Representativeness of the types of vegetation in the management units for the conservation of wildlife (UMA) in Mexico

Abstract

The method of analysis of gaps and conservation omissions (GAP) are tools to identify conservation gaps or areas ofunderrepresentation in the current reserve system. This study focused on evaluating the extent to which the management units forthe conservation of wildlife (UMA) contribute to conservation of biodiversity in Mexico. UMA in the country cover 37,000,000million ha, equivalent to 17.1% of the national territory, however, there are only geographical references for 1,761 UMA(9,803,319 ha = 5.05%) of which it was determined with the method of analysis of gaps and conservation omissions (GAP), howthese contribute to the conservation of the types of natural vegetation, of the VI series (INEGI, 2017). Other results indicate that theUMA are located, mainly, in sites with the presence of xerophilous scrubs, which constitute 46.9% (45,182,741 ha) of the country'sprimary vegetation with 10 vegetation categories. If the UMA are considered as elements equivalent to the Natural Protected Area(ANP) in the conservation of biodiversity, they would cover 9 categories of vegetation that are conservation omissions in the ANPnetwork. However, they would not include 16 categories of secondary vegetation, which are both conservation gaps in the currentANP network; which represents a conservation gap at the national level of 72,891 ha (0.17%). However, to contribute to theconservation of biodiversity, the management of both conservation instruments must be improved.