculture [11]. It stands out that these species were found in the sites with the lowest disturbance degree.…”

Analyzing Landscape Trends on Agriculture, Introduced Exotic Grasslands and Riparian Ecosystems in Arid Regions of Mexico

“…Land cover changes of riparian systems in the Southwestern US and Northwestern Mexico have been occurring constantly over the last centuries [14,17,[27][28][29][30]. However, the monitoring of land cover change over extensive areas was extremely challenging and resource consuming until technological capabilities provided by remote sensing approaches were developed [15,31].…”

“…Only 0.1% to 0.5% of the surface covered by arid environments in northwestern Mexico and the Southwestern US are RE [5,13,14]. Despite this, RE represent key habitats in arid environments, since the availability of water makes them unique in terms of their fauna, flora and ecological processes [15].…”

Riparian Vegetation of River Bhavani, Pillur Beat, Karamadai Range, Western Ghats – An Intensive Assessment

“…Riparian forests have received much attention in the recent years and attracted international concern (Scott et al 2009), due to their role in providing many ecosystem services such as preventing soil erosion, minimizing floods, enhancing wildlife corridor, habitat for endemic species, etc. The riparian forest has been recognized as "keystone ecosystem", because it harbours certain unique habitats which are highly influenced by water (Goebel et al, 2003;Sunil et al, 2016) The use of riparian zones for farming is a predominant activity along the banks of rivers that affects the riparian ecology and ecosystem services and interferes with the ecological functions of wetlands (Gopal et al, 2002).…”