A program for long-term genetic, habitat, and population monitoring of Cyprinodon fontinalis and associated species in Ojo Solo and the Ojo Caliente Refuge

Authors: Evan W. Carson, María de Lourdes Lozano-Vilano, Lilia Vela-Valladares, Armando J. Contreras Balderas, Lissette Sepúlveda, Iris Banda-Villanueva, Mauricio De la Maza-Benignos

Year: 2014 (xlvi)

Abstract

The Carbonera pupfish Cyprinodon fontinalis was known from nine springs in the municipality of Ahumada, Chihuahua. This pupfish was extirpated from all but one native spring, the failing Ojo Solo. Through a conservation project funded by awards from the Desert Fishes Council, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, and Pronatura Noreste, we established a reproducing population of C. fontinalis at the nearby Ojo Caliente, a natural but disturbed habitat we further altered to mimic that of the native Ojo Solo. In this presentation, we chronicle the successful establishment of the refuge population of C. fontinalis; discuss the presumed establishment of a refuge population of the co-endemic Chihuahua Crayfish Cambarellus chihuahuae, which was assed previously as extinct; describe the bleak outlook for the critically endangered and co-endemic largemouth shiner C. bocagrande; and introduce preliminary information on new records and species of hydrobiid snails from the native and refuge habitats. We present data obtained from the first year of the long-term population and genetic monitoring program for conservation of C. fontinalis.

Resumen

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