Oaxaca

Bat and rodent diversity in a fragmented landscape on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico

by Sergio López

We assessed the patterns of diversity, richness, abundance, and dissimilarity in rodent and bat communities for four... more We assessed the patterns of diversity, richness, abundance, and dissimilarity in rodent and bat communities for four sites on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, an important region given the enormous number of endemic Neotropical species. The main objective was to examine rodent and bat community parameters relative to habitat diversity and human habitat disturbance in a fragmented landscape. We captured 1,133 individuals of 13 rodent species and 26 bat species from January to August 2006. The site (landscape unit) with greatest habitat diversity also had the highest diversity of rodents. Species dissimilarity was low between sites that had similar degrees of human disturbance. For rodents, species dissimilarity between habitats on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec landscape was generally high; therefore, the species are not distributed evenly across the entire landscape. For bats, the degree of species dissimilarity between the different habitats of the landscape was low. The distribution of bat species across the landscape is a reflection of their high vagility and the spatial structure of the landscape. The results show the importance of a diversity of habitats to the patterns of richness, abundance, and dissimilarity of mammals in the study area.

Movimientos Transnacionales y Comercio Justo en México

by Horacio Almanza

With Anjali Browning 2007 The decline of a craft: basket making in San Juan Guelavia, Oaxaca. Human Organization, volume 66 (3):229-239.

by Jeffrey Cohen

Oaxacan crafts producers are celebrated for the quality of their work, their business success and the ability of their... more Oaxacan crafts producers are celebrated for the quality of their work, their business success and the ability of their goods to transcend space and time.  Weavers of cotton and woolen textiles, potters of a wide variety of pottery styles, and most recently wood carvers who make painted wooden animals (alebrijes) produce goods that are bought and sold on the international market and appear in museum collections world-wide.  Nevertheless, there are crafts in Oaxaca that are not viable in the current market and that do not show up in international collections.  In this paper, we examine one such craft, basket making in the community of San Juan Guelavía.  We argue that the decline in the market for these goods reflects several changes: first, a decline in local use; second, a rise in the costs of production; and third, a lack of support by exporters and an inability to engage the export or tourist markets.  In response, local producers have moved into wage labor (locally and through migration) to secure their incomes.

The Xochixtlapilco dinosaur ichnofauna, Middle Jurassic of Oaxaca, southeastern México: Description and Paleontologic Significance.

by Eduardo Jiménez-Hidalgo

THE LATE PLEISTOCENE (RANCHOLABREAN) VIKO VIJIN LOCAL FAUNA FROM LA MIXTECA ALTA, NORTHWESTERN OAXACA, SOUTHERN MEXICO

by Eduardo Jiménez-Hidalgo

Paleontological work carried out in the Late Pleistocene floodplain and bar fluvial deposits of northwestern Oaxaca,... more Paleontological work carried out in the Late Pleistocene floodplain and bar fluvial deposits of northwestern Oaxaca, southern Mexico, resulted in collecting cranial and poscranial material of mammals identified as Glyptotherium, Hemiauchenia, Camelops, Odocoileus, two Equus species, Cuvieronius, Mammuthus and Bison. The presence of Bison in all the localities indicates a Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal age for the faunal assemblage. Also, many mollusk specimens were collected and belong to five families of terrestrial gastropods, three families of freshwater gastropods, and one family of freshwater bivalves. Additionally, several fragments of Rodentia indet., sigmodontine rodents, and scincomorph lizards were also recovered through the screen-washing of sediments. This faunal association was designed herein as the Viko vijin (cold epoch or period in Mixteca language) Local Fauna (L. F.) and shares nine mammalian taxa with the Rancholabrean local faunas of Terapa (Sonora, NW Mexico), Chapala (Jalisco), El Cedazo (Aguascalientes) and Tequixquiac (Mexico), central Mexico. Likewise, five of the eight mollusk families identified are also present in the Late Pleistocene Rancho La Amapola, San Luis Potosi, Central Mexico. The presence of the llama Hemiauchenia in Oaxaca represents the southern-most record of this genus during the Late Pleistocene in North America, while Late Pleistocene scincomorph lizards are recorded for first time in Oaxaca. Similarly, the records of the mollusk families Bulimulidae, Polygyridae and Urocoptidae in the Mixteca Alta Oaxaqueña are the first for Mexico and allow extend their geographic ranges from southern USA to southern Mexico during the Late Pleistocene.

Un vistazo al registro fósil de Oaxaca.

by Eduardo Jiménez-Hidalgo

La transformación de los ecosistemas de la Mixteca Alta oaxaqueña desde el Pleistoceno Tardío hasta el Holoceno

by Eduardo Jiménez-Hidalgo

En este trabajo se describe el cambio de los ecosistemas en la Mixteca Alta Oaxaqueña y sus comunidades, desde el... more En este trabajo se describe el cambio de los ecosistemas en la Mixteca Alta Oaxaqueña y sus comunidades, desde el Pleistoceno tardío hasta el presente. Las comunidades bió- ticas de esta zona no siempre han sido las mismas. Basándonos en el estudio de fósiles de vertebrados e invertebrados en tres localidades de esta zona, se deduce que los ecosis- temas con que contaba eran bosques abiertos, con cuerpos de agua y una estacionalidad marcada, durante el Pleistoceno tardío. Es probable que hasta el Holoceno temprano subsistieran cuerpos de agua semi- permanentes, con una vegetación y materia orgánica abundante. En la época previa a la conquista es- pañola, hay evidencias de que las comunidades indígenas utilizaron de manera racional los recursos na- turales de sus bosques. Después de la conquista, la Mixteca sufrió pro- cesos intensivos de deforestación, el sobrepastoreo del ganado caprino y la expansión de la frontera ecológi- ca. Hoy en día, la erosión en la zona de la Mixteca Alta se ha extendido rápidamente, por lo que se considera
como Área de Desastre Ecológico.