Why continue with floristic checklists in Mexico? The case of the Tacaná-Boquerón Priority Terrestrial Region, in the Mexican State of Chiapas

Abstract

Background: Some regions of Mexico have been relatively well explored floristically and estimates of the vascular plant richness they contain have been obtained. However, there are still regions that require effort to obtain the most appropriate lists of flora possible that consider both systemization of the information and that benefit from recent botanical explorations.Questions: What is the species richness of vascular plants in the Tacaná-Boquerón Priority Terrestrial Region? What proportion of the species are endemic or included in risk categories?Study sites and dates: Tacaná-Boquerón Priority Terrestrial Region, Chiapas State, Mexico. This region is on the Guatemala border and covers an area of 57,400 ha. Between 1920 and 2015.Methods: A database of 14,487 vascular plant records was integrated. Two sources of information were compared: systematization of databases, and recent botanic expeditions.Results: We found 2,485 native species belonging to 185 families. Both data sources were complementary in order to obtain a more complete floristic checklist (systematization of database: 1,774 spp., recent botanic expeditions: 1,514 spp.). As novelties, we found three new species and seven new reports for Mexico. Approximately 14 % of the species documented are included in risk categories or are endemic to the study site.Conclusions: Our checklist is one of the largest in the region (Mexico and Central America) in terms of species count. Our study shows the importance of conducting botanical explorations to complement the information on vascular plant richness in relatively well-explored areas of Mexico.

Floristics in Mexico today: insights into a better understanding of biodiversity in a megadiverse country

“…Although inadequately valued, the relevance of floristic studies has been repeatedly emphasized (e.g., Sosa & Dávila 1994, Krishnamurthy et al 1995, Heywood 2004, Prather et al 2004, Funk 2006, Pendry et al 2007, Martínez-Camilo et al 2019, Cutts et al 2021. Luckily, in Mexico studies of this kind are still underway, apparently with increasing activity, despite insufficient academic and economic support, two conditions sadly shared with many developing countries of high diversity (Britz et al 2020).…”

“…If resources are available, sometimes one or two additional herbaria are consulted. At present, many more specimens available online from numerous institutions can be examined, either as databases only or as good resolution photographs (see for example Villaseñor et al 2018, Martínez-Camilo et al 2019. Funk (2006) argues that online databases lack reliability because of numerous mistakes, especially on identifications.…”

¿Planear un paisaje urbano conservativo en el sureste de México? Reflexiones para el caso de Tapachula, Chiapas

“…Desde la última década, se ha constatado la problemática objeto de la presente reflexión. No ha faltado la observación de muerte de árboles monumentales, sobre todo, debido al inadecuado mantenimiento arbóreo y podas [figura 1 (1)(2)(3)]. En consecuencia de estos deterioros ambientales, se ha observado una total aproximación a plantaciones exóticas sin ninguna relación con el contexto histórico-ambiental de la ciudad, como es el caso emblemático de la introducción de la especie Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.)…”

“…Tapachula-México, es la cabecera municipal de la región del Soconusco, particularmente rica en términos de biodiversidad; siendo la segunda región mexicana por cantidad de orquídeas nativas, tal y como lo expresa Solano et al [1] y una de las regiones con más biodiversidad de flora vascular entre México y Centroamérica [2]. En este panorama paisajístico, la ciudad de Tapachula, se localizada en las coordenadas 14°53'28.34" de latitud Norte y 92°16'15.74" de longitud Oeste [3].…”

Pollen rain, vegetation and connectivity in the Tacaná volcano, Southern Mexico

“…Regional climatic conditions combined with a geological and topographic complexity, along with a large array of environments, result in a complex mosaic of vegetation with a high species diversity. As part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, the Volc an Tacan a-Boquer on area has been designated as a conservation priority area, seeking to protect its threatened rich biodiversity from human activities caused by logging and land transformation (Solano-G omez et al 2016;Ruiz-Utrilla et al 2018;Mart ınez-Camilo et al 2019).…”