Quantifying the Effects of Anthropocene Activities on Mexican Endemic Amphibianspalabras Clave

In order to make robust and feasible conservation plans, assessments of species' vulnerability or risk of extinction are ideally needed. However, there are wide differences in the criteria used to assess species vulnerability. Recently, a growing approach seeks to understand the patterns of biodiversity loss using life history traits because these traits show differential responses to environmental disturbances. In order to generate a functional vulnerability assessment for Mexican endemic amphibians, we integrated information from species distribution modeling, functional traits, and spatially explicit threats weighted differentially for each functional group. We obtained 124 distribution models evaluated by species, nine functional groups that represent the differential risk of species against anthropic threats, and 124 layers of spatial vulnerability. We found a generalized presence of threats to amphibians throughout the Mexican territory, highlighting the center of the country as the most affected area, while the southeast and north had a lower level of anthropic activity. We found differential vulnerability values in the distributions of Mexican endemic amphibians. In general, the anthropogenic impact on the distribution of Mexican endemic amphibians is high, and the percentage of habitat loss ranges from 51 to 97%, with an average of 83% lost to anthropogenic pressures. The functional group with the greatest loss of distributional area was found in the salamander genus Ambystoma, while functional groups 2 (frogs with arboreal habits, small size, and reproduction and development in bodies of water) and 4 (small or medium size frogs occupying terrestrial or riparian habitats with oviposition and development occurring in bodies of water or phytotelms) maintain the largest remaining suitable area after considering the threats. We present a replicable methodology that can be implemented anywhere, providing a new tool to generate specific layers that represent threats to functional groups. This allows for updated assessments of species distribution models that can be used in conservation planning, offering more robust data to make conservation planning decisions. This study proposes an alternative evaluation methodology that integrates information from different ecological levels (life history traits, presence of suitable areas for the species and differential impact of threats) for Mexican amphibian species. The results indicate that most species are at risk due to anthropogenic threats, with the unique presence of threats that do not coexist but occur continuously throughout the Mexican territory. This procedure can be replicated in other areas to obtain updated assessments of potential species distribution and make informed decisions for conservation planning.Resumenimage Para hacer planes de conservacion solidos y asequibles, idealmente se necesita una evaluacion de la vulnerabilidad o el riesgo de extincion de las especies. Sin embargo, existen amplias diferencias en los criterios utilizados para evaluar la vulnerabilidad de las mismas. Recientemente, un enfoque creciente que busca comprender los patrones de perdida de biodiversidad es el uso de rasgos de historia de vida, debido a que dichos rasgos tienen respuestas diferenciales a las perturbaciones ambientales. Con el fin de generar una evaluacion de vulnerabilidad funcional para los anfibios endemicos de Mexico, integramos informacion de modelos de distribucion de especies, rasgos funcionales y amenazas espacialmente explicitas ponderadas de manera diferencial para cada grupo funcional. Obtuvimos 124 modelos de distribucion evaluados por especie, igual numero de capas de vulnerabilidad espacial y nueve grupos funcionales que tienen un riesgo diferencial frente a amenazas antropicas. Encontramos una presencia generalizada de amenazas a los anfibios en todo el territorio mexicano, destacandose el centro del pais como la zona mas afectada, mientras que el sureste y norte presentan un menor nivel de actividad antropica. Encontramos valores diferenciales de vulnerabilidad en las distribuciones de anfibios endemicos de Mexico. En general, el impacto antropogenico sobre la distribucion de los anfibios endemicos mexicanos es alto, y el porcentaje de perdida de habitat oscila entre 51% y 97%, con una perdida promedio de area de distribucion del 83%. El grupo funcional con mayor perdida de area de distribucion corresponde a las salamandras del genero Ambystoma, mientras que el grupo funcional dos (ranas de habitos arboreos, tamano pequeno con reproduccion y desarrollo en cuerpos de agua) es el que mantiene mayor area remanente apta despues de considerar las amenazas en los analisis. Mostramos una metodologia replicable, que se puede implementar en cualquier lugar, una nueva herramienta para generar capas particulares que representan amenazas enfocadas en un grupo funcional que permite tener evaluaciones actualizadas de los modelos de distribucion de especies que se pueden usar en la planificacion de la conservacion, brindando de esta manera datos mas solidos para poder tomar decisiones robustas en la planificacion de la conservacion.