Patrones espaciales de la riqueza de peces en lagunas costeras del sur de Quintana Roo, México

Abstract

Thirty nine fish species are recorded in eight lagoons on the southern coast of Quintana Roo. "Cichlasoma" urophthalmus, Gambusia yucatana, Poecilia orri and Eugerres plumieri were the most widely distributed species. Cluster analysis on the lagoons, based on presence-absence of the fishes, generated a dendrogram where two lagoon complexes are identifiable, divided by the access road to Mahahuak. The northern complex (Uvero, Placer, San Humberto and San Antonio) is characterized by the presence of Astyanax aunus, "C." synspilum and Thorichthys meeki. The southern complex (Río Huach, Xcalak, Cementerio and La Aguada) is characterized by Cyprinodon artifrons, Floridichthys polyommus, Eucinostomus argenteus, E. jonessi and Gerres cinereus. Both beta and gamma diversity shown an increase from north to south, a fact explained mainly by the larger number of peripheral species migrating from the adjacent reef through permanent mangrove channels to Caribbean Sea in lagoons Río Huach and Xcalak, in the southern complex, as well as the absence of primary species in these lagoons.