Abstract

Several threats are affecting biodiversity at both spatial and temporal scales. Protected areas (PAs) are one of the most popular conservation tools to protect biodiversity from those threats. However, PAs are often isolated by anthropogenic barriers and are not effective maintaining biodiversity and then it is necessary to assess the effectiveness of current PAs. Here we analyzed the representativeness of medium and large mammals inside and outside PAs in Mexico at regional and local scales. At regional scale there were registered 24 species and at local scale we recorded 18 species. We found no difference between the mammal richness inside and outside PAs at both scales and also we found that PAs had positive influence on mammal richness. We measure other variables and results were different at both scales. At regional scale, human density had positive influence on species richness, and at local scale heterogeneity had negative influence on it. Our results support PAs as effective conservation tool for representing large and medium sized mammals’ species. Positive effects of PAs at regional and local scale emphasize the importance of this effective conservation tool at both scales. But it is necessary to make efforts on areas surrounding PAs in order to ensure the effectiveness for a long term.

Key words: Conservation, effectiveness, protected areas, Mexico, mammals, local and regional scales.