Identifying Conservation Priorities in Mexico through Geographical Information Systems and Modeling

Abstract

Environmental assessments of regional development projects have been used in Mexico to determine where conflicts between conservation of biodiversity and resource extraction are likely to occur. Speciesrich areas have been acknowledged as a priority for conservation. However, biological information is incomplete and biased toward accessible sites, so speciesrich areas cannot be depicted directly freom current biological knowledge. An alternative approach to predicting speciesrich areas is presented in this Artículo de investigación. It is based on the gap analysis technique and involves the use of ordination analysis and generalized linear models integrated with a geographic information system. This approach was used for locating speciesrich areas in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, where a regional forestry development project was proposed. Baseline information consisted of geereferenced collection sites of terrestrial vertebrates. Thirtytwo species assemblages were identified by the ordination analysis, as well as by 25 generalized linear models. Validation of six of these models showed no significant differences between observed and predicted species freequencies. Results demonstrated that speciesrich areas could be depicted even under the constraints of environmental assessment in Mexico. A large number of species could be used in this analysis due to the minimal information required for each species record. This predictive approach optimized available biological information for the integration of conservation into regional development planning.