Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortes

The distribution and abundance of ants on islands has attracted considerable attention from ecologists and biogeographers, especially since the classic studies by Wilson on the ants of Melanesia and the Pacific islands (Wilson 1961; Wilson and Taylor 1967a,b; see also updates by Morrison 1996, 1997). The species-area curve for Polynesian ants was an important contribution in the development of island biogeography theory (MacArthur and Wilson 1967). Subsequent studies of other island ant faunas, such as those of the Caribbean (Levins et al. 1973; Wilson 1988; Morrison 1998a,b), Japan (Terayama 1982a,b, 1983, 1992), Korea (Choi and Bang 1993; Choi et al. 1993), and island archipelagos in Europe (Baroni Urbani 1971, 1978; Pisarski et al. 1982; Vepsäläínen and Pisarski 1982; Ranta et al. 1983; Boomsma et al. 1987) and North America (Goldstein 1976; Cole 1983a,b), have confirmed the general features of this relationship, although the underlying causative agents and the relative contribution of stochastic and deterministic processes to ant community composition remain points of controversy. The islands in the Sea of Cortés are particularly interesting from a biogeographic standpoint because they vary considerably in size, topography, and isolation. In addition, both oceanic and landbridge islands occur in the gulf, allowing comparisons between faunas that resulted from colonization (assembly) versus relaxation. Nevertheless, the ant assemblages of the gulf islands have received little study. There are a few scattered island records in taxonomic and faunistic papers (Smith 1943; Cole 1968; MacKay et al. 1985). Bernstein (1979) listed 16 ant species from a total of nine Gulf of California islands, but a number of evident misidentifications occur in her list. To the best of our knowledge, no other publications have appeared on the ant communities of these islands. In this chapter, we document the ant species known from islands in the Sea of Cortés and analyze species composition in a selected subset of the better sampled islands. Most of the data come from recent collections made within the last two decades.

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Involvement of a Fishing Community in the Eradication of the Introduced Cactus Mouse (Peromyscus eremicus cedrosensis) from San Benito Oeste Island, Mexico

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13110588 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 588

Author(s):

Federico Méndez Sánchez ◽

Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz ◽

Araceli Samaniego ◽

Yuliana Bedolla Guzmán ◽

Ana Cárdenas Tapia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pacific Islands ◽

Local Community ◽

Baja California ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Fishing Community ◽

Mexican Pacific ◽

Eradication Strategy ◽

Mexican Government ◽

Restoration Work ◽

Peromyscus Eremicus

San Benito Archipelago is internationally important for the conservation of 13 species of seabirds. San Benito Oeste, the largest and only inhabited island, was declared mammal-free in 2000 after a series of eradications conducted in collaboration between the fishing cooperative Pescadores Nacionales de Abulón, the Mexican conservation organization, Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C., and the Mexican Government. The archipelago remained mammal-free until 2006, when an unusual invader, the Cedros island cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus cedrosensis), was accidentally introduced to San Benito Oeste island. The same collaboration scheme involving locals, conservationists, and authorities was once again put in motion, delivering tangible results. Research informed the mouse eradication strategy, the local community supported the operation, and the mouse eradication was successfully implemented in December 2013. To date (8 years later), no mammals have been recorded in the archipelago, which suggests community-led island biosecurity is working. In addition, this collaborative restoration work contributed to the creation of the Baja California Pacific Islands Biosphere Reserve, protecting 21 islands, including the San Benito Archipelago, and 97 islets in the Mexican Pacific.

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Thirteen new weeds on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico

Acta Botanica Mexicana ◽

10.21829/abm128.2021.1823 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1823

Author(s):

Sula E Vanderplank ◽

Jon Rebman

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Pacific Islands ◽

Baja California ◽

Native Plants ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Endemic Plants ◽

Management Implications ◽

The Pacific ◽

California Floristic Province ◽

Cedros Island

Background and Aims: Cedros Island is the southernmost outpost of the California Floristic Province, the largest island in the Californian archipelago, and home to a suite of endemic plants and animals. As such, it is an important resource within the Pacific Islands Biosphere Reserve, with many management concerns. The goal of this study was to document newly arrived plant species on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico.Methods: From the 8th to the 11th February 2019 we visited Cedros Island and made observations of plants around Cedros Village using the platform NaturaLista (iNaturalist).Key results: Thirteen new plant taxa were detected around Cedros village, all were non-native. These discoveries follow a very recently published checklist on the flora and suggest that new non-native plants are arriving rapidly. Conclusions: Recommended management implications include monitoring and eradication of new species, particularly at inhabited areas, and with priority given to highly invasive species such as Cenchrus setaceus and C. ciliaris.

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Ecological Conservation

Island Biogeography in the Sea of Cortés II ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195133462.003.0023 ◽

2002 ◽

Author(s):

Exequiel Ezcurra ◽

Luis Bourillón

Keyword(s):

Los Angeles ◽

Natural History ◽

San Francisco ◽

Baja California ◽

History Museum ◽

Natural Beauty ◽

California Academy ◽

Mexican Government ◽

Sea Of Cortes ◽

Academy Of Sciences

In 1973, George Lindsay, one of Baja California’s most eminent botanists, visited the islands of the Sea of Cortés together with Charles Lindbergh, Joseph Wood Krutch, and Kenneth Bechtel. Lindbergh, one of the most celebrated popular heroes of the twentieth century, had become by that time a committed conservationist, interested in the preservation of whales and in the conservation of nature at large. Joseph Wood Krutch, a naturalist, had written The Forgotten Peninsula, one of the first natural history descriptions of Baja California. George Lindsay had helped organize a series of scientific explorations into the Sea of Cortés and the peninsula of Baja California, first from the San Diego Natural History Museum, and later from the California Academy of Sciences (Banks 1962a,b; Lindsay 1962, 1964, 1966, 1970; Wiggins 1962). Kenneth Bechtel, a philanthropist from San Francisco, had given financial support to the Audubon Society in the 1950s and 1960s to study the sea bird rookery at Isla Rasa, which had been decreed a protected area by the Mexican government in 1962. Bechtel was interested in showing the Sea of Cortés to people who might be aroused by its astounding natural beauty and who might help to protect it. For this purpose, he organized the trip and invited Lindbergh to visit the region. The group flew a chartered Catalina flying-boat that allowed them to get to small and remote islands. They landed in the water and then piloted up to the beach so they could have shade under the wing. They visited many of the islands, starting from Consag north of Bahía de los Ángeles, and ending up in Espíritu Santo, east of the Bay of La Paz. It was a wonderful and memorable trip. Two or three months later, both Lindbergh and Lindsay traveled to Mexico City to watch the Mexican premiere of a documentary film on the Sea of Cortés by the California Academy of Sciences that Kenneth Bechtel had sponsored (see chap. 1). Taking advantage of the opportunity, and also of his immense popularity, Charles Lindbergh requested to see the president of Mexico, Luis Echeverría.

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