Title | Linking biological conservation to healthy rural communities: a case history of the Janos – Casas Grandes Biosphere Reserve |
Publication Type | Conference Paper |
Year of Publication | 2009 |
Authors | Fredrickson E.L., Ceballos G., List R., Barajas N., Sayre N.F, Roacho E.J.O., Sierra C.R., Ponce G.E., Davidson A.D., Melgoza A., Jaquez C., Bezanilla G. |
Conference Name | Ecological Society of America |
Date Published | 08/2009 |
Conference Location | Albuquerque, NM |
ARIS Log Number | 237911 |
Keywords | abstract, biological conservation, Casa Grandes Biosphere Reserve, ESA, Janos |
Abstract | During the late 1930’s, Aldo Leopold witnessed a striking contrast along the narrow boundary between the United States and Mexico. He later described Mexican ecosystems as a “lovely picture of ecological health” and those same ecosystems north of the U.S. - Mexico border as “so badly damaged that only tourists and those ecologically blind, can look upon them without a feeling of sadness, and regret.” On this the hundredth centennial of Leopold’s arrival in the Southwest, the difference has waned but has not completely vanished. Within Mexico’s Janos – Casas Grande region lays the largest black-tailed prairie dog complex within North America, reminiscent of past ecosystems just north of the border. Now a Biosphere Reserve, collaborative efforts between Mexican and U. S. scientists are reconstructing the area’s ecological history and identifying key ecosystem properties maintaining grasslands and essential ecosystem services. |