Leticia Ríos-Casanova
National Autonomous University of Mexico
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Featured researches published by Leticia Ríos-Casanova.
Southwestern Entomologist | 2015
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Patricia Dávila; Héctor Godínez-Alvarez
Abstract. Biotic and abiotic factors affect the species richness and abundance of ants inhabiting arid and semiarid zones. We evaluated how soil surface temperature, texture, percentage of surface coarse fragments, and vegetation affected the composition, diversity, and distribution of ants inhabiting a mosaic of environmental conditions in a semiarid zone in central Mexico. We captured 22 ant species at five sites studied, with the top of Cutac hill (1,750 m altitude) and Terrace 2 (1,376 m altitude) the richest sites with 10 species each. Based on redundancy analyses, the percentage of clay followed by the percentage of coarse fragments at the surface of the soil were the variables most related to the composition of ants in these communities. Percentage of clay ranged from 16 to 26 and was positively related to abundance of Pheidole sp. 1 and negatively related to abundance of Dorymyrmex bureni Trager (R2 = 0.76, P = 0.04; R2 = 0.86, P = 0.02, respectively), whereas percentage of soil surface coarse fragments ranged from 0.8 to 59 and were negatively correlated to Pheidole sp. 1 (R2 = 0.76, P = 0.05), but positively correlated to abundance of Brachymyrmex sp. (R2 = 0.86, P = 0.06). When ants were analyzed by functional group, vegetative structure (ranging from 109 to 246 hits with vegetation) and percentage of coarse fragments in the soil were most correlated with their distribution. Although results of the redundancy analyses were not statistically significant, preliminary analysis of variables might explain the composition and distribution of an ant community. We suggested that soil characteristics might be important for explaining ant distribution and community composition.
Southwestern Entomologist | 2010
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Zenón Cano-Santana; Héctor Godínez-Alvarez
Abstract. We studied the community of arthropods inhabiting the ecological preserve El Pedregal de San Angel, in Mexico City. We estimated morphospecies richness, abundance, and diversity patterns in two contrasting habitats, open and closed, during four seasons of the year. Because closed-habitat sites have greater net primary productivity than open habitats, we predicted arthropod diversity would be greater in closed than in open habitats. Morphospecies richness of Acari and Arachnida was similar in both types of habitats throughout the year, whereas richness of some orders of Insecta such as Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera was greatest in open habitats. Mites were the most abundant arthropods and were always more abundant in open than closed habitats. Diversity of arthropods was greater in closed habitats during fall and spring, suggesting that habitat characteristics related to primary productivity might affect this community. We suggest that studies of patterns of arthropod diversity and factors associated with the maintenance of such diversity should be considered in the preservation of these organisms and of their natural habitats.
Southwestern Entomologist | 2017
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Karina Baltazar; Zenón Cano-Santana; Lucía González; Paola García; Christian Jiménez; Raquel Trejo; Javier Valentín; Miguel Vásquez-Bolaños
Ants, with their great taxonomic and functional diversity, can provide important information about the status and health of the ecosystems they inhabit. Currently, 927 ant species have been registered in Mexico (Vásquez-Bolaños 2015), of which 18 have been reported in Mexico City (Ríos-Casanova 2014). Even so, ants in reserves inside the city have been little explored. Within Mexico City, the Reserva Ecológica El Pedregal de San Ángel (Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve) is important as a natural system immersed in the largest metropolitan zone of Mexico and one of the largest cities in the world. Despite the proximity to the urbanized area, the enormous plant and animal diversity of the reserve has been widely recognized (Lot and Cano-Santana 2009). A recent study on the family Formicidae in the Reserva Ecológica El Pedregal de San Ángel reported the presence of 21 ant species (Hernández 2010). However, little is known about the species inhabiting other zones of the reserve or the ants that can be captured by different sampling methods in the ecosystem. The Reserva Ecológica El Pedregal de San Ángel is in the southwestern portion of Mexico City, in Ciudad Universitaria that forms part of the area belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The vegetation type is highelevation xerophytic scrub, and annual average rainfall and temperature are 833 mm and 15.6°C, respectively (Castillo-Argüero et al. 2004). The reserve has 237.3 ha, currently divided into Nucleus Zones and Buffer Zones; these last include the Cantera Oriente site that does not form part of the reserve belonging to the university campus but is considered a buffer zone of the reserve (Lot 2007, REPSA 2016). In this note, we present ants collected during several studies as well as information previously reported. During our studies, the ant species were recorded at three sites in the western Nucleus Zone and at three nearby Buffer Zone sites. In addition, ants were collected in the Cantera Oriente. The environmental characteristics of the zones have been previously described in detail (Lot 2007, Lot and Cano-Santana 2009).
Acta Oecologica-international Journal of Ecology | 2006
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Alfonso Valiente-Banuet
Southwestern Naturalist | 2005
Héctor Godínez-Alvarez; Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Fabiola Pérez
Acta zoológica mexicana | 2004
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Alfonso Valiente-Banuet
Revista Mexicana De Biodiversidad | 2008
Héctor Godínez-Alvarez; Miguel Jiménez; Marleth Mendoza; Fabiola Pérez; Patricia Roldán; Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Rafael Lira
Revista Mexicana De Biodiversidad | 2014
Leticia Ríos-Casanova
Revista Mexicana De Biodiversidad | 2011
César Albino-García; Héctor Cervantes; Martín López; Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Rafael Lira
Sociobiology | 2014
Leticia Ríos-Casanova; Gabriela Castaño; Verónica Farías-González; Patricia Dávila; Héctor Godínez-Alvarez