TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rico-Sánchez, Axel Eduardo
A1  - Sundermann, Andrea
A1  - López-López, Eugenia
A1  - Torres-Olvera, Martin Jonatan
A1  - Mueller, Sarah Ashley
A1  - Haubrock, Phillip Joschka
T1  - Biological diversity in protected areas: Not yet known but already threatened
T2  - Global ecology and conservation
N2  - Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function is critical on national and global scales. However, while only a fraction of the global biodiversity is known, its current decline is unprecedented, making biodiversity hotspots a conservation priority. The Sierra Gorda Biodiversity Reserve (SGBR) in Central Mexico is known for its rich biodiversity. It is an example of the juxtaposition between species discovery and extinction: aquatic species richness is mostly unknown as no efforts have investigated aquatic communities so far, but are already anthropogenically stressed. We hypothesized that invasive species are already well established in various protected areas and investigated this by assessing the threat of invasive species that are already established within the SGBR on the native biodiversity. By combining field sampling with peer-reviewed literature and local reports, we identify the presence of various non-native species in SGBR. Among these non-native species identified were opportunistic predatory fish and potentially-pathogen transmitting molluscs, but also, a habitat engineer capable of modifying ecosystem functions. Moreover, we highlight that these species were introduced despite legislation and without any knowledge among authorities. As a result, we underline the necessity to describe native species, control invasive and prevent the introduction of further non-native species. If accelerated action is not taken, we risk losing a considerable amount of described and unknown freshwater biota. Keywords: Anthropocene, Biodiversity loss, Freshwater, Invasive species, Mexico, Nature reserve.
KW  - Anthropocene
KW  - Biodiversity loss
KW  - Freshwater
KW  - Invasive species
KW  - Mexico
KW  - Nature reserve
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/54388
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-543882
SN  - 2351-9894
N1  - © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
VL  - 22
IS  - e01006
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam [u. a.]
ER  -