Format: ORAL

Alexis Herminio Plasencia-Vzquez 1*, Alfredo Garca-Gonzlez 1,Annery Serrano Rodrguez 2, Frander B. Rivern-Gir 3, Yarelys Ferrer-Snchez 4, Anay Serrano Rodrguez 1, Griselda Escalona-Segura 5, Jos Domingo C-Vizcarra 6, Karla Paola Borges-Jess 6, Pedro Zamora Crescencio 1 Jorge Albino Vargas-Contreras 2

1 Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Sociales (CIHS), Universidad Autónoma de Campeche (UAC), Avenida Agustín Melgar S/N., Campeche, 24039, México. 2 Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Avenida Exhacienda Kala, Campeche, Campeche 24087, México. 3 El Colegio de La Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Unidad Tapachula, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto, km 2.5, Apartado Postal 36, Tapachula, Chiapas, 30700, México. 4 Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo, Avenida Quito, km 1.5 vía a Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Quevedo, 120501, Ecuador. 5 El Colegio de La Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Unidad Campeche, Avenida Rancho Polígono 2-A, Ciudad Industrial, Lerma, Campeche 24500, México. 6 Instituto de Ecología, A. C. Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, Xalapa Enríquez, 91073, México.

Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, supporting a large biodiversity. Tintal (seasonally inundated forest dominated by Haematoxylum campechianum) are a characteristic wetland of the Southeastern Mexico, and have a long history of commercial exploitation. Due to its structural characteristics and the conditions of the areas where it develops, tintal could work as a critical habitat for many plants and animal species, and as a refuge, mainly in highly anthropized landscapes. Furthermore, as the tintal develops at sites where water disappears totally or partially during determined times of the year, and the characteristic vegetation favors the formation of open spaces, these areas can be easily accessed to carry out sampling. Therefore, the tintal is the ideal case study in order to demonstrate the impact of human activities on wetland ecosystems. We analyzed the variations in the richness and abundance of different plants (vascular epiphytes) and animals (macroinvertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and bats) between preserved and human-disturbed tintales. The study was carried out at 27 tintal sites in the Southeastern Mexico, 10 preserved and 17 human-disturbed, and for each group different sampling techniques were used. The species composition and structure differ between preserved and human-disturbed tintales. In the case of vascular epiphyte species, the richness and abundance were related to a degree of conservation, and the tintal can be an important reservoir of these plants. Most of the researched tintales were highly anthropized, but the tolerance of several animal and plant species to these landscape modifications has allowed them to make use of such areas. The function of tintal as islands and sources of diversity in degraded land matrices and H. campechianum must be considered as a key species. This allows as to value the importance of tintal from an ecological and biodiversity conservation point of view.