A review of the ecological value of Cusuco National Park an urgent call forconservation action in a highly threatened Mesoamerican cloud forest

Cloud forests are amongst the most biologically unique, yet threatened, ecosystems in Mesoamerica. We summarize the ecological value and conservation status of a well-studied cloud forest site: Cusuco National Park (CNP), a 23,440 ha protected area in the Merendón mountains, northwest Honduras. We show CNP to have exceptional biodiversity; of 966 taxa identified to a species-level to date, 362 (37.5%) are Mesoamerican endemics, 67 are red-listed by the IUCN, and at least 49 are micro-endemics known only from the Merendón range. CNP also provides key ecosystem services including provision of drinking water and downstream flood mitigation, as well as carbon sequestration, with an estimated stock of 3.5 million megagrams of carbon in 2000. Despite its ecological importance, CNP faces multiple environmental threats and associated stresses, including deforestation (1,759 ha since 2000 equating to 7% of total forest area), poaching (7% loss of mammal relative abundance per year), amphibian declines due to chytridiomycosis (70% of species threatened or near-threatened), and climate change (a mean 2.6 °C increase in temperature and 112 mm decrease in rainfall by 2100). Despite conservation actions, including community ranger patrols, captive-breeding programmes, and ecotourism initiatives, environmental degradation of CNP continues. Further action is urgently required, including reinforcement and expansion of ranger programmes, greater stakeholder engagement, community education programmes, development of alternative livelihood projects, and legislative enforcement and prosecution. Without a thorough and rapid response to understand and mitigate illegal activities, the extirpation and extinction of species and the loss of vital ecosystem services are inevitable in the coming decades

Recursos florales y colibríes durante la época seca en la Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Lagartos, Yucatán, México

Los colibríes son importantes polinizadores del Neotrópico y son indicadores de perturbación de la vegetación. Para conservarlos, se requiere conocer los recursos florales que utilizan. En este trabajo documentamos las especies de colibríes y las especies de plantas que usan como alimento durante parte de la estación seca (enero-marzo 2013) en la Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Lagartos, Yucatán; exploramos si cada especie de planta es visitada en proporción a la abundancia de sus flores y si existe una correlación temporal entre la abundancia de ambos grupos. Del recorrido de trayectos registramos cuatro especies de colibríes: Doricha eliza, Amazilia rutila, A. yucatanensis y Archilochus colubris que visitaron seis especies de plantas: Dicliptera sexangularis, Malvaviscus arboreus, Agave angustifolia, Bravaisia berlanderiana, Ernodea littoralis y Cordia sebestena. Las flores de D. sexangularis fueron más visitadas por D. eliza que lo esperado por su abundancia, mientras que M. arboreus y A. angustifolia fueron usadas en una proporción mayor a la esperada por A. rutila. La abundancia de D. eliza y A. rutila se correlacionó con la de flores de D. sexangularis y M. arboreus. Estas plantas podrían ser importantes para los colibríes en una época en la que la disponibilidad de flores es baja en el norte de Yucatán

Pioneering a fungal inventory at Cusuco National Park, Honduras

Neotropical cloud forests are biologically and ecologically unique and represent a largely untapped reservoir of species new to science, particularly for understudied groups like those within the Kingdom Fungi. We conducted a three-week fungal survey within Cusuco National Park, Honduras and made 116 collections of fungi in forest habitats at 1287–2050 m a.s.l. Undescribed species are likely to be present in those collections, including members of the genera Calostoma (Boletales), Chlorociboria, Chlorosplenium, Ionomidotis (Helotiales), Amparoina, Cyathus, Gymnopus, Pterula (Agaricales), Lactifluus (Russulales), Mycocitrus (Hypocreales), Trechispora (Trechisporales), and Xylaria (Xylariales). In this paper, we discuss the contributions and impacts of mycological surveys in the Neotropics and propose the establishment of a long-term mycological inventory at Cusuco National Park—the first of its kind in northern Central America

Bat assemblages and their ectoparasites in a Honduran cloud forest : effects of disturbance and altitude

The high diversity and endemism of cloud forests make them good models to explore the impacts of habitat disturbance on bat communities and their ectoparasites. Although bat responses to forest disturbance have been intensively studied, the response of their ectoparasites in cloud forests remains poorly known. We explore this knowledge gap by analyzing data gathered from 44 nights during a June-August field season in 2019 within Cusuco National Park, a protected cloud forest located in northwestern Honduras. Mist-netting was conducted at five recording stations between 1,300 and 1,925 m a.s.l., spanning a mix of closed-canopy forest and human-induced forest clearings. In total, 584 bats representing 36 species were identified. An overall ectoparasite prevalence of 41% was recorded from all bat captures. Prevalence was similar between males and females, although juveniles displayed a higher rate than adults, and some species were more prone to parasitism than others. Parasite prevalence was positively correlated with altitude. In lower montane forest, bat assemblages and parasite prevalence did not differ between closed-canopy forest and forest clearings. Conversely, in upper montane forest, bat diversity and parasite prevalence rates were higher in forest clearings. Overall, our results suggested that the effect of forest clearance varied with elevation and bat species. Forest clearance in high-altitude forests may have severe impacts on bat communities, not only reducing their diversity, but also increasing susceptibility to parasite infection, with its associated debilitating effects

Plant geographic distribution influences chemical defences in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations

International audienceAbstract Plants growing outside their native range may be confronted by new regimes of herbivory, but how this affects plant chemical defence profiles has rarely been studied. Using Plantago lanceolata as a model species, we investigated whether introduced populations show significant differences from native populations in several growth and chemical defence traits. Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) is an herbaceous plant species native to Europe and Western Asia that has been introduced to numerous countries worldwide. We sampled seeds from nine native and 10 introduced populations that covered a broad geographic and environmental range and performed a greenhouse experiment, in which we infested half of the plants in each population with caterpillars of the generalist herbivore Spodoptera littoralis . We then measured size‐related and resource‐allocation traits as well as the levels of constitutive and induced chemical defence compounds in roots and shoots of P. lanceolata . When we considered the environmental characteristics of the site of origin, our results revealed that populations from introduced ranges were characterized by an increase in chemical defence compounds without compromising plant biomass. The concentrations of iridoid glycosides and verbascoside, the major anti‐herbivore defence compounds of P. lanceolata , were higher in introduced populations than in native populations. In addition, introduced populations exhibited greater rates of herbivore‐induced volatile organic compound emission and diversity, and similar chemical diversity based on untargeted analyses of leaf methanol extracts. In conclusion, the geographic origin of the populations had a significant influence on morphological and chemical plant traits, suggesting that P. lanceolata populations are not only adapted to different environments in their native range, but also in their introduced range. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.Resumen Las plantas que crecen fuera de su distribución nativa pueden enfrentarse a nuevos patrones de herbivoría. No obstante, existen pocos estudios enfocados en explicar cómo la introducción a una nueva área puede afectar los perfiles de defensas químicas de dichas plantas. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar si existen diferencias significativas en aspectos morfológicos y químicos entre las poblaciones nativas e introducidas utilizando Plantago lanceolata como especie modelo, una herbácea originaria de Europa y Asia occidental que se ha introducido en distintas partes del mundo. Para este estudio, se recolectaron muestras de semillas de nueve poblaciones nativas y diez poblaciones introducidas, cubriendo un amplio rango geográfico. Posteriormente, se llevó a cabo un experimento en invernadero, donde la mitad de las plantas de cada población fueron infestadas con orugas del herbívoro generalista, Spodoptera littoralis . Se midió los rasgos relacionados con el tamaño y la asignación de recursos así como, las diferencias químicas de las raíces y hojas de P. lanceolata , tanto perfiles químicos constitutivos como inducidos. Nuestros resultados revelaron que las poblaciones introducidas se caracterizaban por un aumento de los compuestos químicos de defensa sin comprometer la biomasa de la planta si considerábamos las características ambientales del lugar de origen. Las concentraciones de glucósidos de iridoides y verbascósido, compuestos de defensa predominantes de P. lanceolata , fueron mayores en las poblaciones introducidas que en las nativas. Además, las poblaciones introducidas mostraron mayores tasas de emisión y diversidad de los compuestos volátiles inducidos por herbívoros, así como una diversidad metabolómica similar en las hojas. En conclusión, el origen geográfico de las poblaciones tuvo una influencia significativa en los rasgos morfológicos y químicos de las plantas, lo que sugiere que las poblaciones de P. lanceolata no sólo están adaptadas a diferentes ambientes en su distribución nativa, sino también en su distribución introducida

Plant geographic distribution influences chemical defenses in native and introduced Plantago lanceolata populations

International audienceAbstract Plants growing outside their native range may be confronted by new regimes of herbivory, but how this affects plant chemical defense profiles has rarely been studied. Using Plantago lanceolata as a model species, we investigated whether introduced populations show significant differences from native populations in several growth and chemical defense traits. Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) is an herbaceous plant species native to Europe and Western Asia that has been introduced to numerous countries worldwide. We sampled seeds from nine native and ten introduced populations that covered a broad geographic and environmental range and performed a common garden experiment in a greenhouse, in which we infested half of the plants in each population with caterpillars of the generalist herbivore Spodoptera littoralis . We then measured size-related and resource-allocation traits as well as the levels of constitutive and induced chemical defense compounds in roots and shoots of P. lanceolata . When we considered the environmental characteristics of the site of origin, our results revealed that populations from introduced ranges were characterized by an increase of chemical defense compounds without compromising plant biomass. The concentrations of iridoid glycosides and verbascoside, the major anti-herbivore defense compounds of P. lanceolata , were higher in introduced populations than in native populations. In addition, introduced populations exhibited greater rates of herbivore-induced volatile organic compound emission and diversity, and similar chemical diversity based on untargeted analyses of leaf methanol extracts. In general, the geographic origin of the populations had a significant influence on morphological and chemical plant traits, suggesting that P. lanceolata populations are not only adapted to different environments in their native range, but also in their introduced range

A review of the ecological value of Cusuco National Park: an urgent call for conservation action in a highly threatened Mesoamerican cloud forest

Cloud forests are amongst the most biologically unique, yet threatened, ecosystems in Mesoamerica. We summarize the ecological value and conservation status of a well-studied cloud forest site: Cusuco National Park (CNP), a 23,440 ha protected area in the Merendón mountains, northwest Honduras. We show CNP to have exceptional biodiversity; of 966 taxa identified to a species-level to date, 362 (37.5%) are Mesoamerican endemics, 67 are red-listed by the IUCN, and at least 49 are micro-endemics known only from the Merendón range. CNP also provides key ecosystem services including provision of drinking water and downstream flood mitigation, as well as carbon sequestration, with an estimated stock of 3.5 million megagrams of carbon in 2000. Despite its ecological importance, CNP faces multiple environmental threats and associated stresses, including deforestation (1,759 ha since 2000 equating to 7% of total forest area), poaching (7% loss of mammal relative abundance per year), amphibian declines due to chytridiomycosis (70% of species threatened or near-threatened), and climate change (a mean 2.6 °C increase in temperature and 112 mm decrease in rainfall by 2100). Despite conservation actions, including community ranger patrols, captive-breeding programmes, and ecotourism initiatives, environmental degradation of CNP continues. Further action is urgently required, including reinforcement and expansion of ranger programmes, greater stakeholder engagement, community education programmes, development of alternative livelihood projects, and legislative enforcement and prosecution. Without a thorough and rapid response to understand and mitigate illegal activities, the extirpation and extinction of species and the loss of vital ecosystem services are inevitable in the coming decades