Dataset Information

Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves.

ABSTRACT: Protected areas are of paramount relevance to conserving wildlife and ecosystem contributions to people. Yet, their conservation success is increasingly threatened by human activities including habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and species overexploitation. Thus, understanding the underlying and proximate drivers of anthropogenic threats is urgently needed to improve protected areas' effectiveness, especially in the biodiversity-rich tropics. We addressed this issue by analyzing expert-provided data on long-term biodiversity change (last three decades) over 14 biosphere reserves from the Mesoamerican Biodiversity Hotspot. Using multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling, we tested the influence of major socioeconomic drivers (demographic, economic, and political factors), spatial indicators of human activities (agriculture expansion and road extension), and forest landscape modifications (forest loss and isolation) as drivers of biodiversity change. We uncovered a significant proliferation of disturbance-tolerant guilds and the loss or decline of disturbance-sensitive guilds within reserves causing a "winner and loser" species replacement over time. Guild change was directly related to forest spatial changes promoted by the expansion of agriculture and roads within reserves. High human population density and low nonfarming occupation were identified as the main underlying drivers of biodiversity change. Our findings suggest that to mitigate anthropogenic threats to biodiversity within biosphere reserves, fostering human population well-being via sustainable, nonfarming livelihood opportunities around reserves is imperative.

SUBMITTER: Auliz-Ortiz DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10861858 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves.

Auliz-Ortiz Daniel Martín DM Benítez-Malvido Julieta J Arroyo-Rodríguez Víctor V Dirzo Rodolfo R Pérez-Farrera Miguel Ángel MÁ Luna-Reyes Roberto R Mendoza Eduardo E Álvarez-Añorve Mariana Yólotl MY Álvarez-Sánchez Javier J Arias-Ataide Dulce María DM Ávila-Cabadilla Luis Daniel LD Botello Francisco F Braasch Marco M Casas Alejandro A Campos-Villanueva Delfino Álvaro DÁ Cedeño-Vázquez José Rogelio JR Chávez-Tovar José Cuauhtémoc JC Coates Rosamond R Dechnik-Vázquez Yanus Y Del Coro Arizmendi María M Dias Pedro Américo PA Dorado Oscar O Enríquez Paula P Escalona-Segura Griselda G Farías-González Verónica V Favila Mario E ME García Andrés A García-Morales Leccinum Jesús LJ Gavito-Pérez Fernando F Gómez-Domínguez Héctor H González-García Fernando F González-Zamora Arturo A Cuevas-Guzmán Ramón R Haro-Belchez Enrique E Hernández-Huerta Arturo Heriberto AH Hernández-Ordoñez Omar O Horváth Anna A Ibarra-Manríquez Guillermo G Lavín-Murcio Pablo Antonio PA Lira-Saade Rafael R López-Díaz Karime K MacSwiney G M Cristina MC Mandujano Salvador S Martínez-Camilo Rubén R Martínez-Ávalos José Guadalupe JG Martínez-Meléndez Nayely N Monroy-Ojeda Alan A Mora Francisco F Mora-Olivo Arturo A Muench Carlos C Peña-Mondragón Juan L JL Percino-Daniel Ruth R Ramírez-Marcial Neptalí N Reyna-Hurtado Rafael R Rodríguez-Ruíz Erick Rubén ER Sánchez-Cordero Víctor V Suazo-Ortuño Ireri I Terán-Juárez Sergio Alejandro SA Valdivieso-Pérez Ingrid Abril IA Valencia Vivian V Valenzuela-Galván David D Vargas-Contreras Jorge Albino JA Vázquez-Pérez José Raúl JR Vega-Rivera Jorge Humberto JH Venegas-Barrera Crystian Sadiel CS Martínez-Ramos Miguel M

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20240122 6

Protected areas are of paramount relevance to conserving wildlife and ecosystem contributions to people. Yet, their conservation success is increasingly threatened by human activities including habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and species overexploitation. Thus, understanding the underlying and proximate drivers of anthropogenic threats is urgently needed to improve protected areas' effectiveness, especially in the biodiversity-rich tropics. We addressed this issue by analyzing expert-pr ...[more]

PMID: 38252845

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Project description:Polyandry is more widespread than anticipated from Bateman's principle but its ultimate (evolutionary) causes and proximate (mechanistic) correlates are more difficult to pinpoint than those of polygyny. Here, we combined mating experiments, quantification of reproductive traits and microsatellite genotyping to determine the fitness implications of polyandry in two predatory mite species, where males are highly polygynous (up to 45 fertilized females during life), whereas females range from monandry to various polyandry levels. The medium-level polyandrous (up to eight male mates possible) Neoseiulus californicus received clear direct and indirect benefits: multiply mated females produced more offspring with higher survival chances over longer times than singly mated females. In contrast, singly and multiply mated females of the low-level polyandrous (commonly two male mates at maximum) Phytoseiulus persimilis produced similar numbers of offspring having similar survival chances. In both species, multiple mating resulted in mixed offspring paternities, opening the chance for indirect fitness benefits such as enhanced genetic compatibility, complementarity and/or variability. However, the female re-mating likelihood and the paternity chance of non-first male mates were lower in P. persimilis than in N. californicus. Regarding proximate factors, in both species first mating duration and female re-mating likelihood were negatively correlated. Based on occasional fertilization failure of first male mates in P. persimilis, and mixed offspring paternities in both species, we argue that fertilization assurance and the chance to gain indirect fitness benefits are the ultimate drivers of polyandry in P. persimilis, whereas those of N. californicus are higher offspring numbers coupled with enhanced offspring viability and possibly other indirect fitness benefits. Overall, the adaptive significance and proximate events well reflected the polyandry levels. Our study provides a key example for linking behavioral experiments, quantification of reproductive traits and paternity analysis via offspring genotyping to explain the evolution of differing levels of polyandry.

Dataset Information

Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves.

Publications

Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves.

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