Lara-Tufiño José Daniel, Badillo-Saldaña Luis M, Hernández-Austria Raquel, Ramírez-Bautista Aurelio
Laboratorio de Ecología de Poblaciones, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo, México.
PeerJ. 2019 Feb 15;7:e6390. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6390. eCollection 2019.
Habitat loss or degradation due to land cover change is regarded as one of the main drivers of amphibian decline; therefore, it is imperative to assess the effects of land-cover change on this group of vertebrates. In this study, we analyze changes in alpha and beta diversity of amphibian communities found in five land-cover types: mountain cloud forest, tropical evergreen forest, shade coffee, milpa huasteca, and grazing areas; six samples sites were established for each land-cover type, separated at least one km away. The study was conducted in the northwest part of the state of Hidalgo, in a transition zone between the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Gulf of Mexico, which is a region rich in amphibian species. The results indicate that alpha diversity decreases with loss of canopy cover, this being high in mountain cloud forest, tropical evergreen forest, and Shade coffee, and low in milpa huasteca and grazing areas. The land-cover type with the highest species evenness was found in milpa huasteca and the lowest in. The highest beta diversity was observed among tropical evergreen forest and grazing areas. Mountain cloud forest contains both exclusive species and the highest number of species currently regarded as threatened by national and international conservation assessment systems. In order to preserve amphibian diversity in the study area it is vital to protect the last remnants of native vegetation, especially mountain cloud forest, but also including Shade coffee, since the latter habitat harbors amphibian diversity similar to that found in native forests. Finally, implementation of policies that both reduce Grazing areas and increase their productivity is also necessary, since these highly modified areas turn out to be the ones that affect amphibian diversity the most.
由于土地覆盖变化导致的栖息地丧失或退化被视为两栖动物数量下降的主要驱动因素之一；因此，评估土地覆盖变化对这组脊椎动物的影响势在必行。在本研究中，我们分析了在五种土地覆盖类型中发现的两栖动物群落的α多样性和β多样性变化：山地云雾林、热带常绿林、遮荫咖啡种植园、瓦斯特卡玉米地和放牧区；每种土地覆盖类型设立了六个采样点，彼此相距至少一公里。该研究在伊达尔戈州的西北部进行，位于东马德雷山脉和墨西哥湾之间的过渡地带，这是一个两栖动物物种丰富的地区。结果表明，α多样性随着树冠覆盖的丧失而降低，在山地云雾林、热带常绿林和遮荫咖啡种植园中较高，在瓦斯特卡玉米地和放牧区较低。物种均匀度最高的土地覆盖类型出现在瓦斯特卡玉米地，最低的出现在……。热带常绿林和放牧区之间观察到最高的β多样性。山地云雾林既包含特有物种，也包含目前被国家和国际保护评估系统视为受威胁的物种数量最多的物种。为了保护研究区域内的两栖动物多样性，保护本地植被的最后残余至关重要，尤其是山地云雾林，但也包括遮荫咖啡种植园，因为后一种栖息地拥有与原生森林中相似的两栖动物多样性。最后，实施既能减少放牧区又能提高其生产力的政策也是必要的，因为这些高度改造的区域结果是对两栖动物多样性影响最大的区域。
