We are currently working on our Biodiversity Documentation Project in the Reserva de Biósfera Maya, Petén, Guatemala in cooperation with the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP, its acronym in Spanish). The project started in 2021 and will end in 2025.
On each expedition, we found species of our interest, but what really surprised us on our last field trip has been the number of savanna ecosystems or seasonal wetlands that we found. In May we visited the “Multiple Use Zone” where the forest concessions are located. Our documentation was carried out mainly in the forestry concession “La Gloria” forestry. With the help of satellite tools and maps, we get to identify 140 of these ecosystems and we estimate that we can find more. We are excited to continue exploring these areas as there is scant
information about it.
We hope that our documentation work generates interest in enthusiastic researchers and that it deepens the study of the characteristics of these peculiar and beautiful ecosystems present in the Reserve.
An Ecosystem is the name given to the set of species in a given area that interact with each other and with their abiotic environment. In an ecosystem, processes such as predation, parasitism, competition and symbiosis occur; including species of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, being dependent on each other. The relationship between these species and their environment results in the flow of matter and energy in ecosystems (Mexican Biodiversity, 2020). In an ecosystem there are always more abundant species than others. These are known as Dominant Species or Relative Abundance. Being the species with the greatest impact on their biotic and abiotic environment. We frequently find different dominant species in the different ecosystems explored during the expeditions. In the next tabulation is presented the name of the ecosystems according to their dominant species.
Bibliography
- 2020
- Los Hotspots de Biodiversidad, regiones insustituibles en el planeta. UNAM
Available online:https://ciencia.unam.mx/leer/1060/los-hotspot-de-biodiversidad-regiones-Insustituibles-en-el-planeta