Abstract

TOWNS, Valeria; LEON, Rodrigo; DE LA MAZA, Javier  and  SANCHEZ-CORDERO, Víctor. Contributions to the inventory of carnivorous mammals in the south of Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas. Therya [online]. 2013, vol.4, n.3, pp.627-640. ISSN 2007-3364.  https://doi.org/10.12933/therya-13-171.

Carnivorous mammals in the Lacandon rainforest have been previously listed during the past fifty years. The continuous actualisation of those lists allow us to complete inventories and to detect changes on species richness and composition as a result of human activities. The Lacandon rainforest has lost more than three quarters of its original vegetation cover in the past forty years. One of it's better preserved areas is the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (MABR). In the present study, we used camera traps to update the carnivorous mammal inventory and estimate the richness of this community inside the MABR. With a total effort of 10,000 trap-days, we photographed thirteen species of carnivorous mammals, eleven of them have been previously described for the area. According to our estimations, there most be at least fifteen species of this group in the region, this represents 48% of the carnivorous mexican species. The results presented here may be an indicator of the importance of the reserve for the conservation of this mammals in the country.

Keywords : Camera traps; Natural Protected Areas; species accumulation curves; species richness.