Deforestation in the southern Yucatán peninsular region: an integrative approach

Turner, B. L.; Villar, Sergio Cortina; Foster, David R.; Geoghegan, Jacqueline; Keys, Eric; Klepeis, Peter; Lawrence, Deborah; Macario-Mendoza, Pedro Antonio; Manson, Steven M.; Ogneva‐Himmelberger, Yelena; Plotkin, Audrey B; Salicrup, Diego Pérez; Chowdhury, Rinku Roy; Savitsky, Basil G.; Schneider, Laura; Schmook, Birgit; Vance, Colin

doi:10.1016/s0378-1127(01)00508-4

Cited by 206 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…As the ecosystem degrades, farmers could respond by increasing the fallow period to ensure adequate biomass inputs of P, or they could instead seek new land for cultivation, increasing the rate of deforestation in previously undisturbed mature forest. Most farming communities in the region still possess large forest reserves, but by law they are not allowed to clear them for agriculture (45). Furthermore, clearing mature forest is unlikely because current policies promote cultivation on extant open land or secondary forest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological feedbacks following deforestation create the potential for a catastrophic ecosystem shift in tropical dry forest

Lawrence

D’Odorico

Diekmann

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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131

117

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The long-term ecological response to recurrent deforestation associated with shifting cultivation remains poorly investigated, especially in the dry tropics. We present a study of phosphorus (P) dynamics in the southern Yucatán, highlighting the possibility of abrupt shifts in biogeochemical cycling resulting from positive feedbacks between vegetation and its limiting resources. After three cultivation–fallow cycles, available soil P declines by 44%, and one-time P inputs from biomass burning decline by 76% from mature forest levels. Interception of dust-borne P (“canopy trapping”) declines with lower plant biomass and leaf area, limiting deposition in secondary forest. Potential leaching losses are greater in secondary than in mature forest, but the difference is very small compared with the difference in P inputs. The decline in new P from atmospheric deposition creates a long-term negative ecosystem balance for phosphorus. The reduction in soil P availability will feed back to further limit biomass recovery and may induce a shift to sparser vegetation. Degradation induced by hydrological and biogeochemical feedbacks on P cycling under shifting cultivation will affect farmers in the near future. Without financial support to encourage the use of fertilizer, farmers could increase the fallow period, clear new land, or abandon agriculture for off-farm employment. Their response will determine the regional balance between forest loss and forest regrowth, as well as the frequency of use and rate of recovery at a local scale, further feeding back on ecological processes at multiple scales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological feedbacks following deforestation create the potential for a catastrophic ecosystem shift in tropical dry forest

Lawrence

D’Odorico

Diekmann

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

131

117

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“…Entre 1993 y 2002 se registró en el país una tasa de deforestación de 0.25% por año; la región sureste alcanzó los valores más altos con 0.76% (Bray et al, 2004). La Península de Yucatán, provincia florística tropical con asociaciones vegetales restringidas a condiciones ecológicas particulares, ha sufrido altas tasas de deforestación, lo que significó una reducción de más de un millón de hectáreas de sus selvas de 1985 a 1994 (Turner et al, 2001). Solo en el estado de Campeche, de 2003 a 2009, se deforestaron 38,784 hectáreas de selvas por año.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…La pérdida de diversidad biológica y servicios ambientales en la Península, se asocia principalmente a fenómenos naturales como los huracanes y a actividades humanas como el cambio de uso de suelo (Turner et al, 2001). Los petenes son islas naturales de vegetación arbórea (manglar y selva) inmersas en una matriz de vegetación inundable de ciénagas someras y pantanosas (Durán, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Efectos de la perturbación antrópica en petenes de selva en Campeche, México

et al. 2015

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3 Autor para la correspondencia: jmendoza@ecosur.mx RESUMEN Los petenes son islas naturales de vegetación, únicos en su tipo a nivel mundial, restringidos a la Península de Yucatán, México, los Everglades en Florida, Estados Unidos de América, y la Ciénaga de Zapata, Cuba. En México, este ecosistema ha estado sujeto a perturbación antrópica, principalmente debido a la extracción de madera, la fragmentación, incendios, extracción de flora y fauna, y la expansión de asentamientos humanos. No obstante su importancia ecológica, existen pocos estudios acerca de su estado actual. En el presente trabajo se analizó el efecto de la intervención humana sobre la vegetación y las propiedades del suelo en petenes de la Reserva de la Biosfera Los Petenes, Campeche, comparando tres petenes perturbados y tres conservados. Los conservados tuvieron menor densidad de plantas (ind/ha) en todos los estratos, menor cobertura vegetal (en los estratos en que se midió; medio e inferior) (m 2 /ha), y mayor área basal (medida sólo en el estrato superior) (m 2 /ha). Los suelos no difirieron entre las dos clases de petenes, lo que indica que las actividades antrópicas no han causado un impacto negativo en ellos.Palabras clave: características del suelo, estratos de vegetación, islas de vegetación, petenes conservados, petenes perturbados. ABSTRACTPetenes (hammock ecosystems) are island-like natural spots of vegetation, unique worldwide, restricted to the Peninsula of Yucatan, Mexico, the Everglades in Florida, United Acta Botanica Mexicana 110: 89-103 (2015) 90 States of America, and the Ciénaga de Zapata, Cuba. In Mexico, this ecosystem has been subject to anthropogenic disturbance, mainly due to wood extraction, land fragmentation, fires, flora and fauna extraction, and the expansion of human settlements. Notwithstanding its ecological importance, there are few studies concerning its current status. In the present work the effect of human intervention upon the vegetation and soil properties in petenes of the Petenes Biosphere Reserve, Campeche was analysed, comparing three disturbed and three conserved petenes. The conserved petenes had lower plant density (ind/ha) in all vegetation layers, lower plant cover (in the measured layers: medium and lower) (m 2 /ha), and higher basal area (measured only in the superior layer) (m 2 /ha). Soils did not differ between the two classes of petenes, which suggests that the antropic activities have not caused a negative impact on them.

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“…Indeed, population's effects on the environment usually operate through a concatenation of interacting political, economic and ecological causes across different scales (Geist & Lambin, 2001;Turner et al, 2001). Population change can lead to various responses, including economic (modifying present resource capture or employment strategies or changing them all together), and demographic (fertility regulation through age of marriage, birth spacing, or migration, including temporary and permanent).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Carr

2003

Population and Environment

161

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Forest conversion for agriculture expansion is the most salient signature of human occupation of the earth's land surface. Although population growth and deforestation are significantly associated at the global and regional scales, evidence for population links to deforestation at micro-scales-where people are actually clearing0020forests-is scant. Much of the planet's forest elimination is proceeding along tropical agricultural frontiers. This article examines the evolution of thought on population-environment theories relevant to deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers. Four primary ways by which population dynamics interact with frontier forest conversion are examined: population density, fertility, and household demographic composition, and in-migration.

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Deforestation in the southern Yucatán peninsular region: an integrative approach

Cited by 206 publications

References 22 publications

Ecological feedbacks following deforestation create the potential for a catastrophic ecosystem shift in tropical dry forest

Ecological feedbacks following deforestation create the potential for a catastrophic ecosystem shift in tropical dry forest

Efectos de la perturbación antrópica en petenes de selva en Campeche, México

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

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