Javier Laborde

Javier Laborde
Institute of Ecology INECOL | INECOL · Ecología Funcional

Ph D

About

77
Publications
28,344
Reads
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1,910
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 2013 - September 2015
Institute of Ecology INECOL
Position
  • Head of Department
September 2000 - October 2004
The University of Sheffield
Position
  • PhD Student
Description
  • PhD Awarded: February 2005 PhD Thesis: Establishment of woody plants in calcareous grassland: the role of vertebrate herbivores (October 2004)
April 1993 - present
Institute of Ecology INECOL
Position
  • Historia Natural y Ambiental de Paisajes Fragmentados
Description
  • Investigaciones en paisajes tropicales modificados por el hombre, vecinos a áreas protegidas: en Los Tuxtlas, Ver.; La Mancha, Ver. y en pastizales de UK en Peak District National Park.
Education
September 2000 - February 2005
The University of Sheffield
Field of study
  • Animal & Plant Sciences
September 1982 - September 1989
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Field of study
  • Biología: ecología vegetal

Publications

Publications (77)
Article
Efforts to decolonize science aim to change the asymmetries between the Global North and South by diversifying production and access to knowledge. However, costs and benefits of the struggle against colonial practices vary depending on the career stage of researchers. Early career researchers face pressures to conform to colonial norms for job secu...
Article
Full-text available
En el paisaje de la selva húmeda mexicana, en las áreas abiertas más extensas de ese paisaje, los potreros, hay árboles solitarios del dosel de la selva, que fueron deliberadamente dejados en pie al tumbar la selva para transformarla en campo agrícola o ganadero. Estos árboles, que proporcionan descanso, protección o alimentación a las aves y murci...
Article
The Cordillera del Cóndor (CC) mountain range, located parallel to the Eastern Andes and bordering both Ecuador and Peru, is a discontinuous formation whose elevation spans 190–3200 m a.s.l., with unique geology and vegetation, and a wide variety of climates. Here, based on a thorough revision of databases, the scientific literature and on field wo...
Article
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Worldwide, tropical montane cloud forest is one of the most important and biodiverse ecosystems, however it is also one of those most threatened by anthropic activities. These activities lead to a fragmented, deforested landscape with narrow riparian forest strips immersed in an agricultural matrix dominated by pastures. Here, we characterize the i...
Article
Agriculture is one of the main drivers of deforestation worldwide, generating highly fragmented landscapes that severely limit the mobility of forest species. Knowledge of the state of previously forested landscapes, taking into account all of its arboreal elements (including isolated trees, living fences, riparian corridors, and others) is a neces...
Article
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Background Global modeling of carbon storage and sequestration often mischaracterizes unique ecosystems such as the seasonally dry tropical forest of the central region of the Gulf of Mexico, because species diversity is usually underestimated, as is their carbon content. In this study, aboveground and soil carbon stocks were estimated to determine...
Article
In recent decades land cover change resulting from different types of human activity has severely reduced the original area of tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF). Deforested landscapes in neotropical America commonly have a heterogeneous structure (i.e. landscape context) with increasingly small forest patches immersed in an agricultural matrix....
Article
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In the fragmented landscape of Los Tuxtlas, adult fig trees are found in both rainforest remnants and in pastures. Syconium (fig) development is known to vary between and within Ficus species, but it is not known whether it differs between rainforest and pasture trees. Here, we describe syconium development for two Ficus species with different life...
Article
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Background: Cloud forest in central Veracruz is highly fragmented. However, different arboreal elements are still present within the agricultural matrix, including small patches of secondary forest, isolated trees and forested riparian belts. These elements could be important for cloud forest species conservation. Questions: What is the structure...
Article
Seasonally dry tropical forests are amongst the most threatened ecosystems in the world due to severe and long-lasting anthropic disturbances. In this study, the spatial variation in plant diversity for the seasonally dry tropical region in central Veracruz was assessed at three different scales: among forested vegetation types, within each vegetat...
Article
Decreasing landscape connectivity, due to habitat loss and agricultural expansion, is a threat for species movement and other flux-dependent ecological processes. Tree cover within the agricultural matrix provides perching sites, dispersal routes, and extra habitat for animals. Isolated trees and living fences in tropical pastures add structural co...
Article
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Seasonally dry tropical regions in the Neotropics are remarkably biodiverse and provide valuable ecosystem services. Thus, it is crucial to increase and update our information on the biodiversity still preserved within them, particularly in poorly studied areas such as the central coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico, our study area. A total of 558...
Article
To gain knowledge about carbon and nitrogen mineralization potentials and their interaction with sandy soil environment in tropical dry coastal ecosystems, we carried out a short-term laboratory incubation experiment. For this, soil surface (0–10 cm) samples were collected from tropical semi-deciduous forest (TSdF), secondary forest (SecF), coastal...
Article
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La Reserva de la Biosfera Los Tuxtlas (RBLT) alberga los últimos remanentes de bosque tropical perennifolio (BTP) y bosque mesófilo de montaña (BMM) en la llanura costera del golfo de México. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas ha perdido ~ 60% de su cobertura forestal. La información precisa y detallada sobre la dinámica del cambio de uso del suel...
Article
We analyzed the composition and diversity of orchids and host trees (phorophytes) in a set of cloud forest fragments, assessing how different land use types affects them. Terrestrial and epiphytic orchids were recorded in three habitats surrounded by different types of land use: mature cloud forest (MF), riparian forested belts (RF) crossing pastur...
Article
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Although the transformation of landscapes by human activity can negatively affect the populations of several bat species, other species may benefit from these transformations. One of such species is the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, which can often be found in landscapes dominated by livestock activities. Furthermore, there are certain structural...
Article
Seasonally dry tropical forests in the Neotropics are typically transformed into pasture-dominated landscapes that represent a major threat to habitat biodiversity. Developing alternative management strategies that minimize the loss of native biota in agricultural landscapes is crucial. In a fragmented landscape in Veracruz, Mexico, we analyzed the...
Chapter
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Es la segunda ocasión que en los municipios costeros de Actopan y Alto Lucero de Veracruz se solicita la explotación minera a cielo abierto para extracción de oro, plata y otros minerales por parte de corporaciones ca-nadienses y algunos mexicanos, particularmente con apoyo de la Secretaría de Economía, que consideran que la actividad minera es pri...
Chapter
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El incremento de las actividades productivas prósperas y sustentables y el mantenimiento de la diversidad biológica de las selvas húmedas y secas del estado de Veracruz, requiere del conocimiento y manejo del paisaje actual. La estructura y el funcionamiento del paisaje están vinculados a los eventos recurrentes de carácter natural y a la presencia...
Article
The Los Tuxtlas mountain range harbors one of the last remnants of tropical rain forest on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. This volcanic range has a high degree of heterogeneity in its geology, climate and ecology, in addition to a very long history of human occupation. The original area covered by tropical forest has been drastically redu...
Article
Ectoparasitism in bats seems to be influenced strongly by the type of roost preferred by the hosts, and group size; however, the effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on the prevalence of ectoparasites in bats has scarcely been studied. In northeastern Yucatan, Mexico, we estimated the prevalence of infestation by Streblidae flies in three phyll...
Article
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The pervasive loss of primary forest in the tropics means that we need a better understanding of how transforming tropical landscapes affects plant regeneration if we wish to recover and maintain the diverse composition, structure, and function of tropical forest and landscapes. Advance regeneration (AR) is a crucial stage in forest dynamics; it in...
Chapter
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México está enfrentando desde hace varias décadas una crisis profunda en cuanto a la conservación de su diversidad biológica. Las estrategias simplistas de conservación dirigidas a una especie en particular (generalmente especies nativas carismáticas o que generan interés en la población en general y en las agencias financiadoras de la conservación...
Chapter
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Los humedales son ecosistemas altamente productivos y se consideran entre los más productivos del planeta junto con las selvas tropicales y los arrecifes de coral (Mitsch y Gosselink, 2000). Son ambientes ricos en nutrientes y la energía convertida en biomasa por las plantas es la base de gran cantidad y variedad de cadenas alimenticias que sostien...
Chapter
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El paisaje costero del centro de Veracruz está formado por un mosaico muy rico de comunidades; pastizales, matorrales, selva baja caducifolia y selva mediana sub caducifolia, además de selvas anegables, manglares, tifales, popales y hondonadas húmedas. En este mosaico hay una gran riqueza de especies de plantas que incluye algunas que son exclusiva...
Article
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Climate change is recognized as an important threat to global biodiversity because it increases the risk of extinction of many species on the planet. Mexico is a megadiverse country and native tree species such as red cedar (Cedrela odorata) can be used to maintain forests while helping mitigate climate change, because it is considered a fast growi...
Chapter
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La vegetación que se desarrolla sobre las dunas costeras de Veracruz es bastante diversa, de acuerdo a la heterogeneidad microambiental que en ellas se presenta. En general está integrada por comunidades herbáceas entre las cuales destacan los pastizales caracterizados por los géneros Sporobolus, Schyzachyrium, Andropogon y Panicum. También hay alg...
Conference Paper
Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo identificar y describir la estructura y composición florística de un acahual de 6 ha después de 19 años de regeneración posterior al abandono de un potrero. Para lo cual se compara su vegetación adulta y regeneración de avanzada (RA) con una selva tropical sub-caducifolia bien conservada. Este trabajo se desarrolló e...
Article
Full-text available
In tropical dry landscapes, biodiversity conservation is dependent upon both the protection of natural areas as well as on the sustainable management of the agricultural matrix. In this study, the taxonomic, species and functional group diversity of myrmecofauna was analyzed in three neighboring habitats with different degrees of anthropic disturba...
Article
This study describes the diversity of ectoparasitic bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae) in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. Fieldwork was carried out from June 2010 to January 2012 in seven municipalities of Yucatan, where 13 sampling sites were selected to capture bats using mist nets. Over 156 sampling nights a total of 910 bats were captured; these bel...
Book
Full-text available
Los bosques y selvas son ecosistemas de gran valor para la sociedad. Sus árboles constituyen recursos importantes para los pobladores locales, no solamente por su madera sino también por los productos comestibles y medicinales que se obtienen. Además, se reconoce su importancia en la recuparación de arroyos y ríos del propio manto freático, que sir...
Article
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Context Dry forests usually have a marked seasonality in resource availability; as a consequence, wildlife is subjected to drastic changes in food availability during the year. The presence of high-quality sites that provide food during lean periods is crucial in these habitats, especially in human-modified landscapes where resources are limited an...
Poster
Full-text available
Se presentaron los resultados de restauración ecológica en un potrero con 19 años de abandono. Desde el inicio del abandono se utilizaron como herramientas de restauración las perchas artificiales, así como conservar los 10 árboles que se usaban para sombra del ganado. 19 años después se tiene un bosque secundario con una estructura similar a la se...
Article
Full-text available
http://polired.upm.es/index.php/pastos/article/view/2250. The current landscape of the Mesoamerican rain forest has been shaped by the migration of plant and animal species, natural events, and human intervention. This current reflection on the effects of livestock ranching in this region focuses on the impact to both the structure and the functio...
Article
Full-text available
Background: ‘Scrub-grassland’ mosaics are valued owing to their notable biodiversity. However, they are dynamic and difficult to manage, largely because of our incomplete knowledge of vegetation boundary shifts. Aim: Increase our understanding of the ecological processes involved in woody plant establishment at scrub–grassland ecotones and assess...
Article
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Forest fragmentation reduces the amount of forest cover and negatively affects the habitat quality of forest remnants. Landscape attributes and habitat quality should therefore be evaluated together to improve our understanding of how fauna respond to fragmentation. We evaluated how patch quality (vegetation structure) and landscape characteristics...
Article
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We registered one juvenile female Lampronycteris brachyotis in a tropical semideciduous forest of Espita county, Yucatán. This is the first record of the species in the state of Yucatán, which extends its distribution in the Peninsula. Key words: insectivorous bat, Mexico, tropical semideciduous forest. El estudio de la fauna de murciélagos en la p...
Article
Why are some woody species able to colonize open grassland while others are not? How important are seed limitation and grazing by vertebrates for the colonization of grasslands by woody species? What are the effects of the grassland turf on seedling emergence, growth and survival? How frequently are seedlings killed by grazers, and how different ar...
Article
Full-text available
Secondary forest in the seasonal tropics is usually dominated by a few pioneer tree species (usually wind-dispersed), while animal-dispersed species with large seeds may be absent. Several studies have shown that directly seeding these tree species in abandoned pastures can be successful; however, information is lacking about the optimal habitat co...
Article
Full-text available
Secondary forest in the seasonal tropics is usually dominated by a few pioneer tree species (usually wind-dispersed), while animal-dispersed species with large seeds may be absent. Several studies have shown that directly seeding these tree species in abandoned pastures can be successful; however, information is lacking about the optimal habitat co...
Chapter
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Scientific papers published in Latin American journals are usually assigned a very low or null value in current evaluation systems. Consequently, our scientists are publishing their most relevant work elsewhere, mainly in journals in ISI‘s Citation Index (CI) that have a high Impact Factor (IF). Latin American journals literally are being deprived...
Article
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En los sistemas de evaluación de investigadores imperantes en México y Latinoamérica se les concede muy poco valor (o ninguno) a los artículos publicados en las revistas nacionales y por tanto, nuestros científicos publican sus investigaciones más relevantes en revistas de otros países,principalmente en revistas indizadas en el Citation Index (CI)...
Article
Full-text available
Scientific papers published in Mexican and Latin American journals are usually assigned very low (or even null) value in the research evaluation systems that are currently prevalent in this region. Consequently, our scientists are publishing their most relevant research elsewhere, mainly in journals that are indexed in ISI's Citation Index (CI) and...
Article
Granivorous rodents and birds are both predators and dispersers of the nuts produced by many woody plants. This study examines the role of granivores as predators and dispersers of Corylus avellana L. and the consequences of this interaction for Corylus regeneration and scrub encroachment into grassland. In the Cressbrook Dale nature reserve (Derby...
Article
http://www.osara.org/darwin_2009/articles/GuevarraEE303_fin.pdf One of the greatest challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean, the most biologically and culturally diverse region in the world, is to halt the loss of species caused by habitat destruction and land degradation. Up to now, setting aside protected natural areas is considered the mo...
Article
Full-text available
One of the greatest challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean, the most biologically and culturally diverse region in the world, is to halt the loss of species caused by habitat destruction and land degradation. Up to now, setting aside protected natural areas is considered the most effective alternative to conserve biodiversity. Protected are...
Article
Full-text available
La reforestation de pâturages tropicaux est limitée par la dispersion des graines, principalement parce que les agents de dissémination des graines des plantes ligneuses évitent les aires déboisées. À Los Tuxtlas au Mexique, nous avons clôturé des figuiers isolés qui avaient été laissés dans des pâturages pour procurer de l'ombre. Nous avons suivi...
Article
Uno de los desafíos más apremiantes para Latinoamérica y el Caribe, considerada la región más diversa del mundo biológica y culturalmente, es detener la pérdida de especies provocada por la destrucción del hábitat y degradación del territorio. En la actualidad, todavía se considera el establecimiento de áreas naturales protegidas que excluyen toda...
Article
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Se hizo un inventario de especies de plantas fanerógamas y pteridofitas en potreros en áreas desprovistas de árboles, en la zona del volcán San Martín Tuxtla, en Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz. Con el fin de tener la composición florística más completa posible, se realizaron muestreos durante la temporada seca y la de lluvia del año de 1992, en dos localida...
Article
Full-text available
An inventory of the angiosperm and fern plant species growing in areas deprived of trees in pastures of Los Tuxtlas mountain range is presented. In order to obtain a complete floristic list, sampling was carried out during both the dry and wet seasons of 1992, in pastures of two localities: Balzapote and La Palma. At each locality, five pastures do...
Article
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The aim of this chapter is to provide an application of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), and we will use a lowland tropical vegetation data set. It should be noted that the aim is not to provide a detailed statistical analysis of these data, as other methods may be more appropriate to answer the underlying questions. The reason for this is...
Article
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Existen pocos datos sobre la dispersión de semillas por aves frugivoras en paisajes fragmentados que se originaron de selvas tropicales secas, en comparación a los existentes para selvas tropicales húmedas. En este trabajo evaluamos el efecto de las aves frugfvoras en un paisaje fragmentado localizado en Veracruz, México, ocupado actualmente por re...
Article
In the highly fragmented landscape of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, we studied seed rain, seed bank, and vegetation established beneath the canopies of five fig trees ( Ficus spp.) isolated in pastures. The area beneath the canopy of each fig tree was enclosed with a barbed wire fence to exclude cattle, and weeding with machete and herbicide spraying were s...
Article
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The American tropical landscape is characterized nowadays by extensive areas of pastures and crop-fields, in which the remaining forest fragments are immersed. Although the areas cleared for cultivation and cattle raising are mainly covered by herbaceous plants, they are not devoid of trees. Pastures and crop-fields in many areas of tropical Americ...
Article
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El paisaje del trópico húmedo de toda América, se señala por la creciente deforestación y fragmentación de las selvas y los bosques, que dan como resultado un paisaje con una gran superficie de campos de cultivo y potreros rodeando los fragmentos forestales de extensión y composición florística variables. Sin embargo, las áreas desmontadas que está...
Thesis
Full-text available
To evaluate why some woody species are able to colonize open grassland while others are not, the relative effects of seed limitation and grazing were evaluated. The germination, establishment, growth and survival of the seedlings of eight scrub species were evaluated using exclosures and open plots in the grassland of Cressbrook Dale, Derbyshire. T...
Book
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Este libro tuvo su origen en el informe final del proyecto Plan de Desarrollo Regional Sustentable del Trópico Húmedo Mexicano: La Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz (B7-8110/95/957/D4) apoyado por la Unión Europea, a través de la Dirección General XI, Medio Ambiente, Seguridad Social y Protección Civil. La investigación y los resultados obtenidos fue...
Article
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Few data exist on seed dispersal by frugivorous birds in fragmented landscapes, originating from tropical dry forests, in contrast to more abundant data from tropical rain forests. In this study, we assessed the effect of frugivorous birds in a fragmented landscape of Veracruz, Mexico, now occupied by remnant fragments of tropical semi-deciduous fo...
Article
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It is generally thought that pastures are inhospitable habitats for rain forest organisms. This largely results from (i) using low resolution images when studying fragmented landscapes and (ii) ignoring the actual characteristics of pastures. In a highly fragmented landscape of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, numerous remnants of the forest canopy are left wh...
Chapter
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La reciente expansión de la ganadería a costa de la selva ha ocurrido en todo el trópico húmedo americano. Esta situación ha transformado el paisaje forestal original en un mosaico de campos de cultivo, potreros, remanentes de selva y matorrales. En el estado de Veracruz (7.28 x 106 has), la extensión de los pastizales era en 1940 de 1.6 x 106 has,...
Thesis
Full-text available
En potreros de Los Tuxtlas con más de 15 años de uso para la cría de ganado, se registraron 47 especies de aves frugivoras que visitaron la copa de 4 árboles de Ficus spp. aislados en potreros activos. Esto representa casi un tercio de la avifauna frugívora reportada para la EBT-UNAM y sus alrededores. Las tasas de visita de aves frugívoras variaro...
Article
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Se analiza la estructura y composición florística de 13 potreros establecidos en áreas originalmente cubiertas por selva alta perennifolia, en la Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz. En ellos es común encontrar árboles aislados que en su mayoría son remanentes de la selva, dejados en pie porque constituyen importantes fuentes de sombra, alimento (princ...
Article
The tropical rain forest landscape has been transformed to a mosaic composed of patches of crops, secondary vegetation and remnant forest fragments of different shapes and sizes. Isolation of patches and fragments is a critical issue in the maintenance of local species diversity. In this study we focus on the dispersal of propagules by birds to und...
Article
Large isolated trees are a common feature of the agricultural landscape in humid tropical regions originally covered by rain forest. These isolated trees are primarily used as a source of shade for cattle and people. 13 pastures (totalling ca. 80 ha) currently used as cattle pasture were studied. In them, we registered 265 isolated trees belonging...

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