We are designing and deploying a transboundary biodiversity assessment to identify core habitat areas and movement pathways for multiple mammal species in northern Mexico and that are under threat from continued disturbance along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Project Brief:

The international border between the U.S. and Mexico traverses a vast landscape of extreme biodiversity. An increase in border-related disturbances and physical barriers in the region is interacting with a rapidly warming and drying climate to accelerate degradation of important habitats, leading to a dramatic loss of biodiversity and functional connectivity. A deeper understanding of the impacts of interacting climate, anthropogenic, and other landscape stressors on sensitive species in the borderlands region is critical to targeting on-the-ground action and conserving regional biodiversity.

Project Description:

As a first phase of work, this project aims to develop new information and support emerging strategies for the protection of wide-ranging animals (e.g., pumas, black bears, jaguars), their core habitats, and their movement corridors along the US-Mexico borderlands, with a field-based emphasis on the Cajon Bonito Watershed in Cuenca Los Ojos (CLO), Sonora, Mexico. In partnership with multiple other NGOs, including Borderlands Restoration Network and CLO, we are: gathering contemporary data (via an extensive camera trap array) to better inventory patterns of community diversity; modeling the impacts of barriers and other anthropogenic features on key species; identifying gaps in regional socio-ecological knowledge; and implementing a meta-analysis and landscape prioritization approach that will enhance our understanding of how animals use diverse environments with varying levels of protection. Results will identify core habitat areas and movement pathways for multiple mammal species that are under threat from continued disturbance along the U.S.-Mexico border and will help prioritize sites to protect, restore, and mitigate the impacts of linear infrastructure, among other stressors. Although wide-ranging mammals are a focus of our initial efforts, this project also will highlight the need to maintain bi-national connectivity for wildlife populations in the region, and identify resilient habitats for sustaining local biodiversity under rapidly changing climatic and landscape conditions. In addition, our results will be relevant to stakeholders in the conservation, restoration, and acquisition of new lands that emerge from a designed, strategic, and science-driven process.

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