César I. Carvajal-Hernández

University of Veracruz | UV · Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas

El epifitismo es una estrategia adaptativa en la que las plantas viven sobre otras sin parasitarlas. Los helechos, orquídeas y bromelias son clásicos ejemplos de plantas epífitas. Para lograr vivir sobre otras plantas modificaron su forma y fisiología a lo largo de millones de años de evolución. Sin embargo, las ventajas para vivir en las alturas p...

Background: The tropical rain forest (TRF) has been transformed by the land use change. Coffee plantations are part of the landscape, and their abandonment can favor the original vegetation regeneration. Hypothesis: The abandoned coffee plantations protection in TRF favors natural regeneration, allowing the development of secondary forests in diffe...

La Sierra de Chiconquiaco (SC) es una formación geológica ubicada en la región centro del estado de Veracruz, con una superficie de 3,632 km². La literatura más reciente considera que alberga una riqueza de 3,016 especies de plantas vasculares, el 35% de la flora del estado. Sin embargo, más del 70% de su superficie se encuentra transformada en zon...

The increasing threats to global biodiversity notably impact cycads, one of the most endangered organisms. Despite the importance of nature reserves, they only sometimes provide sufficient protection from habitat destruction and illegal harvesting. Identifying and prioritizing suitable Mexican tepezmaite (Ceratozamia) habitats is imperative for res...

Los helechos destacan por sus características morfológicas únicas, como la ausencia de flores y frutos, su prefoliación circinada, así como sus hojas de variadas formas (enteras o ampliamente divididas) y tamaños (desde pocos milímetros hasta más de dos metros). Los encontramos en suelos, rocas, ramas, en nuestros hogares e incluso entre las grieta...

Endemic species have a limited distribution and are only found in a specific geographic region, for example, a small area within a state. This leads to a higher risk of extinction in case of habitat destruction, making them key elements for establishing and promoting conservation plans. However, endemism is a relative criterion since there are diff...

Ceratozamia morettii, C. brevifrons, and C. tenuis are cycads considered endangered in montane forests in the center of Veracruz state. However, the amount of theoretical and empirical information available on the historical distribution of these species and how they could be affected in the future by the effects of climate change still needs to be...

El Estado de Veracruz es considerado uno de los tres con mayor diversidad en la República Mexicana, por lo tanto, cuenta con gran cantidad de especies a lo largo de su territorio. En la ciudad de Xalapa, se ubica El Cerro Macuiltépetl, un área verde urbana que cuenta con diferentes especies vegetales en un espacio de 31 hectáreas, del que se requie...

Los cambios en la estructura vegetal tienen consecuencias sobre la temperatura y la humedad del aire de los ecosistemas, teniendo un efecto en el desarrollo de las plantas, pues influyen indirectamente sobre procesos morfológicos y eco-fisiológicos. Esto puede ser investigado a través de grupos sensibles a las perturbaciones, como los helechos, así...

Antecedentes y Objetivos: La urbanización ha provocado que la vegetación nativa en las ciudades se reduzca en extensión. Los bosques urbanos son refugio de biodiversidad. La conurbación Xalapa-Banderilla, Veracruz, México, por la gran superficie de remanentes de bosque mesófilo de montaña (BMM) en su zona urbana, es considerada una ciudad verde. Po...

Las especies endémicas tie-nen una distribución restringida, lo que conlleva un mayor riesgo de extinción en caso de destrucción de su hábitat. Algunas de estas especies pertenecen a grupos poco conocidos, cuya determinación taxonómica requiere del apoyo de un especialista. Por esta razón, en los herbarios frecuentemente se encuentran ejemplares ma...

In this work, we contribute to the knowledge of how two environmental gradients (elevation and forest-use intensity) interactively affect the tropical plant diversity of six different vascular plant groups (trees, shrubs, lianas, terrestrial herbs, epiphytes, and ferns). The results were obtained in the frame of the interdisciplinary research proje...

Ceratozamia morettii, C. brevifrons and C. tenuis are cycads considered endangered in montane forests in the center of Veracruz state. However, the amount of theoretical and empirical information available on the historical distribution of these species and how they could be affected in the future by the effects of climate change is still limited....

The scientific work of Alexander von Humboldt was influenced by his interaction with the diversity and natural wealth of the Neotropics. He proposed that climate determines plant diversity along elevational gradients based on his observations. Here, we evaluated the most prominent climate-based hypotheses in explaining plant diversity along an elev...

Background and Aims: The briofilous fungi are a diverse and polyphyletic group of symbiotic mushrooms associated specifically with few bryophyte species, genera or families. Paruephaedria heimerlii stands out as a species with a bryophilous habit in Jungermanniales; it is known from Alaska, Europe, Japan and Tasmania. Therefore, the objective of th...

La naturaleza y las espectaculares formas en que se manifiesta han asombrado a los humanos desde tiempos antiguos, una de esas maravillas son los líquenes. Estos organismos poseen una extraordinaria capacidad para resistir condiciones ambientales extremas, y por ello han colonizado diferentes ambientes del planeta Tierra.

Much attention has been directed to understandingspecies richness patterns, but adding an evolutionary perspectiveallows us to also considerthe historical processes determining current diversity patterns. We analyzedphylogenetic patternsof fern species assemblagesin 868 plots along a wide rangeof elevational (0-4000 m) and latitudinal (0°-23°N) gra...

Functional traits determine how species interact with their abiotic and biotic environment. In turn, functional diversity describes how assemblages of species as a whole are adapted to their environment, which also determines how they might react to changing conditions. To fully understand functional diversity, it is fundamental to (a) disentangle...

Ceratozamia miqueliana is a cycad (Zamiaceae) species endemic to southeastern Mexico. It is currently listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as “Critically Endangered” and under Mexican law as “Endangered”. The objective was to complement the evaluation of C. miqueliana based on criterion B of the IUCN, and the...

We describe Anemia tabascana (Anemiaceae), a new species from the state of Tabasco in southeastern Mexico. This species is similar to Anemia phyllitidis and Anemia×paraphyllitidis; however, A. tabascana has free veins in the pinnae, and the rachis and distal part of the stipe are glabrescent (vs. at least sparsely pubescent in presumably related sp...

Aim To assess the range size patterns of ferns and lycophytes along elevational gradients at different latitudes in an ecographical transition zone and search for predictors of range size from a set of environmental factors. Location Mexico, from 15° to 23° N. Taxon Ferns and lycophytes. Methods All terrestrial and epiphytic species were recorde...

Aim: To disentangle the influence of environmental factors at different spatial grains (regional and local) on fern and lycophyte species richness and ask how regional and plot-level richness are related to each other. Location: Global. Time period: Present. Major Taxa studied: Ferns and lycophytes. Methods: We explored fern and lycophyte species r...

La Sierra de Zongolica forma parte de la región de las Altas Montañas del estado de Veracruz, presenta un gradiente altitudinal desde los 80 a más de 3,000 msnm, incluyendo el Bosque Mesófilo de Montaña (BMM) como uno de los ecosistemas más notables en esta zona. Entre los grupos de plantas más representativos de este ecosistema se encuentran las p...

Los helechos arborescentes de la familia Cyatheaceae en el estado de Veracruz están representados por tres géneros (Alsophila, Cyathea y Sphaeropteris) y 13 especies. Estas plantas crecen en bosques montanos húmedos y selvas tropicales, donde están amenazadas por la deforestación y fragmentación de su hábitat, además del saqueo por usos ornamentale...

Las pteridófitas presentan su mayor diversidad entre los 1,000 y 2,000 msnm, debido a que la humedad ambiental en estas alturas intermedias es alto y constante, encontrándose en ecosistemas como el bosque mesófilo de montaña. Sin embargo, este tipo de vegetación se ve afectado por actividades antrópicas como la deforestación y fragmentación, result...

The knowledge of the pteridophyta in flora of the northern zone of Veracruz is scarce, and ever more when it comes to species richness of ferns and lycopods in the elevational low zones. The aim of this research is to analyze the diversity of ferns and lycopods in a semideciduos forest. Were established 15 plots of 20 x 20 m in three habitats (semi...

The elevational gradient at the Cofre de Perote in the central region of Veracruz State (eastern Mexico) is considered as one hotspot of plant diversity in the Neotropics. This is mainly due to the landscape heterogeneity and transition between biogeographical areas. In this study, we assessed the distribution patterns of vascular plant diversity,...

We describe Pleopeltis constricta Sprunt & Hickey as a new species from El Salvador and Mexico and additionally provide eight new fern records for the State of Veracruz. Furthermore, we propose one new combination each in Pecluma (P. liebmannii (C. Chr.) A.R. Sm. & Carv.-Hern.) and Pleopeltis (P. acicularis (Weath.) A. R. Sm. & T. Krömer). These no...

The transition zone from the tropics to the subtropics in Mexico is an outstanding and poorly explored area of biotic overlap, and as such very interesting to evaluate how species richness patterns change in the latitudinal context. In order to assess alpha diversity patterns of ferns in this zone, we analyzed changes in their assemblages along an...

Background: The loss of functional keystone species may lead to the loss of key functions in the ecosystem. Few studies so far have addressed the functionality of specific morphological traits of ferns. Aims: Evaluate the functional diversity and how habitat degradation affected the functional diversity of fern assemblages. Methods: Along an elevat...

Antecedentes y Objetivos: El ejido Villa de Guadalupe del municipio Huimanguillo, Tabasco, mantiene el único fragmento de bosque mesófilo de montaña en el estado, mismo que ha sido florísticamente poco explorado. Este estudio se suma a otros anteriormente publicados, donde los reportes de nuevos registros aumentan considerablemente la riqueza de es...

Distribución y estado de conservación de Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) en el estado de Veracruz, México.

Terrestrial herbs are important elements of tropical forests; however, there is a lack of research on their diversity patterns and how they respond to different intensities of forest-use. The aim of this study was to analyze the diversity of herbaceous angiosperms along gradients of elevation (50 m to 3500 m) and forest-use intensity on the eastern...

Presence/absence data of the herbaceous angiosperms found at the plots sampled along the elevational gradient at the Cofre de Perote, central Veracruz, Mexico. (CSV)

Questions How do species richness and composition of fern assemblages change with elevation and, within elevational belts, in differently impacted forest habitats? Is there a relationship between fern assemblages and microclimate, both along gradients of elevation and disturbance? Which species are most sensitive to habitat disturbance and microcl...

Background: Terrestrial herbs are a significant floristic element of tropical forests; however, there is a lack of research focused on this plant group. Question: Which are the patterns of species distribution of herbaceous angiosperms along gradients of elevation and forest disturbance at Cofre de Perote, central Veracruz, Mexico? Studied species:...

Los helechos se han utilizado como un grupo de estudio importante para entender los patrones de riqueza de especies a nivel mundial, por encontrarse ampliamente distribuidos en el planeta con entre 10,000-13,000 especies. Además, debido a su reproducción por esporas, la dispersión de especies depende de las condiciones ambientales como la temperatu...

Veracruz, with 542 recorded species, is the third richest state in Mexico in terms of total fern diversity. Field work, herbarium studies, and a revision of literature during the last decade revealed 22 new state records. Five of these belong to Elaphoglossum, four are filmy ferns, and three are grammitids. Most of the new taxa were collected in th...

We present a list of ferns and lycophytes recorded along the elevational gradient (20-3,500 m a.s.l.) at the Cofre de Perote, Veracruz, including contrasting environments with different degrees of forest disturbance as well as azonal vegetation. We established 15-25 plots of 20 x 20 m each at eight elevational steps separated by 500 m in elevation....

Abstract. Ceratozamia delucana Vázquez-Torres, Moretti & Carvajal-Hernández (Zamiaceae) is described from a mountain cloud forest in Veracruz, Mexico. The new species differs from others in the genus by larger sizes of leaves, petioles and leaflets. This taxon is apparently related to C. mexicana, C. latifolia and C. morettii. Like in most Ceratoza...

The fern and lycophyte flora of Mexico contains 13 species in the genus Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae; club moss family), of which nine are found in the state of Veracruz (P. cuernavacensis, P. dichotomus, P. linifolius, P. myrsinites, P. orizabae, P. pithyoides, P. pringlei, P. reflexus, P. taxifolius). They are located primarily in undisturbed are...

We describe and compare the richness and floristic composition of ferns in natural humid montane forest and disturbed environments associated with different degrees of anthropogenic influence. The study sites were located at the Loma de Santa Rita in the Sierra de Chiconquiaco, central region of Veracruz, Mexico. Furthermore, we made a comparison w...

Para determinar la importancia de los acahuales en la conservación de cinco grupos de plantas herbáceas vasculares en la selva tropical de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, se comparó su riqueza de especies y composición florística en tres ambientes: a) selva alta perennifolia conservada (Parque de la Flora y Fauna Silvestre Tropical-UV); b) acahual continuo...