Testing the effectiveness of conservation management within biosphere reserves: the case of the Mexican deer mouse (Peromyscus mexicanus) as a bioindicator

Abstract

Biosphere reserves are protected areas whose purpose is to combine conservation and sustainable development. However, their effectiveness has not been tested sufficiently, especially from an ecological and genetic approach. In this sense, the Peromyscus genus represents an excellent bioindicator to address these questions, due to its short life and high evolutionary rate and fecundity. For conservation managers, genetic structure can increase the rate of loss of genetic diversity because alleles exclusive of a subpopulation are more likely to disappear as a consequence of genetic drift in comparison with a panmictic population. Here we analyzed the abundance, movement distances, morphology/morphometry and genetic structure of 3 populations of Mexican deer mouse (Peromyscus mexicanus) located in different protected zones of La Tigra National Park (Honduras). Our results are consistent among the 3 approaches and showed the highest values of abundance, morphometry and genetic diversity in the population located at the core zone, whereas non‐statistically significant differences were found between buffer and transition zone populations, suggesting suitable effectiveness of conservation management in the core zone but a lack of ecological buffering function of the other zones. In addition, the low movement distances and high genetic structure among the studied populations provide evidence of poor conservation management in the buffer and transition zone. Thus, we discuss the utility of the novel methodology used in this work, combining morphometry, abundance and genetics, in testing the effectiveness of conservation strategies in biosphere reserves, and the value of the Peromyscus genus as a bioindicator.