Universidad del Pacífico de Chiapas

The most commonly used indicator to identify times of increased risk of heat stress for dairy cows is THI, which measures the heat load that cattle may suffer from air temperature ( ∘ C) and relative humidity (RH). The present study employed two working hypotheses: firstly, that measuring cumulative hours of exposure to THI results in a better prognosis for heat stress than using maximum THI values; and secondly, that under high THI conditions, THI has been increasing in the Comarca Lagunera. The present study employed a Big Data Predictive Analytics approach, utilising models estimated from 85 years of daily, hourly observations to estimate calibrated statistical models and forecast trends. The THI was organised in three categories: accumulated daily hours (HSacc), the daily average or mean of THI (THImean), and the daily maximum THI (THImax). The measurement of these variables was conducted at four levels of THI: more than 67, 69–71, 72–76 and 77 or more. For HSacc, the optimal model was identified as Prophet; for THImean and THImax, GLMNET was found to be the most suitable model, with positive slopes observed across almost all levels. The models predict and increment in the next 10 years of 0.14, 0.20 and 0.32 hours in the daily values of HSacc, THImean and THImax, respectively. It is evident that the findings of this study will play a pivotal role in the identification, implementation and assessment of strategies that have the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of heat stress in the region.

Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered at risk at national level and two are globally endangered. Therefore, it is imperative that high quality, comprehensive, and high-resolution spatial data on the occurrence of these taxa are made available as a valuable tool in the process of defining appropriate management strategies for conservation at a local and global level. We constructed the CracidMex1 database by collating global records of all cracid taxa that occur in Mexico from available electronic databases, museum specimens, publications, “grey literature”, and unpublished records. We generated a database with 23,896 clean, validated, and standardized geographic records. Database quality control was an iterative process that commenced with the consolidation and elimination of duplicate records, followed by the geo-referencing of records when necessary, and their taxonomic and geographic validation using GIS tools and expert knowledge. We followed the geo-referencing protocol proposed by the Mexican National Commission for the Use and Conservation of Biodiversity. We could not estimate the geographic coordinates of 981 records due to inconsistencies or lack of sufficient information in the description of the locality.Given that current records for most of the taxa have some degree of distributional bias, with redundancies at different spatial scales, the CracidMex1 database has allowed us to detect areas where more sampling effort is required to have a better representation of the global spatial occurrence of these cracids. We also found that particular attention needs to be given to taxa identification in those areas where congeners or conspecifics co-occur in order to avoid taxonomic uncertainty. The construction of the CracidMex1 database represents the first comprehensive research effort to compile current, available global geographic records for a group of cracids. The database can now be improved by continuous revision and addition of new records. The CracidMex1 database will provide high quality input data that could be used to generate species distribution models, to assess temporal changes in species distributions, to identify priority areas for research and conservation, and in the definition of management strategies for this bird group. This compilation exercise could be replicated for other cracid groups or regions to attain a better knowledge of the global occurrences of the species in this vulnerable bird family.

Decapod crustacean specimens from the middle Eocene San Juan Formation in central Chiapas represent the first record of Eocene decapods in southern México. New taxa include: Dardanus mexicanus new species (Diogenidae), Lophoranina cristaspina new species, Notopus minutus new species (Raninidae); Verrucoides stenohedra new genus and new species (Xanthidae); Stoaplax nandachare new genus and new species (Goneplacidae); and Viapinnixa alvarezi new species (Pinnotheridae). Verrucoides verrucoides new genus and new combination from the Paleocene of Greenland represents a new combination. In addition, the fauna includes Callianassa sensu lato sp., Laeviranina sp., Calappilia cf. C. hondoensis Rathbun, 1930, Eriosachila sp., and indeterminate calappid and xanthoid taxa. This assemblage bears close relationship with coeval faunas in the Tethyan region of southern Europe and southern North America and with Paleocene faunas of Greenland, strengthening the evidence for previously described patterns of dispersal within the Decapoda.