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Jaguar distribution, biological corridors and protected areas in Mexico: from science to public policies
Landscape Ecology ( IF 5.2 ) Pub Date : 2021-07-21 , DOI: 10.1007/s10980-021-01264-0
Gerardo Ceballos 1 , Erik Joaquín Torres-Romero 1 , J. Antonio de la Torre 2, 3 , Heliot Zarza 4 , Cuauhtémoc Chávez 4 , Marco Huerta 5 , Marco A. Lazcano-Barrero 6 , Horacio Barcenas 7 , Ivonne Cassaigne 8 , Gerardo Carreón 9 , Oscar Moctezuma 9 , Arturo Caso 10 , Sasha Carvajal 10 , Andrés García 11 , Jonathan Job Morales 12 , Octavio Monroy-Vilchis 13 , Fernando Ruiz 14
Affiliation  

Context

Land use change, habitat loss and fragmentation are the major threats to jaguar conservation in Latin America. Here, we integrate the information of jaguar’s distribution to identify priority areas for its conservation.

Objective

We evaluated the effect of topographic, anthropogenic and landscape variables on habitat suitability to evaluate potential core areas and biological corridors for jaguar conservation across Mexico.

Methods

We compiled a database of jaguar occurrence records, geospatial data-set of all Natural Protected Areas and using the expert criterion of the Mexican jaguar specialists to define Jaguar Geographic Regions; i.e. well-defined large units with similar ecological characteristics across the geographic range of jaguars in Mexico. We then conducted analyses of ecological niche models to identify Jaguar Conservation Units; i.e. core units with jaguar populations of 15 or more individuals. We used Least Cost Path and Circuit Theory analyses to define the Biological Corridors; i.e. regions with enough habitat to allow for jaguar dispersal along their geographic range, but putting emphasis in connecting Jaguar Conservation Units.

Results

We identified 5 Jaguar Geographic Regions (JGRs), 10 Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), and 13 Biological Corridors to maintain the connectivity of jaguar’s populations across their whole geographic range in Mexico. Our results showed that JGRs cover 25% of the country but only 21% of those regions are currently protected in nature reserves. So, our study illustrates the importance of the creation of new protected areas or the implementation of other schemes of conservation to protect larger extensions of the jaguars’ habitat in Mexico. It also indicates that despite the reduction of jaguar range in Mexico, there are still relatively large and well conserved areas capable of maintaining jaguar populations.

Conclusions

Our results are a fundamental tool to guide the conservation and management of jaguars in Mexico. Our findings indicate that public jaguar conservation policy to protect the remaining jaguar habitat in Mexico should include the following actions: i) Strengthen established protected areas, ii) Create new protected areas, iii) Implement sustainable development programs to stimulate land owners to protect their lands, and iv) Develop mitigation measures for infrastructure. Although the window of opportunity is closing, our results indicate that there is still time to save jaguars and the plethora of species that share their habitat in Mexico.



中文翻译:

墨西哥的美洲虎分布、生物走廊和保护区:从科学到公共政策

语境

土地利用变化、栖息地丧失和破碎化是拉丁美洲美洲豹保护的主要威胁。在这里,我们整合了美洲虎分布的信息,以确定其保护的优先区域。

客观的

我们评估了地形、人为和景观变量对栖息地适宜性的影响,以评估墨西哥美洲虎保护的潜在核心区域和生物走廊。

方法

我们编译了美洲豹发生记录的数据库,所有自然保护区的地理空间数据集,并使用墨西哥美洲豹专家的专家标准来定义美洲豹地理区域;即在墨西哥美洲虎的地理范围内具有相似生态特征的明确定义的大型单元。然后,我们对生态位模型进行了分析,以确定捷豹保护区;即拥有 15 个或更多个体的美洲虎种群的核心单位。我们使用最小成本路径和电路理论分析来定义生物走廊;即具有足够栖息地以允许美洲虎在其地理范围内扩散的地区,但重点放在连接美洲虎保护单位上。

结果

我们确定了 5 个美洲豹地理区域 (JGR)、10 个美洲豹保护区 (JCU) 和 13 个生物走廊,以保持墨西哥整个地理范围内美洲豹种群的连通性。我们的结果表明,JGR 覆盖了全国 25% 的地区,但目前只有 21% 的地区受到自然保护区的保护。因此,我们的研究说明了创建新保护区或实施其他保护计划以保护墨西哥美洲虎栖息地更大范围的重要性。它还表明,尽管墨西哥的美洲豹分布范围有所减少,但仍有相对较大且保存完好的区域能够维持美洲豹种群。

结论

我们的结果是指导墨西哥美洲虎保护和管理的基本工具。我们的研究结果表明,保护墨西哥剩余美洲虎栖息地的公共美洲虎保护政策应包括以下行动:i) 加强已建立的保护区,ii) 创建新的保护区,iii) 实施可持续发展计划以激励土地所有者保护他们的土地, 和 iv) 为基础设施制定缓解措施。尽管机会之窗正在关闭,但我们的结果表明,仍有时间拯救美洲虎和在墨西哥共享栖息地的众多物种。

更新日期:2021-07-22
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