Abstract

SUAREZ-MOTA, Mario Ernesto  and  TELLEZ-VALDES, Oswaldo. Network priority areas for biodiversity conservation in the transmexican volcanic belt analyzing floristic richness and climate variability. Polibotánica [online]. 2014, n.38, pp.67-93. ISSN 1405-2768.

The Volcanic Belt of Mexico is located in the overlapping area of the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, which makes it the territory with the highest biological richness in Mexico. Based on the diverse flora (4 055 species of seed plants) of this area, as well as its vegetation types and climate variation, network scenarios are delimited to define priority areas for conservation. By means of complementarity metaheuristics analyses and considering three representation percentages (5%, 10% and 25%) of biological and environmental attributes, nine scenarios are described as a basis to define conservation areas in central Mexico. Those defined scenarios are compared with the Protected Areas and Priority Terrestrial Regions already existing in the Volcanic Belt area of Mexico. We found that some areas with a high biological richness are not yet included in any of the conservation areas, a fact that suggests the need to reassess the role that these areas play in protecting biodiversity in a medium and long term.

Keywords : complementarity; Network of Conservation Areas; ConsNet; Transversal Volcanic Belt.