M. Isabel Ramírez- PhD
- Professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico
M. Isabel Ramírez
- PhD
- Professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico
About
85
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Introduction
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October 1995 - June 2000
January 2006 - November 2014
Publications
Publications (85)
Pinus and Quercus species face anthropogenic disturbances that affect their structure and distribution. Understanding the distribution patterns of these species is crucial for establishing appropriate management practices to conserve their diversity and the ecosystem services they provide. The aim of this study was to analyze pine and oak species’...
We measured stable H isotope (δ²H) concentrations in wing and stored body lipids of fall migrating monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) from the eastern North American subpopulation along a transect from southern Ontario to overwintering sites in central Mexico from 2019 to 2021. We analysed wing δ²H to infer natal origins using both a spatially...
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) undertake one of the most remarkable long-distance insect migrations, travelling thousands of kilometres to overwinter in the central trans-volcanic belt of Mexico. This study explored how monarch butterflies use essential fatty acids (EFA) and nonessential fatty acids (NFA) during overwintering. We collected...
The avocado is a commodity crop that has generated severe environmental and social impacts in Michoacán, the world’s leading producer. Current studies overlook the diversity of avocado production by focusing on Michocán’s central region, while the regions of a more recent expansion remain poorly studied. We analyzed the model of avocado production...
Pesticide use raises concerns regarding environmental sustainability, as pesticides are closely linked to the decline of biodiversity and adverse human health outcomes. This study proposed a holistic approach for assessing the potential risks posed by pesticides for human health and the environment in the eastern region of Michoacan, where extensiv...
The eastern population of the North American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwinters from November through March in the high-altitude (3000 m+) forests of central Mexico during which time they rely largely on stored lipids. These are acquired during larval development and the conversion of sugars from floral nectar by adults. We sampled fa...
Deforestation for livestock remains one of Mexico’s key socio-environmental problems. The municipality of Hopelchén is a deforestation hotspot despite being part of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the largest forestland on the Yucatan Peninsula. Livestock are part of the local culture and economy, and there is potential for the development of tradi...
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...
El libro Integración global: el nuevo entorno de los territorios locales destaca los procesos que surgen en el ámbito local como resultado de las conexiones con la escala global. Desde una perspectiva teórica y práctica el libro se articula en torno a dos preguntas: ¿Cómo los procesos de integración global han transformado el espacio, las relacione...
More than half of Mexico’s forests and about a third of the forests of the world are communally-owned. Despite this, community forest management (CFM) is the least studied forest management policy, and existing studies have focused on the effects of CFM on deforestation. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of CFM on land cover more broadly, to un...
Los escarabajos descortezadores son pequeños insectos que viven, se alimentan y se reproducen debajo de la corteza de los árboles. Estos insectos juegan un papel renovador en la salud de los bosques, ya que eliminan los árboles débiles y enfermos dejando únicamente a los más fuertes y sanos. Sin embargo, debido al aumento de las temperaturas y a la...
We evaluated the causal effect of the forestry programs implemented from 2007 to 2018 on the forest recovery in the municipality of Zitácuaro in central Mexico, part of the Cutzamala region, a REDD+ priority implementation area. We produced detailed land use/land cover (LULC) maps to measure forest loss and recovery in the study period at the munic...
El uso del suelo es uno de los factores fundamentales del cambio climático, un problema ambiental que atraviesa todas las escalas geográficas. El mecanismo Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación Forestal (REDD+) surge para mitigar el problema del cambio climático desde el sector forestal. México ha buscado fortalecer su gobernanza y...
Introduction
Among long-distance migratory insects, the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is one of the most iconic, whose journey is fueled by nectar from flowering plants along the migratory route which may involve up to 3,500 km. Understanding how and where monarchs obtain their dietary resources to fuel migratory flight and ensure overwinter...
Background: Rivers and their associated vegetation are considered highly complex natural systems representing high biodiversity areas that work as biological corridors. Nevertheless, riparian vegetation of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) has not been studied nor considered in the reserve’s management program.
Questions: Which is the...
Background and Research Aims
Human activities seeking to satisfy various needs have resulted in deforestation and other forest cover change processes. The Natural Protected Areas are among the most efficient instruments to contain forest loss. The compensation from conservation is not sufficient to compete with land uses with higher economic rent,...
The current global pollinator crisis highlights the need to investigate the diversity and distribution of ecologically and socially relevant taxa such as tropical stingless bees. We analyzed the diversity and composition of stingless bee (Meliponini) communities at a regional scale in west‐central Mexico using an extensive direct search along an al...
Deforestation and environmental contamination from the expansion of neoliberal agriculture, including transgenic soy, turned the municipality of Hopelchén, in the Mexican state of Campeche, into a focus of cultural and economic tensions. Previous studies focused on analyzing the conflict between the original population, Maya traditional farmers and...
In 2010, the Mexican National Forestry Commission (Spanish acronym CONAFOR) implemented REDD+ early action activities in priority states, including Campeche. This article explores the impact of the forestry programs promoted under REDD+ on the diversification of household activities, benefit-sharing among local groups, and forest cover changes in t...
Esta contribución se centra en proveer datos sobre la deforestación y las cubiertas del suelo en la Cuenca Alta del Río Lerma (CARL) y las regiones medias que la contienen, entre 1976 y 2011. Con esto aportamos datos que ayudan a conocer la condición que guarda el capital natural de la CARL y los cambios que ha experimentado esa región en estos tre...
Declines in the abundance and diversity of insects pose a substantial threat to terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Yet, identifying the causes of these declines has proved difficult, even for well-studied species like monarch butterflies, whose eastern North American population has decreased markedly over the last three decades. Three hypotheses hav...
This paper investigates how the horizontal and vertical policy integration for REDD+ has been conceptualized and unfolded in Mexico during the REDD+ readiness and early implementation phase (2008–2019). We used the document analysis and interviews with key actors to identify changes that REDD+ induced in forestry and agriculture sectors’ policy mak...
At the international level, the REDD+ mechanism has been promoted through public policies and financial incentives to improve forest conditions and reduce climate change. Given the dynamics of deforestation and forest degradation in Mexico, REDD+ has been implemented as a strategy that can be analyzed under indicators of legality, legitimacy and le...
This article analyzes the process of land composition in the late 17th and 18th early
centuries, and how this form of juridical legitimation and geographical organization
had political and territorial impacts on Indian villages (pueblos de indios), specifically
among the Mazahuas of San Mateo in the alcaldía mayor of Zitácuaro in central New
Spain....
Local ecological knowledge (LEK) is of utmost importance for biodiversity conservation; however, a number of studies document the loss of LEK regarding native bees. Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are important pollinators that have been managed by humans in all tropical areas of the world. Our work documents the decline of Meliponini and assoc...
El libro explora, desde los ámbitos de la geografía (humana), la historia y los estudios ambientales la noción de "paisaje", en el contexto americano. Para ello, se realiza un abordaje desde temas concretos en la geografía de paisaje, la geografía histórica, la geografía cultural, la historia del arte, la la arqueología de paisaje y la ecología pol...
En este trabajo comparamos cómo se organiza el poder en torno a la gestión forestal comunitaria a nivel local y qué efectos tiene esta organización sobre el paisaje. Como caso de estudio analizamos tres comunidades vecinas de la meseta purépecha (Cherán, Pichátaro y Sevina), a lo largo de la historia de la explotación forestal comercial (1876-2011)...
El manejo forestal comprende todas aquellas acciones destinadas a ordenar, cultivar, conservar, restaurar y aprovechar los recursos forestales, tratando de mantener la integralidad funcional y la capacidad productiva de los ecosistemas forestales. En México, el Programa de Manejo Forestal (PMF) es el instrumento técnico para organizar las acciones...
Presentamos el mapa de vegetación y cubiertas del suelo de la Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (RBMM) presentes en 2018. Es la segunda parte de la Serie Cartográfica Monarca, cuyo Volumen 1 se publicó hace una década, y ambos son resultado de un proyecto de monitoreo de largo plazo. El monitoreo permite identificar la magnitud y localización...
Despite the increasing prevalence of forest-cover change and conflicts, most studies have been unable to unravel the complex relations between the two processes. We attribute this failure to methodological limitations. We put forward an alternative approach that combines different datasets (remote sensing, GIS, local narratives, official censuses,...
Introduction:
Community participation is an effective strategy for forest management and ecosystem services management.
Objectives:
To apply participatory methods for estimating carbon stocks in community owned forests and to identify land uses and conflicts that may influence the maintenance of these forests.
Materials and methods:
Participatory...
Las políticas ambientales requieren de un espacio geográfico para su implementación. Este espacio tiene componentes ambientales y sociales, que en conjunto definen al territorio. Las políticas públicas, por lo tanto, no se implementan en el vacío, ya que en cada territorio dado (urbano o rural) existen instituciones locales que rigen los procesos d...
En las últimas décadas se han multiplicado los conflictos ambientales relacionados con la extracción de recursos naturales, su transformación y la disposición de los productos de desecho derivados de dicha transformación (Arsel et al., 2016; Renfrew, 2011). Esto se debe, en gran medida, a la existencia de dos paradigmas en tensión, las políticas de...
To what extent does consulting with indigenous communities improve the legitimacy of environmental governance? This question was addressed by analysing the consultation process organised within the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) readiness phase in Mexico. Criteria to assess governance legitimacy were compiled f...
El presente estudio de caso tuvo por objetivo conocer si la distribución y diversidad de malezas ruderales urbanas tienen relación con el efecto de Isla de Calor Urbano (ICU) en la ciudad de Morelia, Michoacán. Además, este estudio describe por primera vez la diversidad taxonómica de las malezas ruderales presentes en esta ciudad. Este estudio pued...
Significance
We address a debate that has spurred scientific and public discourse: whether conditions during autumn migration are contributing to the decline of the eastern monarch butterfly population. Using a multiscale modeling approach, we reveal that continental-scale landscape greenness during migration (proxy for nectar availability) and the...
The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, Mexico, is the semiarid region with the richest biodiversity of North America and was recently recognized as a UNESCO’s World Heritage site. Original agricultural practices remain to this day in agroforestry systems (AFS), which are expressions of high biocultural diversity. However, local people and researchers perce...
Changes in the distribution of agroforestry systems in landscapes
of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, México. Ecosistemas 27(3):96-105. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.1501
Agroforestry systems (AFS) in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, México, are spaces with high ecological, cultural, and landscape richness. Recent
studies have documented that AFS of the region ar...
Los regímenes de incendios en bosques de coníferas en el centro de México han sido severamente modificados por el cambio de uso de la tierra y las actividades de manejo de incendios. Por lo tanto, es crítico evaluar la contribución de factores antrópicos y ambientales que impulsan la ocurrencia de incendios en estos bosques. Esta información es ese...
En las últimas dos décadas la tasa de deforestación en el estado de Michoacán ha disminuido considerablemente. Sin embargo, aún se sigue perdiendo y degradando la cubierta forestal año con año. Esta pérdida forestal se da por múltiples factores, uno de los más importantes, por los daños ambientales que provoca y los conflictos sociales y económicos...
Public policies on fire in forest ecosystems are changing from fire-fighting and suppression to an integrated management approach that incorporates ecological and social considerations. However, policy implementation is usually directed by central governments without considering local actors. We identified key local actors in the Monarch Butterfly...
Water resources around the world are being affected by increasing demand for human consumption as well as by industrial and agricultural use. Water quality has an impact on our quality of life, so effective monitoring provides the necessary data to allow decision makers to address critical water-related issues. This study (1) analyzes water knowled...
Recent land cover analysis reveals significant forest recovery around the world, suggesting that some countries may be in a forest transition. However remotely sensed imagery does not reveal the driving causes of forest recovery, which may be due to active reforestation efforts or natural successional processes (passive reforestation). We aimed to...
Addressing population declines of migratory insects requires linking populations across different portions of the annual cycle and understanding the effects of variation in weather and climate on productivity, recruitment, and patterns of long-distance movement. We used stable H and C isotopes and geospatial modeling to estimate the natal origin of...
The use of fire for traditional agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry is highly important to farmers in developing countries where this practice is continuously blamed as being the main cause of forest fires. That is the case in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR), Mexico, where paradoxically, little is known about the inhabitants’...
As far as we are aware, the first observation in 2015 of an illegal logging operation in the Sierra Chincua overwintering area within the core zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico was made in April by a local …
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...
Nectar sources in Texas and northern Mexico allow monarch butterflies to accumulate lipid
reserves that support them while overwintering in Mexico. In 2010–2011 this area had the
worst drought on record, raising concern that limited nectar would reduce the butterflies’ lipid
reserves. In October 2011, at the peak of the fall migration through centr...
In Mexico, REDD+ is being presented as a win-win policy enabling forest communities to benefit financially and diversify their income sources while preserving and increasing their forest carbon stocks through more sustainable management. Under the national programme, it is expected that forest communities will have opportunities to tailor their own...
Fire is a common disturbance that affects most terrestrial ecosystems and has become a high priority in forest management in Mexico. Current practices of fire management, based mainly on firefighting and fire suppression, have had negative effects on many forests worldwide. To avoid such effects, it is important to provide forest management alterna...
Community-based small-scale reforestation practices have been proposed as an alternative to low-efficiency massive reforestations conducted by external agents. These latter conventional reforestations are often carried out in soils that have been seriously degraded and this has indirectly contributed to the introduction of non-native species and/or...
Globally, the soil stores twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and nearly twice the amount stored in vegetation. Carbon storing capacity of the soil depends on its properties and land use. The aim of this study was to analyze the soil organic carbon content under different forest conditions within mountainous forests of the Monarch Butterfly Rese...
1. During the 2009–2010 overwintering season and following a 15‐year downward trend, the total area in Mexico occupied by the eastern North American population of overwintering monarch butterflies reached an all‐time low. Despite an increase, it remained low in 2010–2011.
2. Although the data set is small, the decline in abundance is statistically...
Decision‐makers are keen to learn which policy instruments are most effective at producing forest conservation outcomes. Using data from a patchwork of programs designed to preserve the overwintering habitat of the Monarch butterfly in central Mexico, we compare the effectiveness of three conservation instruments in limiting deforestation and fores...
With the potential expansion of forest conservation programs spurred by climate-change agreements, there is a need to measure the extent to which such programs achieve their intended results. Conventional methods for evaluating conservation impact tend to be biased because they do not compare like areas or account for spatial relations. We assessed...
Depending on the particular sociopolitical situation of a country or region, as well as the degree of dependence that a population has on its vegetation resources, both forest management or designating protected areas may serve as effective policies to protect highly valuable forest areas in the long term. Biosphere Reserves, where forest managemen...
During winter, monarch butterflies form dense colonies in oyamel fir forests on high mountains in central Mexico, where the forest canopy serves both as a blanket, moderating temperature, and an umbrella, shielding the butterflies from rain. In this study we investigated the vertical dimension of the butterflies' use of the oyamel forest: we predic...
La percepción remota comprende el análisis e interpretación de los registros de radiación electromagnética que es reflejada o emitida por diferentes objetos de la superficie terrestre o por la atmósfera, con el fin de conocer la distribución y las características de los elementos que las componen. De tal forma, junto con los Sistemas de Información...
Please click here to download the map associated with this article.The map presented in this paper is a result of a participatory exercise in maize collection, classification and mapping with farmers from 19 rural communities of the Pátzcuaro and Zirahuén Basins of central western Mexico. It shows evidence of how specific bio-physical factors contr...
Integración SIG, GPS y Cartografía: Plan Maestro del Camino de la Virgen del Rosario de Talpa
1. Survival of overwintering monarch butterflies following severe wet winter storms in Mexico is substantially higher for butterflies that form clusters on the oyamel fir tree trunks than for those that form clusters on the fir boughs.
2. Thermal measurements taken at similar elevations with a weather station on the Sierra Chincua and within a Cerr...
Monarch butterflies form dense clusters in their overwintering colonies in the mountains of central Mexico, where forest cover provides protection from environmental extremes. We tested the hypothesis that the clustering behavior of the butterflies further moderates the microclimate they experience. We inserted hygrochrons (miniaturized digital hyg...
Ramírez Ramírez, M. Isabel, Ruth Miranda Guerrero, Raúl Zubieta Hernández (2008). Vegetación y Cubiertas del Suelo, 2006 (1:75000). Serie Cartográfica Monarca. Volumen I. Segunda Edición. MBSF-CIGA-UNAM-INE-SEMARNAT-UNESCO. 1000 ejemplares.
The CEC’s 2003 Strategic Plan for North American Cooperation in the Conservation of Biodiversity strengthens this commitment with an integrated perspective for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. This North American Monarch Conservation Plan (NAMCP) is part of the effort to support and complement existing initiatives to mainta...
Aerial reconnaissance allows for the accurate location of monarch colonies over a large area in a short time, underscoring the urgency of implementing an ironclad conservation policy that protects these areas.
Please click here to download the map associated with this article.To preserve the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.) overwintering sites in Mexico, the fir forests used for the main colonies have been protected by three presidential decrees, in 1980, 1986 and 2000. The territory of the current Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) belong...
México es uno de los países con más recursos forestales a nivel mundial. Sus bosques, selvas y otras áreas con vegetación natural ocupan aproximadamente 74 por ciento del territorio nacional (1 millón 461 mil kilómetros cuadrados). De éstos, 700 mil corresponden a bosques y selvas, 575 mil a matorrales y 186 mil a otros tipos de vegetación.
A pesa...
The objective of study was to explore short-term trends of processes that determine land-use change in Sierra Norte of Oaxaca (SNO), Mexico. Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) were estimated in a complex mosaic of vegetation in the SNO from 1980 to 2000, and projected them to 2020 through a Markovian model. SNO is highly vulnerable to climatic...
(BOOK IN SPANISH) The traditional Route of the Virgin of the Rosary of Talpa, runs through the municipalities of Ameca, Guachinango, Mixtlán, Atenguillo, Mascota and Talpa de Allende. It has different segments extending to other municipalities at central and southern Jalisco, which in turn are extended to the neighboring states of Nayarit (Mascota...
As an internationally known example of the phenomena of migration and hibernation, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) has become one of the most emblematic Protected Natural Areas of Mexico. Nevertheless, the MBBR is still facing severe fragmentation, disturbance and loss of forest cover. Roads are landscape elements well known as a cau...
Por ser parte fundamental de uno de los fenómenos de migración e hibernación más sorprendentes y llamativos del mundo, la Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (RBMM) se ha convertido en una de las áreas naturales protegidas más emblemáticas de nuestro país. Sin embargo, sigue enfrentándose a serios problemas de fragmentación, perturbación y pérd...
Con base en el método fitosociológico se estudian los bosques de oyamel (Abies religiosa) presentes en el piso supratropical de la Sierra de Angangueo (Región Central del Sistema Volcánico Transversal). Se caracterizan y diferencian florísticamente las asociaciones Sibthorpio repentis-Abietetum religiosae y Cleyero integrifoliae-Abietetum religiosa...
El objetivo de esta tesis ha sido contribuir al conocimiento de la estructura,funcionamiento y potencialidad de los espacios forestales de la Sierra de Angangueo (hábitat de hibernación de la mariposa monarca, Danaus plexippus,en México), resaltando la relación entre la conservación de la biodiversidad y el aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales...
A phytosociological study of the Sierra de Angangueo vegetation was made. This allowed the identification and description of the most representatives associations and plant communities, and their relation to land forms and dynamics. At the same time, a bioclimatic diagnosis of the territory was made, based on eight meteorological stations. For the...
Land use-cover changes (LUCC) such as deforestation, have resulted as global warming and a reduction of environmental services, with large negative consequences for mankind. Effects based on statistics alone have not been sufficient enough to detect, stop and eventually revert negative LUCC processes that are strongly related to biodiversity loss....
Since the monarch butterfly overwintering habitat was discovered in the mountainous fir forests in central Mexico three presidential decrees have been issued (1980, 1986, 2001) to protect it. But these forests are the source of livelihood for many local people, whose activities (wood extraction and clearance for subsistence farming) represent a maj...
Se realizó un estudio fitosociológico de la vegetación de la Sierra de Angangueo que permitió identificar y describir las comunidades vegetales más representativas, así como establecer sus relaciones con el relieve y con la dinámica sucesional. Paralelamente se realiza la diagnosis bioclimática del territorio basada en el análisis de ocho estacione...
En las dos ultimas décadas, la Sierra de Angangueo, hábitat de hibernación de la mariposa monarca en México, se ha convertido en una zona de primordial importancia para la conservación de la biodiversidad, tanto a nivel nacional como internacional. Sin embargo. resulta contradictorio que se carezca de cartografía de Usos y cubiertas del suelo a esc...
Classified Landsat TM sub-images of southwestern Mexico were used to compare visual and digital land cover classifications. Supervised classification results were improved by post-classification GIS procedures based on additional spatial information (soil and geology maps, terrain model, climatic zonations) integrated into a database. A composite i...
