Abstract

MARTINEZ-MORALES, Miguel Ángel et al. Bird diversity beyond natural protected areas: the case of the avifauna of the Rancho Santa Elena, Hidalgo. Huitzil [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.2, pp.87-100. ISSN 1870-7459.

Biodiversity conservation within natural protected areas (NPAs) is not always efficient and sufficient, despite its achievements as one of the most consolidated conservation tools. In this work, we discuss the pertinence to consider information produced beyond a NPA for the design and implementation of its management programme with a regional conservation perspective. We do this through a comparative exercise of the information produced on the avifauna within and outside the NPA. Within this framework, we present advances in our knowledge of bird diversity in a temperate forest at the Rancho Santa Elena (RSE), a private property in the Sierra de las Navajas, next to El Chico National Park (ECNP), in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Since 2005, we have recorded 90 bird species from mist net sampling, non-systematic transect sampling, and incidental observations. We estimate that this species richness represents approximately 70% of the expected species richness. In contrast, in ECNP 74 species have been recorded since 1974, of which at least eight are incorrect or probably incorrect. Additionally, in the RSE we have recorded a larger diversity of trophic-behavioural guilds and Mexican endemic species than in ECNP. Inventories and the production of knowledge beyond NPAs can be important inputs for the definition and implementation of their management strategies, which must have a regional conservation perspective.

Keywords : biodiversity; temperate forest; Sierra de Pachuca; Sierra de las Navajas; El Chico National Park.