The Mexican Fauna in the Anthropocene, Where Do We Go from Here?

Abstract

The term Anthropocene, defined as a human-dominated geological epoch, is now widely used by the scientific community and corresponds as an appropriate framework to evaluate the current conservation status of the Mexican fauna, their ecosystems and associated processes, with a look ahead into the near future. Several studies coincide that Mexico holds around 10% of the world’s species diversity, making it a relevant unit to outline large-scale patterns. To explore some of the many aspects involved in this topic, we have organized this volume into four sections: introduction, faunal groups, ecosystems, and processes. In this first section, the introduction, we will explore the origin of the Anthropocene concept, its history in Mexico and the need to increase our knowledge of Mexican fauna, as well as generate projections of alternative disturbance scenarios. The second section (Faunal Groups) is composed of 10 chapters which cover a variety of groups of organisms, from invertebrates to vertebrates. The third section (Ecosystems) consists of eight chapters, which present analyses of a wide range of ecosystems from deserts to deep sea life, including some extreme environments such as caves and anchialine ecosystems. The fourth section (Processes), with eight chapters, reviews the effects at a national level that major global processes will have on Mexican fauna such as climate change, invasive species, parasite introduction, the effects of biomass disturbances between exotic and native fauna, as well as the role of novel initiatives such as citizen science.