Carbon Flux and Patterns of Land-Use/ Land-Cover Change in the Selva Lacandona, Mexico

Jong, Bernardus Hendricus jozeph De; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana; Castillo-Santiago, Miguel Ángel; Ramírez‐Marcial, Neptalí; Cairns, Michael A.

doi:10.1639/0044-7447(2000)029[0504:cfapol]2.0.co;2

Cited by 47 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…On the other hand, throughout a 7-year period taungya and improved fallows have accumulated onethird of the carbon previously predicted to be reached in 25 years (de Jong et al 2000;Roncal-García et al 2008). Results validate the scientific and technical basis of the Scolel'te Programme related to projection of carbon sequestration in AF practices in the lifetime span.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This may be mainly due to the fact that from 1970 to 1990, land use shifted mainly from mature forest ecosystems toward secondary shrub and forest vegetation and, to a lesser degree, to open areas (de Jong et al 2000). Fire suppression by means of enriching fallows and maize through taungya prototype may reduce C emissions, as it has been suggested other agricultural practices (Canadell and Raupach 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon sequestration through agroforestry in indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico

et al. 2009

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The importance of agroforestry systems as carbon sinks has recently been recognized due to the need of climate change mitigation. The objective of this study was to compare the carbon content in living biomass, soil (0-10, 10-20, 20-30 cm in depth), dead organic matter between a set of non-agroforestry and agroforestry prototypes in Chiapas, Mexico where the carbon sequestration programme called Scolel'te has been carried out. The prototypes compared were: traditional maize (rotational prototype with pioneer native trees evaluated in the crop period), Taungya (maize with timber trees), improved fallow, traditional fallow (the last three rotational prototypes in the crop-free period), Inga-shade-organic coffee, polyculture-shade organic coffee, polyculturenon-organic coffee, pasture without trees, pasture with live fences, and pasture with scattered trees. Taungya and improved fallow were designed agroforestry prototypes, while the others were reproduced traditional systems. Seventy-nine plots were selected in three agro-climatic zones. Carbon in living biomass, dead biomass, and soil organic matter was measured in each plot. Results showed that carbon in living biomass and dead organic matter were different according to prototype; while soil organic carbon and total carbon were influenced mostly by the agro-climatic zone (P \ 0.01). Carbon density in the high tropical agro-climatic zone (1,000 m) was higher compared to the intermediate and low tropical agro-climatic zones (600 and 200 m, respectively, P \ 0.01). All the systems contained more carbon than traditional maize and pastures without trees. Silvopastoral systems, improved fallow, Taungya and coffee systems (especially polyculture-shade coffee and organic coffee) have the potential to sequester carbon via growing trees. Agroforestry systems could also contribute to carbon sequestration and reducing emissions when burning is avoided. The potential of organic coffee to maintain carbon in soil and to reduce emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation (REDD) is discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon sequestration through agroforestry in indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico

et al. 2009

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“…At that time, and until at least the 1950s (Goodnight and Goodnight 1956), Palenque sat amid a vast expanse of rainforest that stretched eastward and southward through much of the Petén in northern Guatemala, and Palenque is part of this biogeographic region (Patten and Smith-Patten 2008). This rainforest has been deforested and fragmented heavily since the 1970s (De Jong et al 2000). Average deforestation rates in Mexico of 1.1-2.4% yield a minimum loss of 631,000 ha/yr (Arizpe et al 1996;(FAO-UN) 2001).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The situation is worse in the south. The Palenque region is at the northern tip of Selva Lacandona, a vast tract of rainforest being lost at rates of 3.5-12.4% per year (O'Brien 1998;De Jong et al 2000;Estrada et al 2002). Nearby areas in the southern Yucatán peninsula have similar rates of 2.0-4.5% (Cortina Villar et al 1999;Mas Caussel 1996).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nearby areas in the southern Yucatán peninsula have similar rates of 2.0-4.5% (Cortina Villar et al 1999;Mas Caussel 1996). Palenque National Park now constitutes an island of rainforest separated from the bulk of the remaining Lacandona by pastures and roads (De Jong et al 2000). Factors contributing to forest loss in the Lacandona include timber extraction, cattle ranching, agricultural clearing ( Fig.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Long-term changes in the bird community of Palenque, Chiapas, in response to rainforest loss

2009

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With increased human populations and subsequent pressure to develop or farm land, the rate of fragmentation of tropical rainforests has accelerated in the past several decades. How native organisms respond to such fragmentation has been the subject of intense study in temperate ecosystems and at several tropical sites in Central and South America, but there has been little study of this phenomenon in Mexico, the country bridging the Neotropics and temperate North America. A reason for this neglect is an apparent lack of long-term data; however, such data can be obtained from ''non-traditional'' sources, such as birders and tour leaders. We make innovative use of such data, combining them with more traditional data (e.g., museum specimens) to create a record of occurrence for Palenque, Mexico, from 1900 to 2009, including a near-continuous presence-absence record since 1970. We analyzed these data using logistic regression and, importantly, recent statistical advances expressly for sighting records. As recently as the 1960s Palenque's forest was contiguous with that of Selva Lacandona to the east, but the protected area surrounding the famous ruins is now a forested island. As a result, various species formerly known from the site have disappeared, including species both large (Crax rubra, Penelope purpurascens, and Ara macao) and small (Notharchus hyperrhynchos, Malacoptila panamensis, Microrhopias quixensis, and Pachyramphus cinnamomeus). By contrast, several species of open areas or second growth have apparently colonized the area (e.g., Thryothorus modestus, Mimus gilvus, Euphonia affinis). Some species turnover has occurred within particular families, such as Columbidae, Trochilidae, and Troglodytidae. Losses and declines we documented at Palenque correspond with those reported from other sites in Mesoamerica, suggesting the soundness of our approach and the general vulnerability of certain species. Compilation and analysis of sighting record data holds great promise for tracking trends in many regions and across many taxa for which long-term census data are lacking.

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Tropical forest loss impoverishes arboreal mammal assemblages by increasing tree canopy openness

Cudney‐Valenzuela

Arroyo‐Rodríguez

Morante‐Filho

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Landscape‐scale deforestation poses a major threat to global biodiversity, not only because it limits habitat availability, but also because it can drive the degradation of the remaining habitat. However, the multiple pathways by which deforestation directly and indirectly affects wildlife remain poorly understood, especially for elusive forest‐dependent species such as arboreal mammals. Using structural equation models, we assessed the direct and indirect effects of landscape forest loss on arboreal mammal assemblages in the Lacandona rainforest, Mexico. We placed camera traps in 100 canopy trees, and assessed the direct effect of forest cover and their indirect effects via changes in tree basal area and canopy openness on the abundance and diversity (i.e., species richness and exponential of Shannon entropy) of arboreal mammals. We found that forest loss had negative indirect effects on mammal richness through the increase of tree canopy openness. This could be related to the fact that canopy openness is usually inversely related to resource availability and canopy connectivity for arboreal mammals. Furthermore, independently of forest loss, the abundance and richness of arboreal mammals was positively related to tree basal area, which is typically higher in old‐growth forests. Thus, our findings suggest that arboreal mammals generally prefer old‐growth vegetation with relatively low canopy openness and high tree basal area. However, unexpectedly, forest loss was directly and positively related to the abundance and richness of mammals, probably due to a crowding effect, a reasonable possibility given the relatively short history (~40 years) of deforestation in the study region. Conversely, the Shannon diversity was not affected by the predictors we evaluated, suggesting that rare mammals (not the common species) are the ones most affected by these changes. All in all, our findings emphasize that conservation measures ought to focus on increasing forest cover in the landscape, and preventing the loss of large trees in the remaining forest patches.

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Carbon Flux and Patterns of Land-Use/ Land-Cover Change in the Selva Lacandona, Mexico

Cited by 47 publications

References 20 publications

Carbon sequestration through agroforestry in indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico

Carbon sequestration through agroforestry in indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico

Long-term changes in the bird community of Palenque, Chiapas, in response to rainforest loss

Tropical forest loss impoverishes arboreal mammal assemblages by increasing tree canopy openness

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