Deforestation and fragmentation of seasonal tropical forests in the southern Yucatán, Mexico (1990-2006)

The southern Yucatán (SY) has been recognized as a hotspot of biodiversity with great risk of deforestation. Land change analysis, based on classified Landsat TM and ETM + satellite imagery (1990, 2000 and 2006), was used to estimate the annual deforestation rates of 141 land management units of the SY, and spatial patterns of forest fragmentation around and within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR), which comprises approximately one-third of the region. Results indicate a decrease in annual deforestation rates over 1990-2006, from 0.15% year^-1 to 0.06% year^-1, but with significant sub-regional variations in the quantity and rate of forest loss. Despite a decline in deforestation during this period, there was considerable fragmentation both inside and outside the CBR. While population pressures and the expansion of pasture have caused deforestation across the region, agricultural intensification, diversified income strategies and reserve conservation may have contributed to reduced forest loss during the study period.