Environmental Challenges (Apr 2021)
Two tropical research stations in Mexico: 50 years of contributions and challenges
Abstract
Tropical ecosystems have been transformed at alarming rates provoking their transformation mainly into agricultural and pasturelands for cattle. This has drastically modified landscapes, the provision of ecosystem services, and thus human livelihoods. As a response to the need to preserve and study tropical forests, the National Autonomous University of Mexico created two research field stations around 50 years ago. Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station located in a tropical rain forest on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Chamela Biological Station established in a tropical dry forest on the central Pacific coast. A significant amount of research has been conducted in both areas although one question that arises pertains to the impact these stations have had on the areas in which they are located. The aim of this paper is to analyze the scientific production of the research field stations and their relation to local information needs and interests, as well as to document local people's perspectives regarding their presence in their regions. Research methods included interviews and surveys with local communities, as well as analysis of the stations' databases. Although our results are preliminary, they show that from the identification of information needs and interests of local communities at each site (52 and 28 respectively), around 40% were not covered by existing knowledge. Furthermore, those fully or partially covered would need to be transformed into products accessible to rural communities. In both sites, local people expressed an interest in the work of the stations and particularly, they acknowledge possible benefits for their regions. If the goal is to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and mitigate environmental problems, field stations can no longer work in isolation but become agents of social transformation. It is necessary to revise how biological, ecological, and socio-ecological knowledge can be shared with people so that it is meaningful and useful for them. A linkage process between scientific institutions and local people should be strengthened in order for scientific knowledge to have a local impact on the long-term maintenance of tropical socioecological systems.
