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Copyright of Estudios de Cultura Maya is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas - UNAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper a methodology for evaluating the feasibility of economic subsidies on land use systems using local indicators of sustainability in the Constitucion region, Calakmul, Campeche (Mexico), is proposed. In order to identify the sustainability indicators for evaluating the Jalapeño pepper (Capsicum annum L.), and Maize (Zea mayz L.) crop systems, local farmers, policymakers and agronomists were interviewed and a list of 17 indicators were obtained. Both evaluating models were approved by the Municipal Council for Sustainable Rural Development of Calakmul (CMDRS), committee that endorses subsidies to farmers through an application contest. The Jalapeño pepper got 69.40% and the Maize crop system got 54.10%. The main identified limitations in both crop systems are the lack of crop-production technologies, lack of organisation among farmers and deficient trading of the harvests. The methodology proposed here, is meant to help farmers, policymakers and agronomist to identify the main limitations in the production of the regional main crop systems, in order to invest the scarce resources in solving this problem. We believe the methodology could be applied in other regions of Mexico; so far the indicators are adjusted to local conditions of each region to be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fish community of the southern Gulf of Mexico is abundant and diverse, and its components are affected by the bycatch of the seabob shrimp fishery. The spatial and temporal abundance and diversity patterns of the fish community are described and analyzed in this paper, and the ecologically dominant species are identified. Monthly sampling was carried out from February 2006 to January 2007, at 37 sites located between the mouth of the Grijalva-Usumacinta system to the mouth of the Chumpan-Balchacah system inside the Terminos Lagoon, in the state of Campeche, southern Gulf of Mexico. Using an experimental trawl net, 444 experimental hauls were done, and 26,386 individuals were caught with a joint weight of 407.1 kg. In total, 94 species were identified, grouped in 65 genera and 38 families. The abundance and diversity of the fish community was analyzed on spatial and temporal scales in terms of density (ind m²), biomass (g m²), average weight (g ind-1), diversity index (H'n), species richness (Dmg), and evenness (J'). The abundance was high in August and September at sites near the mouths of the Grijalva-Usumacinta and Palizada-Del Este systems. The most important species in terms of abundance was the catfish, Cathorops melanopus. The intervals of variation of the diversity range on a spatial scale were H'n = 0.5 to 2.8 bits; Dmg = 2.6 to 5.3 sp ind-1, and J' = 0.1 to 0.8 bits. On a temporal scale, the intervals were: H'n = 1.8 to 2.6 bits; Dmg = 5.1 to 6.7 sp ind-1, and J' = 0.4 to 0.6 bits. Nine dominant species were identified, with 16,840 individuals and a joint weight of 278.5 kg, equivalent to 63.8% of the total capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios de Cultura Maya is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas - UNAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Estudios de Cultura Maya is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones Filologicas - UNAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Energy flows were studied for the 2002–2003 agricultural cycle in four households for which agriculture is part of a diversified survival strategy and four that practice agriculture as a business. Home garden inputs and outputs were measured monthly. Quantified inputs were: household labour, household agro-system production, and purchased external renewable and non-renewable energy. Outputs measured were: sales, family and animal foods. While both strategies had similar indicators in biomass and energy production, vegetable richness, and soil quality, household garden function and sustainability differed between subsistence and commercial householders. Subsistence gardens complemented family diet and contributed to household system resiliency. They relied heavily on renewable energy sources from within their agro-system. Gardens in commercial households reduced fruit tree area and increased animal husbandry for the market. They depended more on purchased non-renewable energy sources and were less sustainable and much less energy efficient than traditional gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight cyclonic eddies were identified near the western edge of the Loop Current, at the northeast shelf break of the Campeche Bank, through TOPEX/Poseidon sea surface height anomaly data from January 1993 through March 2000. The eddies' migration and their lifecycle are described. The formation of the eddies appears to be related to the dynamics of the Loop Current because the timing of their generation corresponds to the last stage of the anticyclone shedding from the Loop Current. The cyclones intensify while moving slightly to the northwest along the shelf break of the Campeche Bank; later, some cyclones are observed to move northward toward the Mississippi shelf break. The cyclones remain next to the Campeche Bank, south of 26°N, from 1.3 to 9.6 months; later, some of them move northward and strengthen by merging with other eddies, extending their life span. The eddies' vertical structure is analyzed with hydrographic data, and the connection between the formation of the cyclones and the evolution of the Loop Current is further described using sea surface temperature images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]