Mammals of the Jesús María River Basin, Western Mexico: Alpha and Beta Diversity in an Area of High Environmental Heterogeneity

Mamíferos (Tetrapoda: Mammalia) de la Sierra Madre Occidental, México: megadiversidad en un área de alta complejidad ambiental.

“…As previously documented for some areas of the SMO (López-González et al, 2014a;López-González et al, 2022), its biological and evolutionary importance resides not only in its absolute richness, but on its high species turnover rate both at large and small scales (Rodríguez et al, 2003). At the range scale, the east-west and north-south, effects of orographic shade and latitude, respectively, produce the Nearctic-Neotropical divide described by numerous biogeographers before (e. g. Morrone & Márquez, 2003;Morrone, 2020).…”

“…Vázquez et al (2009) concluded that the northern portion of the SMO was one of the three most important areas for conservation of Mexican mammals in Mexico. Based on our results, we propose that the southern portion is also a very important area for protection because of its biological complexity (González-Elizondo et al, 2013;López-González et al, 2014a;Kobelkowsky-Vidrio et al, 2014;López-González et al, 2022). An informed reassessment of the conservation priorities that include the participation of all stakeholders and the new data available, is urgently needed for the SMO.…”

“…Some comprehensive inventories have been conducted in some CONABIO terrestrial priority areas (Arriaga et al, 2000), Alta Tarahumara-Barrancas, Chihuahua (RTP 30; López-González & García-Mendoza, 2006), San Juan de Camarones, Durango (RTP-23;Torres-Morales et al, 2010), San Pedro-Mezquital river basin, Durango and Nayarit (RTP 57;López-González et al, 2014a), and Jesús María River basin, Nayarit (RTP 59; García-Mendoza et al, 2021;López-González et al, 2022). Other inventories have focused on protected areas like la Michilía, Durango (Álvarez & Polaco, 1984); Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Bavispe, Sonora (Coronel-Arellano et al, 2016;; and Cerro Mohinora, Chihuahua (Webb & Baker, 1984).…”

“…From Escuinapa northwestward, the western slope of the SMO is dominated by tropical deciduous forest that gradually become subtropical scrub, to finally turn into desert scrub at the northern end of the SMO in western Sonora . As a result, the mammalian fauna in the southern extreme of the SMO has more in common with the faunas of the coastal plain of Jalisco to the south, than with the coastal plain of northern Sinaloa (López-González et al, 2014a;López-González et al, 2022).…”

“…There are bibliographic compilations for some areas: Sonora (Álvarez-Castañeda & Patton, 1999, Aguascalientes (Álvarez-Castañeda et al, 2008; or state-wide checklists (Aguascalientes, de la Riva 2008;Sonora, Castillo-Gámez et al, 2010;Nayarit, Arroyo-Cabrales et al, 2015;Ramírez Silva et al, 2015Chihuahua, López-González & García Mendoza, 2012;Durango, García-Mendoza & López-González, 2013;Jalisco, Guerrero-Vázquez et al, 2017;Zacatecas, López-Ortega et al, 2020). More detailed studies address mammal diversity at the regional level (e. g. List & McDonald, 1998;Pacheco et al, 2000;López-González & García-Mendoza, 2006;Torres-Morales et al, 2010;Espinosa-Flores et al, 2012;López-González et al, 2014a;Coronel-Arellano et al, 2016;López-González et al, 2022).…”