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Research about Yucatan Peninsula

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Yucatan Peninsula.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2021

First documentation of long-distance travel by a Florida manatee to the Mexican Caribbean

West Indian manatees ( Trichechus manatus ) are separated into two allopatric subspecies: the Florida manatee ( T. m. latirostris ) and the Antillean manatee ( T. m. manatus ). In the winter of 2020–2021, an adult manatee was sighted off the coast of Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, in areas where Antillean manatees are not typically seen. The individual had distinct watercraft scars on its body, which were matched using photo-identification to a known male Florida manatee (PE424) that had been repeatedly photographed in Florida since 1998. This is the first record of a Florida manatee visiting the Mexican Caribbean. Previous reports of individuals from this subspecies in Cuba, combined with genetic evidence, suggest some level of connectivity among geographically separated manatee populations. We present the first evidence of along-distance movement by amanatee from Florida to the Yucatan Peninsula (Quintana Roo, Mexican Caribbean). This case, previous reports of Florida manatees in Cuba, and genetic evidence, suggest acertain degree of genetic mixture among the two subspecies.

Yucatan Peninsula↗
USGS2021

Local fruit availability and en route wind conditions are poor predictors of bird abundance and composition during fall migration in coastal Yucatán Peninsula

In migratory stopover habitats, bird abundance and composition change on a near daily basis. On any given day, the local bird community should reflect local environmental conditions but also the environments that birds encountered previously along their migratory route. For example, during fall migration, the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico receives birds that have just crossed the Gulf of Mexico and their abundance and composition may be associated with regional factors such as wind conditions experienced on previous dates. Other factors, such as local fruit availability, may also influence daily variation in bird abundance and composition. Using mist net data from 2 coastal national parks in the Yucatán Peninsula during fall migration in 2016 and 2017, we did not find a strong association between daily changes in bird abundance or community composition with wind conditions and ripe fruit availability. Thus, despite wind and fruit being known to be important to individual birds (influencing stopover duration and departure decisions), their effects might not scale up to be drivers of population and community level variation. On the other hand, we found that the 2 sites shared only about half of their species and those shared species had different temporal abundance patterns at each site. Site and year differences in temporal patterns of migration might arise because populations of the same species are on different migration routes and schedules. While bird arrival is not timed to hit peaks in fruit production in our study sites, whether bird–resource mismatch is a general characteristic of tropical coastal stopover habitats requires further research. If birds on migration have adapted to seasonal variation in food availability, they might be equipped to deal with the additional variability in food supply that is expected to occur with climate change.

Yucatan Peninsula↗
USGS1995

Water management by early people in the Yucatan, Mexico

The Yucatan Peninsula is a coastal plain underlain by permeable limestone and receives abundant rainfall. Such hydrogeologic conditions should provide major supplies of water; however, factors of climate and hydrogeology have combined to form a hydrologic system with chemical boundaries that limits the amount of fresh water available. Management of water resources has long had a major influence on the cultural and economic development of the Yucatan. The Mayan culture of the northern Yucatan developed on extensive use of groundwater. The religion was water oriented and the Mayan priests prayed to Chac, the water god, for assistance in water management, primarily to decrease the severity of droughts. The Spaniards arrived in 1517 and augmented the supply by digging wells, which remained the common practice for more than 300 years. Many wells now have been abandoned because of serious problems of pollution. A historical perspective of a paper such as this provides insight into the attitudes concerning water of early people and perhaps provides insight into current attitudes concerning water. Hydrogeologists possess the expertise to generate relevant information required by water managers to arrive at management programs to achieve sustainable development. ?? 1995 Springer-Verlag.

Yucatan Peninsula↗
USGS1980

Chemical mass-wasting of the northern Yucatan Peninsula by groundwater dissolution

The northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula is a relatively flat, low-lying carbonate terrane with no geomorphic expressions of stream channels. It is estimated that mean annual recharge to the groundwater system is 150 mm. For the 65,500 km 2 study area, mean annual discharge (equivalent to recharge) is 9.8 × 10 9 m 3 , or 8.6 × 10 6 m 3 for each 1 km of the 1,100-km-long coastline. In the interior of the peninsula, the recharging water annually dissolves about 37.5 t (metric tons) of calcite per 1 km 2 . When the groundwater has become saturated with calcite, little additional water-rock interaction occurs until the active mixing (dispersion) zone is reached near the coastline. Theoretical calculations and laboratory experiments have shown that when two waters, each calcite saturated and with different salinities, are mixed, the resulting solution generally becomes undersaturated with calcite and, therefore, is capable of dissolving additional calcite. On the basis of our study of the Xel Ha lagoon on the east coast of Yucatan, we calculate that as much as 1.2 mmol/L additional calcite can be dissolved in the brackish groundwater zone of dispersion. This indicates that if the total solution potential of the amount of water discharging at Xel Ha has focused within the lagoon area, the lagoon could be chemically incised in less than 3,000 yr. We postulate that chemical mass wasting by dissolution in the zone of groundwater mixing is an important geomorphic process in coastal areas of limestone terranes.

Yucatan Peninsula↗