The Cyprinodon julimes case study: An experience for the development of a conservation model in Mexico

Authors: J. Alfredo Rodriguez-Pineda, Mauricio De la Maza-Benignos, María de Lourdes Lozano-Vilano, Maria Elena García-Ramírez, Lilia Vela-Valladares, Haydée Parra-Gallo, Jenny Zapata-López

Year: 2010 (xlii)

Abstract

As a result of the significant temporal and geographic isolation that leads to diversification, desert water bodies frequently carry fish species that are relict, endemic, rare, or restricted in distribution, sometimes to a single spring, and often living in precarious conditions. As human needs in arid areas of the world increase, and economic development demands more natural resources, competition between consumptive water uses and the environment increasingly puts pressure on both ground and surface water sources, leading to regional water stress, ecological distress, social tension, and intricacies in environmental governance. Water scarcity already impacts on large portions of Mexico, especially the arid north where annual water availability per person is only 1,750 m3 vs. the national mean of 4,416. This unbalanced distribution jeopardizes the social and economic development of approximately 60% of Mexican territory and has caused biodiversity loss and extinction of aquatic species in its largest desert ecosystem, The Chihuahuan Desert (CD). Shared by the US and Mexico, the CD is the largest desert ecosystem in North America and one of the most important desert ecoregions of the world. In the Northern CD lays the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande basin with an annual runoff of 6,177 million m3/year. One-third of this volume (2,553 million m3/year) is provided by its tributary the Conchos River. With over 1.3 million inhabitants, important Mexican cities such as Chihuahua City, Hidalgo del Parral, and Delicias are in the Conchos basin and growing rapidly due to increasing industrialization. The Conchos River Basin holds over 47 fish species, including at least 11 endemics and 10 exotics. Also, species new to science have been recently discovered and/or continue being described (e.g. Cyprinodon julimes De la Maza-Benignos &Vela Valladares, 2009 and Gambusia zarskei Meyer et al. 2010. Drying out of spring systems and wetlands along the Rio Conchos has already caused fading of environmental flows, cease of aquifer recharge, loss of biodiversity, extirpation of endemic species, desertification and social and economic distress. The permanence of desert springs and wetlands on the other hand contributes to the water security of an area, generation of environmental services, enhances regional livelihoods and triggers economic development. ’El Pandeño-de-los-Pando“ hotspring is home to the recently described endemic Julimes pupfish (Cyprinodon julimes) considered to be among the vertebrates that live at the highest temperatures on the planet. This spring is about 740 m2 in size, with suitable pupfish habitat <437 m2, and located in the middle Conchos River Basin, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is among several springs impacted by increasing pumping that depletes the local groundwater supply. In the context of a broader full scale Integrated River Basin Management Program led by WWF and its partners, for the Rio Grande/Bravo that seeks an optimal allocation of water through intervention in water policy, adaptive management strategies and institutional strengthening; the initiative to conserve a viable pupfish population, developed into a demonstration project which considers socioeconomic, biologic, taxonomic, ecologic, behavioral, hydrologic, legal and administrative framework leading to a holistic understanding of a system within an initiative to prove that conservation is compatible with and beneficial to economic and social development of a region. Research was conducted to understand (1) the socio-economic features and human dimensions of the region, (1) the hydrology of the system, (2) its paleoecology and (3) the relation between habitat utilization and physicochemical variables determining the needs of the fish; as well as to support environmental flows determinations for future water rights acquisition. A conservation strategy was developed together with farmers and inhabitants of Julimes. The interaction between the organic constituent and abiotic factors conform the natural space or habitat bounded by society within a social and economic quandary. Hence, studying and understanding the interactions between hydrology and biology, ecology and culture, economics and development of a region generates a virtuous cycle and establishes the basis for the advancement of conservation initiatives that promote the rational use of our natural heritage, conservation of biodiversity and assurance of supply of environmental goods and services that foster sustainability. A desert spring system conservation model for arid northern Mexico is proposed.