Conservation priorities in the greater Calakmul region, Mexico: Correctingthe consequences of a congenital illness

A workshop was convened in April 1999 to assess conservation and research p riorities in the greater Calakmul region in southeastern Mexico. The larges t tropical protected area in Mexico is located in Calakmul, but it suffers from basic reserve design problems. Participants in the workshop used a fiv e-step process to assess the contribution of ecologically defined landscape units to regional biodiversity maintenance. We propose a new reserve desig n that includes important features ignored by the present design, particula rly connectivity between northern and southern regions of the reserve. Furt hermore, a large (similar to 1000 km(2)) area of dry tropical forest in the northwest region excluded from the present design is identified as a prior ity for protection. This area contains one of the largest intact tracts of dry tropical forests in the world. The dominant tree species is the valuabl e "lignum vitae" (Guaiacum sanctum L.), which is highly restricted to Mexic o and listed as an endangered species; the codominant tree species (Esenbec kia sp. nov.) is new to science. The combination of spatially explicit quan titative and qualitative information at the taxon and landscape levels, wit h active participation of researchers and decision-makers, made this worksh op the first of its kind in Mexico.