Cuauhtemoc Saenz-Romero

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo

Reforestation and crop establishment in a changing environment becomes increasingly complex and challenging in the context of climate change. The objective of this study was to define seed collection and guidelines for deciding seed transfer in seven municipalities within six Mexican states to guide reforestation and the establishment of agricultur...

The presence of heterozygous individuals in a population is crucial for maintaining genetic diversity, which can positively affect fitness and adaptability to environmental changes. While inbreeding generally reduces the proportion of heterozygous individuals in a population, polyploidy tends to increase the proportion. North American Populus tremu...

En el campo de la restauración ecológica, una correcta evaluación de las plantaciones forestales es de gran importancia para determinar si se han cumplido las metas del proyecto. El objetivo del presente estudio fue monitorear esfuerzos de restauración temprana en sitios degradados mediante el uso de imágenes de alta resolución capturadas con Vehíc...

Climate change projections suggest a precarious future for the Monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) as the suitable climatic habitat of its exclusive overwintering host Abies religiosa (oyamel, Sacred fir, a conifer endemic to Mexico) inside the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) is expected to disappear by 2090. Since the upper elevation...

Population genetics theory predicts a relationship between fitness, genetic diversity (H0) and effective population size (Ne), which is often tested through heterozygosity‐fitness correlations (HFCs). We tested whether population and individual fertility and heterozygosity are correlated in two endangered Mexican spruces (Picea martinezii and Picea...

Introducción. La reforestación y restauración de los ecosistemas forestales son cada vez más difíciles en el contexto del cambio climático. Objetivos. Definir zonas de transferencia de semillas para reforestación en la Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca y el programa ‘Sembrando Vida’ en la Meseta Purépecha, para compensar el cambio climático....

The genetic structure of Populus tremuloides Michx. populations in Mexico is largely unknown. A study of this species throughout its range is critical to determine the genetic signatures of its adaptation to different local environmental conditions due to long-term natural selection and its adaptability to progressive environmental alterations such...

Introduction: There is growing recognition that restoring species diversity is crucial to maintaining ecological functions and services. Increasing the diversity of species used in restoration programs has placed greater emphasis on determining the seed transfer needs for a wider array of plants. However, many plants, outside of commercial forestry...

The 2023–2024 El Niño is inducing an acceleration of global warming that is likely to far exceed 1.5 °C. The Boreal summer of 2023 provided numerous examples of catastrophic forest fires (e.g., >18 million hectares of forest burned in Canada, making the Canadian forest a clear carbon source rather than a carbon sink), a trend that has been accompan...

Reforestation is one of the main actions undertaken to mitigate the effects of climate change. In Mexico, the Federal Government program “Sembrando Vida” (Sowing Life) is currently the most important reforestation effort. It aims to recoup forest cover and achieve food self-sufficiency through the establishment of agroforestry systems. The evaluati...

Drought exacerbates forest pest outbreaks, causing widespread tree mortality. In México, to control bark beetle outbreaks, mandatory sanitary logging is carried out by the landowners who can use or sell the resulting wood. We analyzed the temporal trend of reported bark beetle outbreaks and their relationship to drought conditions; and assessed the...

In Mexico, low plant survival rates in reforestations undermine ecological restoration efforts, despite being a key activity in the recovery of habitats, biodiversity or ecosystem services. One of the reasons is the use of unsuitable provenances. This influences resistance to cold and drought, or the speed of growth, so the germplasm used in refore...

Bark beetle infestations have historically been primary drivers of stand thinning in Mexican pine forests. However, bark beetle impacts have become increasingly extensive and intense, apparently associated with climate change. Our objective was to describe the possible association between abundance of bark beetle flying populations and the occurren...

Future climate forecasts predict major changes that will have negative impacts on the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of forest ecosystems. In Mexico, there is evidence of symptoms of massive forest decline; however, there is no consensus in terms of attributing these symptoms to climate change. This study aimed to provide evidence of forest...

Climate change is predicted to lead to increasingly intense and hotter droughts, causing physiological weakness followed by forest decline in many regions of the world. Long- and short-range remote sensing (satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones) can sense drought-induced changes in vegetation. Although several studies have...

Rising temperatures are causing increased tree mortality at lower elevations and upward migrations in montane tree communities. To reduce the risk of extinction from climate change, managed translocation or assisted migration could serve to support the management of endangered species, but is currently a controversial strategy with very limited inf...

Introduction: A species' populations differ across its distribution due to selection pressure from the climate gradient. Objective: To describe the phytochemical variation among 14 tree provenances in an altitudinal gradient of Abies religiosa (Kunth) Schltdl. & Cham. to determine if there are associations of chemical profiles among populations, e...

We analyzed the distribution of climatic habitat suitable for biomes of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, under the contemporary climate (19611990) and projected to the decade centered on the year 2030. This was achieved through previous modeling of the climatic habitat using random forest of the program R and six different climatic model scenarios....

Background: In the projected climate change scenarios, assisted migration might play an important role in the conservation of the threatened plant species, by translocate them to similar suitable habitats outside their native distributions. However, it is unclear if such habitats will be available for the Rare Endemic Plant Species (REPS), because...

Mexico ranks 5 th in worldwide resin production. Pinus oocarpa is the most widely tapped pine tree in Mexico. Michoacán (central-western Mexico) is the first nationwide state producer of resin. Despite the P. oocarpa relevance, there is no genetic improvement program in the country for resin production. We evaluated the degree of genetic control fo...

Earth's forests face grave challenges in the Anthropocene, including hotter droughts increasingly associated with widespread forest die-off events. But despite the vital importance of forests to global ecosystem services, their fates in a warming world remain highly uncertain. Lacking is quantitative determination of commonality in climate anomalie...

Understanding the growth rate and the timing of conifer seedling bud elongation can be useful in selecting tree species for commercial plantations and ecological restoration, either under the current climate or to adapt to climatic change. Shoot growth dynamics of three dominant Pinus species of the pine-oak forest of the Nuevo San Juan Parangaricu...

ABSTRACT Sectional equations and mathematical volume models are a reliable way to estimate carbon sequestration and storage, which is a key foundation for forest management and conservation. The objective of this study was to assess stem volume and form factor through the classical sectional method to then, using five regression models commonly use...

Climate change is an important risk factor for forest ecosystems through alteration of forest disturbance regimes such as bark beetle outbreaks, which in some places now are more successfully attacking host trees weakened by hotter drought events. In Mexico, ties between climate and amplified outbreaks of bark beetles have begun to be documented, a...

In the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in central-western Mexico, drought stress causes the decline of two of the most ecologically and economically important conifers: Abies religiosa and Pinus pseudostrobus. Since P. pseudostrobus is distributed immediately below the lower elevation limit of A. religiosa, it would be a logical choice of species to fi...

The authors wish to make the following corrections to their paper [...]

Se entiende como Cambio Climático al “cambio de clima atribuido directa o indirectamente a la actividad humana que altera la composición de la atmósfera global y que se suma a la variabilidad natural del clima observada durante períodos de tiempo comparables” (CMNUCC, 1992). En este sentido, el Panel Intergubernamental del Cambio Climático (IPCC po...

Achieving multi-million-hectare commitments from countries around the world to restore degraded lands in resilient and sustainable ways requires, among other things, huge volumes of tree planting material. Seed systems encompassing all forest reproductive material (e.g., seeds, cuttings, stakes, and wildings), are key to ensuring that sufficient pl...

A workshop about "Cambios demográficos, reproducción y estatus de poblaciones naturales de Picea mexicana Martínez y Picea martinezii Patterson en México: especies susceptibles a eventos de variabilidad climática” https://www.researchgate.net/project/Cambios-demograficos-reproduccion-y-estatus-de-poblaciones-naturales-de-Picea-mexicana-Martinez-y-P...

Despite the extensive distribution and use of Pinus oocarpa in Mexico, knowledge on the range of genetic variation and magnitude of quantitative parameters of the defensive structures of the species is rare. Our study attempts to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive assessment of resin duct traits in mother trees and their offsprings in an op...

Research Highlights: Reciprocal altitudinal transplants of Abies religiosa seedlings within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) allow prediction of the impacts of climatic change, because they grow in sites with a climate that differs from that of their origin. Background and Objectives: Climatic change is generating a mismatch between t...

Assisted migration of forest tree populations through reforestation and restoration is a climate change adaptation strategy under consideration in many jurisdictions. Matching climates in which seed sources evolved with near future climates projected for plantation sites should help reduce maladaptation and increase plantation health and productivi...

Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schltdl. es una de las especies forestales en México de mayor importancia ecológica (por su amplia distribución geográfica) y económica (por la extracción de su resina en poblaciones naturales). Una resinación más intensiva requerirá de plantaciones comerciales, que podrían ser multipropósito: resina y madera. El objetivo d...

Populations of forest species with a wide distribution tend to differ in morphological traits across altitudinal gradients. This allows the provisional zoning for conducting seed movement that ensures the adaptation and the best growth of the plants. The pattern of morphological variation associated with altitudinal gradients is not known for many...

Important modifications are occurring in temperate forests due to climate change; in polar latitudes their distribution area is increasing, while in tropical latitudes it is decreasing due to temperature increase and droughts. One of the biotic regulators of temperate forests are the debarking insects that cause the mortality of certain trees. Thes...

Evaluation of the physiological performance of plants as an environmental response is crucial to understand the ecological succession in plant communities and to implement strategies that increase plant survival and growth for restoration efforts and commercial plantations; however, evaluating plant physiology often requires complex and expensive t...

Evaluation of the physiological performance of plants as an environmental response is crucial to understand the ecological succession in plant communities and to implement strategies that increase plant survival and growth for restoration efforts and commercial plantations; however, evaluating plant physiology often requires complex and expensive t...

The geographic distribution of species depends on their relationships with climate and on the biotic interactions of the species. Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) mainly consider climatic variables only and may tend to overestimate these distributions, especially for species strongly restricted by biotic interactions. We identified the preference of...

To recover the structure and functionality of a deforested ecosystem, two strategies of ecological restoration are considered: active restoration, which eliminates the disturbance agents and implements strategies to accelerate site recovery, and passive restoration, which eliminates disturbance agents, allowing natural regeneration to occur. Prior...

Symptoms of forest decline, apparently due to climate change, have become evident in the last 10 years on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and northwestern temperate forest of Mexico, particularly at the xeric (low elevational) limit of several forest tree species. We review and provide recent evidence of massive infestation of timberline Pinus hart...

The objective of this study was to test the ability of tree species to survive and grow at an early age (two years after transplant to the field) in soil with mine tailings. In this study, the performance of five species (Pinus pseudostrobus, P. martinezii, P. leiophylla, P. devoniana and Juniperus deppeana) and a variable number of provenance...

Assisted migration has been proposed as a strategy for adaptive management of forest species in response to expected effects of climate change, but it is controversial for several reasons. Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. In Mexico, historically, land-use change and deforestation have been decreasing fores...

The high biodiversity of the Mexican montane forests is concentrated on the Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt, where several Protected Natural Areas exist. Our study examines the projected changes in suitable climatic habitat for five conifer species that dominate these forests. The species are distributed sequentially in overlapping altitudinal bands: P...

Introduction: The forests of Abies religiosa (Kunth) Schltdl. & Cham. in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) serve as a refuge for the monarch butterfly. Objective: To determine the viability of growing naturally regenerated A. religiosa seedlings in a nursery and the genetic variation associated with the altitudinal gradient among popu...

Increasing disturbance events (forest fires, windstorms, pest outbreaks) associated with climate change are creating new ecological restoration challenges. Here, we examine the utility of assisted migration in combination with naturally established nurse plants in order to improve the success of afforestation with Abies religiosa (sacred fir), the...

Abies religiosa (HBK) Schl. & Cham. (oyamel fir) is a conifer native to Mexico. The oyamel forest located on the border of the State of Mexico and Michoacán serves as a refuge for Monarch butterfly populations Danaus plexippus L., but there is concern about the future of Abies religiosa in the region due to the change in land use and the climate ch...

Abies religiosa (HBK) Schl. & Cham. (oyamel) es una conífera nativa de México. El bosque de oyamel que se ubica en la frontera del Estado de México y Michoacán funge como refugio de poblaciones de mariposa monarca Danaus plexippus L., pero existe preocupación por el futuro de Abies religiosa en la región debido al cambio de uso de suelo y al cambio...

The strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources, which are essential for the future adaptation of forest species to changing environments, are also a source of valuable genetic resources for breeding and restoration activities. The first step to define and implement cost-effective strategies is to identify specif...

The natural distribution, habitat, growth and evolutionary history of tree species are strongly dependent on ecological and genetic processes in ecosystems subject to fluctuating climatic conditions, but there have been few experimental comparisons of sensitivity between species. We compared the responses of two broadleaved tree species ( Fagus syl...

Environmental impacts of mining activities are well known, particularly on-site degradation, but long term effects are less known. Mercury content from vegetation samples from a mine dump and surrounding forests was quantified for understanding the fate of this element in the local the environment. The study area, Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, México, ha...

p> Background : The rates of extinction evaluations are slow in relation to the magnitude of the problem. In the case of plants, just about 6 % of the species have been evaluated. On the other hand, it has been determined that the extension of the distribution area is a good predictor of the extinction risk. Questions : Is it possible to speed up...

A fafajok melegedd és szárazodó klímához való alkalmazkodásának mértéke nem ismert, jövbeni vitalitásukat és produkciójukat bizonytalanság övezi. Számos kutatásban elrevetítették már a vita-litás csökkenését, az elterjedési terület eltolódását, a különböz kártevk elszaporodását. Különö-sen fontos lenne a domináns, klímazonális, erddtársulásainkat m...

El modelaje del hábitat climático para la distribución potencial de especies es una herramienta útil para proyectar los impactos del cambio climático e implementar estrategias de manejo para atenuar sus efectos negativos. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la distribución potencial del hábitat climático contemporáneo y futuro (década c...

Seed zones for forest tree species are a widely used tool in reforestation programs to ensure that seedlings are well adapted to their planting environments. Here, we propose a climate-based seed zone system for Mexico to address observed and projected climate change. The proposed seed zone classification is based on bands of climate variables ofte...

http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783319664255-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1626474-p181095290

The modeling of climate habitat for the potential distribution of species is a useful tool to project the climate change impacts and to implement management strategies to mitigate its negative effects. The objective of this study was to determine the potential distribution of the contemporary and future (decade centered in the year 2030) climatic h...

Conservation of Abies religiosa (sacred fir) within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) in Mexico requires adapti­ve management to cope with expected climatic change, in order to have healthy trees for Danaus plexippus overwintering sites in the future. Open pollinated seeds from fifteen A. religio­sa populations were collected along an...

Access: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783319664255-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1626474-p181095290 Over the last 200 years, humans have impacted the genetic diversity of forest trees. Because of widespread deforestation and over-exploitation, about 9,000 tree species are listed worldwide as threatened with extinction, in...

Climate varies along altitudinal gradients and species performance may be affected in response to these variations. Climate change can modify these gradients and, at the lower limit of species distributions, individuals may become stressed and their general health and reproductive performance may decrease. Study and prediction of the effects of cli...

Mining produces large quantities of metal residues (mine spoils) which, when left abandoned become a source of environmental pollution and have a significant impact on local environments. It therefore becomes necessary to devise different management strategies, the speeding up revegetation being one of them. A mesocosm trial was conducted to select...

En los bosques templados están sucediendo modificaciones importantes debido al cambio climático; en latitudes polares va en aumento su área de distribución, mientras que en las tropicales se reduce por incremento en la temperatura y las sequías. Uno de los agentes bióticos reguladores de los bosques templados son los insectos descortezadores que oc...

The recent massive dieback of forest trees due to drought stress makes assessment of the variability of physiological traits that might be critical for predicting forest response and adaptation to climate change even more urgent. We investigated xylem vulnerability to cavitation and xylem specific hydraulic conductivity in seven species of three pr...

The necessity of genetic diversity for evolution and the relationship between heterozygosity and population fitness are important arguments for conserving genetic diversity. The loss of genetic diversity can be detrimental to the short-term viability of individuals and populations, and to the evolutionary potential of populations and species. Genet...

How temperate forests will respond to climate change is uncertain; projections range from severe decline to increased growth. We conducted field tests of sessile oak (Quercus petraea), a widespread keystone European forest tree species, including more than 150,000 trees sourced from 116 geographically diverse populations. The tests were planted on...

En este trabajo se presenta evidencia de que el cambio climático es un proceso que está en curso y que las poblaciones de árboles forestales son genéticamente diferenciadas en caracteres cuantitativos debido a la adaptación en hábitats específicos. Se discuten en detalle las evidencias de que el desplazamiento del hábitat climático apropiado para e...

Seed production, quality, germination and seedling establishment are indicators of reproductive success in conifers. Monitoring of these parameters is essential to determine the viability of populations for the purposes of conservation. We analyze cone and seed traits as indicators of reproductive success in the endangered Rzedowski´s pine (Pinus r...

The suitable climate habitat modeling for the potential distribution of species is a powerful tool to project the impacts of climate change and to suggest management measures that may mitigate its negative effects. The objectives of this study were: (1) To determine the potential distribution of Swietenia macrophylla primarily for the Yucatan Penin...

Como sucede con los reportes del IPCC, el grupo de trabajo dos del Reporte Mexicano de Cambio Climático está dedicado a documentar los impactos, la vulnerabilidad y la adaptación en México. Se determinó que fuese el primero en presentarse porque desde el Primer Estudio País México ante el cambio climático, México se asumió como un país vulnerable a...

To quantify the effect on genetic diversity of restor- ing tree populations in an area under the influence of an urban heat island, we evaluated the genetic diversity of 72 Ceiba aesculifolia individuals, from a restoration experiment established from 2170 to 2260 m a.s.l. Reintroduced individuals were compared with the provenance from which the se...

Picea mexicana Martínez, P. chihuahuana Martínez and P. martinezii Patterson are endangered species endemic to México. A synthesis of their status and a management proposal for their in situ and ex situ conservation are presented, based in the genetic structure and diversity of their populations, and on the predicted future distribution of suitable...

Picea mexicana Martínez, P. chihuahuana Martínez and P. martinezii Patterson are endangered species endemic to México. A synthesis of their status and a management proposal for their in situ and ex situ conservation are presented, based in the genetic structure and diversity of their populations, and on the predicted future distribution of suitable...

The response of plants to altitudinal gradients depends on several factors and might differ among life strategies. Understanding these responses is highly relevant for management of forest species, particularly under climate change scenarios. We explored the response to drought of different provenances of Lupinus elegans, obtained from an altitudin...

The availability of overwintering sites in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) depends on the conservation of oyamel fir (Abies religiosa) forests. These forests are threatened by land cover changes and by the decoupling of oyamel populations from the climate to which they are adapted, because of climate change. From 1986 to 2012, a tota...

Drought stress in provenances of Lupinus elegans from different altitudesThe response of plants to altitudinal gradients depends on several factors and might differ among life strategies. Understanding these responses is highly relevant for management of forest species, particularly under climate change scenarios. We explored the response to drough...

Thick-billed Parrots (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) and Maroon-fronted Parrots (Rhynchopsitta terrisi) are the only parrots in Mexico found in high-elevation coniferous forests. Both species are critically endangered due to logging, and climate change is expected to further reduce their available habitat. Our objectives were to assess the present and...

Since shifts in altitudinal range are expected in response to climate change, we explored the effect on survivorship and growth of moving populations of three Mexican pine species (Pinus devoniana, P. leiophylla and P. pseudostrobus) to higher altitude, aiming to realign the populations to projected future climates in an experimental assisted migra...

Since shifts in altitudinal range are expected in response to climate change, we explored the effect on survivorship and growth of moving populations of three Mexican pine species (Pinus devoniana, P. leiophylla and P. pseudostrobus) to higher altitude, aiming to realign the populations to projected future climates in an experimental assisted migra...

In natural plant populations, the spatial genetic structure (SGS) is occasionally associated with evolutionary and ecological features such as the mating system, individual fitness, inbreeding depression and natural selection of the species of interest. The very rare Mexican P. chihuahuana tree community covers an area no more than 300 ha and has b...