Search

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Cenotes are naturally occurring freshwater sinkholes that are formed when limestone bedrock erodes, exposing subterranean water. They are visually striking: cavernous, circular holes in the ground that drop down to the shimmer of bright blue water. Building on the genealogy of feminist figures, this article argues that cenotes are rich feminist figurations that can assist us in thinking through the complexities of ecological crises in the Anthropocene. I utilise scuba diving in cenotes as a method of bodily enquiry, drawing on fieldwork conducted at eight cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico to demonstrate how thinking with the rich material-discursive composition of cenotes can question and undermine normative approaches to the Anthropocene. Cenotes are spaces of rupture and affective possibility, transitional zones that privilege fluidity over categorisation. By analysing cenotes and their unique hydro-geological formations as a distinctly feminist figuration, I argue that the binary onto-epistemologies implicit in the Anthropocene can be challenged and re-thought through the radical liminality of the cenote. I propose that thinking-with cenotes engenders an understanding of what I call a hydro-geologic corporeality and subjectivity that emphasises the liminal boundaries between the body (bios), the water (hydro), and the geologic (geos). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the speleological exploration conducted by the Czech and Slovak Speleological Societies in the Quintana Roo region of Mexico over a period of twenty years. Starting with the inaugural expedition in 2003, more than 20 subsequent expeditions have been carried out. The focus of the exploration has been on the region between the villages of Chemuyil and Akumal, where hundreds of cenotes have been investigated, leading to the discovery of significant cave systems with a cumulative length of over 138 km. Among these, the Koox Baal underwater cave system stands out as the third longest in the world. Additionally, the explorers have revisited and resurveyed several previously discovered underwater caves due to the lack of existing maps from the initial explorations. Notably, the exploration efforts have resulted in significant paleontological discoveries, and strong connections have been forged with local landowners and the speleological community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Abstract Objective Cenotes are flooded caves in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Many cenotes are interconnected in an underground network of pools and streams forming a vast belowground aquifer across most of the peninsula. Many plants in the peninsula grow roots that reach the cenotes water and live submerged in conditions similar to hydroponics. Our objective was to study the microbial community associated with these submerged roots of the Sac Actun cenote. We accomplished this objective by profiling the root prokaryotic community using 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing. Results We identified plant species by DNA barcoding the total genomic DNA of each root. We found a distinctive composition of the root and water bacterial and archaeal communities. Prokaryotic diversity was higher in all plant roots than in the surrounding freshwater, suggesting that plants in the cenotes may attract and select microorganisms from soil and freshwater, and may also harbor vertically transmitted lineages. The reported data are of interest for studies targeting biodiversity in general and root-microbial ecological interactions specifically.

Folia are speleothems that resemble bells, inverted cups, or bracket fungi, and whose origins are still controversial. Cenote Zapote (an underwater cave) in the Yucatán Peninsula (México), is home to some of the largest folia reported to date. These speleothems are currently growing in an active underwater system, meaning this site offers an excellent opportunity to constrain the different formation models proposed for folia, which have traditionally relied on inactive examples. In Cenote Zapote, folia are closely related to bubble trails and cupolas, suggesting an underwater CO2-degassing process. In thin section, they display a succession of columnar-open and columnar-elongated endings in micrite-dendritic fabrics. Our petrographic and geochemical results demonstrate the abiotic origin of these folia and indicate carbonate precipitation from cold water by CO2 degassing below the water table that started at least 5,210 yrs BP. We conclude that these folia formed as a result of subaqueous calcite precipitation around CO2 bubbles trapped below overhanging walls of the cave. The sequential alternation of columnar and micritic fabrics can be explained by changes in the position of the halocline and H2S-rich water mass while the exceptional size is the result of carbonate precipitation from waters saturated in CaCO3 during thousans of years. Then we propose the classification of these speleothems as a subtype of folia. This subtype could be named Hells Bells, respecting its original description.

Objective: Cenotes are flooded caves in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Many cenotes are interconnected in an underground network of pools and streams forming a vast belowground aquifer across most of the peninsula. Many plants in the peninsula grow roots that reach the cenotes water and live submerged in conditions similar to hydroponics. Our objective was to study the microbial community associated with these submerged roots of the Sac Actun cenote. We accomplished this objective by profiling the root prokaryotic community using 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing. Results: We identified plant species by DNA barcoding the total genomic DNA of each root. We found a distinctive composition of the root and water bacterial and archaeal communities. Prokaryotic diversity was higher in all plant roots than in the surrounding freshwater, suggesting that plants in the cenotes may attract and select microorganisms from soil and freshwater, and may also harbor vertically transmitted lineages. The reported data are of interest for studies targeting biodiversity in general and root-microbial ecological interactions specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mundos Subterráneos is the property of Union Mexicana Agrupaciones Espeleologicas 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.)

Folia are speleothems that resemble bells, inverted cups, or bracket fungi, and whose origins are still controversial. Cenote Zapote (an underwater cave) in the Yucatán Peninsula (México), is home to some of the largest folia reported to date. These speleothems are currently growing in an active underwater system, meaning this site offers an excellent opportunity to constrain the different formation models proposed for folia, which have traditionally relied on inactive examples. In Cenote Zapote, folia are closely related to bubble trails and cupolas, suggesting an underwater CO2-degassing process. In thin section, they display a succession of columnar-open and columnar-elongated endings in micrite-dendritic fabrics. Our petrographic and geochemical results demonstrate the abiotic origin of these folia and indicate carbonate precipitation from cold water by CO2 degassing below the water table that started at least 5,210 yrs BP. We conclude that these folia formed as a result of subaqueous calcite precipitation around CO2 bubbles trapped below overhanging walls of the cave. The sequential alternation of columnar and micritic fabrics can be explained by changes in the position of the halocline and H2S-rich water mass while the exceptional size is the result of carbonate precipitation from waters saturated in CaCO3 during thousans of years. Then we propose the classification of these speleothems as a subtype of folia. This subtype could be named Hells Bells, respecting its original description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of water surface elevation (WSE) and bathymetry of the lagoons and cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula (YP) in southeast Mexico are of hydrogeological interest. Observations of WSE (orthometric water height above mean sea level, amsl) are required to inform hydrological models, to estimate hydraulic gradients and groundwater flow directions. Measurements of bathymetry and water depth (elevation of the water surface above the bed of the water body) improve current knowledge on how lagoons and cenotes connect through the complicated submerged cave systems and the diffuse flow in the rock matrix. A novel approach is described that uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor WSE and bathymetry of the inland water bodies on the YP. UAV-borne WSE observations were retrieved using a radar and a global navigation satellite system on-board a multi-copter platform. Water depth was measured using a tethered floating sonar controlled by the UAV. This sonar provides depth measurements also in deep and turbid water. Bathymetry (wet-bed elevation amsl) can be computed by subtracting water depth from WSE. Accuracy of the WSE measurements is better than 5-7 cm and accuracy of the water depth measurements is estimated to be ~3.8% of the actual water depth. The technology provided accurate measurements of WSE and bathymetry in both wetlands (lagoons) and cenotes. UAV-borne technology is shown to be a more flexible and lower cost alternative to manned aircrafts. UAVs allow monitoring of remote areas located in the jungle of the YP, which are difficult to access by human operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anchialine fauna from the Yucatan Peninsula has been extensively studied since the 1980's. "Sea spiders" or Pycnogonida, have never been found in these systems before. A record for Anoplodactylus batangensis (Helfer, 1938) from a cenote (sinkhole) in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico is presented herein. The pycnogonid was found in waters of the cenote Nohoch Nah Chich, part of the Sac Actun anchialine system, in the State of Quintana Roo. This species was already reported from the northeastern shore of the Yucatan Peninsula, however the record we present herein constitutes the first time a pycnogonid is reported from an anchialine habitat. A brief description of the female A. batangensis is presented for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed description of a new stygobiont species of the amphipod family Hadziidae, Mayaweckelia troglomorpha Angyal, sp. n. is given, based on material collected in four cenotes of Yucatán federal state, México. Morphology was studied under light microscopy and with scanning electron microscopy. Morphological description is complemented with mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences as barcodes, with affinities to the related taxa and with notes on the species' ecology. Using COI Bayesian inference and genetic distance analyses, we show that the closest relative of the new species is M. cenoticola, forming a monophyletic group referring to the genus Mayaweckelia. Based on the available sequences, we also revealed that Mayaweckelia and Tuluweckelia are sister genera, standing close to the third Yucatán subterranean genus, Bahadzia. The data gathered on the habitat, distribution, abundance, and ecology will contribute to the conservation planning for M. troglomorpha Angyal, sp.n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artículo acompaña el proceso de “rescate” de un tesoro de valor incalculable, retirado del fondo del Cenote Sagrado de Chichen Itzá, con ayuda de una primitiva draga instalada en sus orillas por el entonces cónsul de los Estados Unidos de América del Norte en Progreso, Edward H. Thompson, financiada por fondos del Peabody Museum de Harvard University y recursos privados de coleccionistas del área de Boston. El “rescate” inició en 1904 y se prolongó hasta 1907, con reiteraciones episódicas hasta 1909, año de la dimisión de Thompson de su cargo consular y del inicio del desmadejamiento de las redes de complicidad que se habían venido tejiendo desde 1875 para permitir la exportación ilegal de centenas de piezas “mayas” hacia la universidad de Cambridge. El texto termina en 1914, cuando la violencia revolucionaria detiene accidentalmente la sangría.

In the University we must the young people in the expansion of the awareness, which is recognized in the language of nature, developing the sensitivity in the sounds of the wind, the sea, the jungles and the woods. This expansive awareness faces the values of the power, the expansion, the control and the accumulation of capital, with its double reference: war, sacrifice, death and hopelessness. These values outlined the behavior of the mayan societies in the eclipse of its splendor. In recent times, we have built epistemological rationality concerning the phenomena and we organize the results of the scientific research in oral and written speeches, nevertheless, the threat of climatic change, the environmental crisis and the pollution of water, such as in the cenote, is not a tributary custom to the gods and their plans anymore, while it is a daily, purposeless practice, it becomes in the unconscious joy that other suffer, of those who are still part of the stones and the woods, the seas and the infinite.

What determines a site’s location? In the ceremonial core of the lowland Maya site of Nixtun-Ch'ich', Guatemala, a large depression lies east of an E-Group (quasi-solar-“observatory”) architectural complex. Excavations in this depression (Fosa Y) revealed a large, deep—and thus far bottomless—cavity in the limestone filled with water-deposited sediments containing Terminal Early and Middle Preclassic (∼1000–400 BCE) pottery and other remains. The upper periphery of Fosa Y was lined with amphitheater-like stone terraces, which framed a rich late Middle Preclassic ritual midden. Interpretations of the role of Fosa Y and adjacent constructions relate to deep structures of Mesoamerican belief systems, from Olmec to Aztec, concerning water, mountains, solar stations, the Underworld, and Creation. Fosa Y was likely a natural sinkhole (cenote), rather than human-made, and thus a powerful and deeply symbolic feature of the terrain for the earliest settlers and a compelling setting for integrative community rituals. It centered the east-west axis of this unusual, gridded, early city and its sacred landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 a cenote formed in the limestone karst of Lifou (New Caledonia), more than 35 shells ofNautilus macromphaluswere discovered in 35–40 m water depth. Seven shells were recovered and subsamples of two shells were used for a study on microbial bioerosion. Both shells were intensively bioeroded and SEM-analyses revealed a total of six ichnotaxa with a dominance of the cyanobacterial traceScolecia filosa. Such a low diversity ichnocoenosis and the strong dominance of a single ichnotaxon indicate that the environment in the cenote was hostile for many euendolithic organisms. The unfavourable conditions were caused by (1) restricted water-mass exchange with the open ocean, limiting the chance of larvae being transported into the cenote; (2) intense fluctuations in fresh water influx in the karst system promoting traces of euryhaline euendoliths (Ichnoreticulina elegans, S. filosa, Scolecia serrata); and (3) very limited light availability, allowing the development of traces of organotrophs (S. serrata, Flagrichnus profundus) and the most effective among the photoautotrophs only (I. elegans, S. serrata, and ‘Conchocelis’-stages of bangiacean rhodophytes), indicating deep-euphotic to dysphotic conditions and leading to the observed low ichno-diversity. These results foster the knowledge on the environmental tolerance of microbioerosion trace makers, helping to draw conclusions regarding the characteristics of other extreme (palaeo)environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New records for 17 species of crustaceans from anchialine systems in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, are presented. The records come from explorations in Dzilam de Bravo, Yucatan, and from Puerto Aventuras and the Nohoch Nah Chich and Ox Bel Ha cave systems near Tulum in Quintana Roo, Mexico. For five of the 17 species dealt with here, the records presented constitute the second time those species are reported after their original descriptions. For the alpheid shrimp Yagerocaris cozumel, we present the first record of the species for continental Yucatan and for the atyid shrimp Jonga serrei, the second record from Mexico. Depth data are provided for all species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad is the property of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Biologia 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 the University we must the young people in the expansion of the awareness, which is recognized in the language of nature, developing the sensitivity in the sounds of the wind, the sea, the jungles and the woods. This expansive awareness faces the values of the power, the expansion, the control and the accumulation of capital, with its double reference: war, sacrifice, death and hopelessness. These values outlined the behavior of the mayan societies in the eclipse of its splendor. In recent times, we have built epistemological rationality concerning the phenomena and we organize the results of the scientific research in oral and written speeches, nevertheless, the threat of climatic change, the environmental crisis and the pollution of water, such as in the cenote, is not a tributary custom to the gods and their plans anymore, while it is a daily, purposeless practice, it becomes in the unconscious joy that other suffer, of those who are still part of the stones and the woods, the seas and the infinite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The cenotes near Mt Gambier are circular, cliffed, collapse dolines containing water-table lakes up to 125m deep, floored by large rubble cones. They lie in a flat, coastal plain composed of mid-Tertiary limestone. Most of the deepest cenotes are concentrated in two small areas located along trends sub-parallel to the main joint direction in the limestone. The cenotes do not connect to underwater phreatic passages, and water chemistry data confirm that they are not part of an interconnected karst network. They formed by collapse into large chambers (up to >1 million m3) that extended 125m or more below the land surface. Several cenotes have actively growing stromatolites on the sub-vertical walls that started growing at ∼8000years BP. The caves that collapsed to form the deep Mt Gambier cenotes are much larger than shallow and deep phreatic caves in the area, and do not connect into deep phreatic systems. They were not formed by freshwater/seawater mixing, responsible for many of the well-known Yucatan cenotes, because they are not associated with locations of the mixing zone during previous high sea levels, and are much larger than caves presently forming along the mixing zone near Mt Gambier. Instead dissolution was most likely due to a process whereby acidified groundwater containing large amounts of volcanogenic CO2 ascended up fractures from the magma chambers that fed the Pleistocene–Holocene volcanic eruptions in the area; deep reservoirs of volcanogenic CO2 occur nearby. Cave dissolution could have been due to release of CO2 during the Mt Gambier eruption ∼28,000years ago, followed by collapse to form cenotes during the low sea levels of the Last Glacial Maximum ∼20,000years ago. The cenotes then flooded ∼8000years ago as sea level rose, and stromatolites began to grow on the walls. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to relate phenological responses of trees to environmental variables we recorded the phenological patterns and select morphological and physiological traits (wood density and water potentials) of five tree species ( Acacia gaumeri, Apoplanesia paniculata, Bursera simaruba, Gymnopodium floribundum, and Diospyros cuneata) in the tropical dry deciduous forest of the National Park of Dzibilchaltún, Yucatan, Mexico, over a period of 2 years (2004 and 2005). We chose two sites: one close to a permanent water source, locally known as ‘cenote’ (the CC site, ground water table was found at 2 m) and the other far from the cenote (FC site ground water table was at a depth of 10 m). Sites mainly differed in soil depth (FC site having greater soil depth) and soil nutrient characteristics (FC site more potassium, CC site more phosphorous). Our results indicated significant differences in phenology within species between sites and years, with leaf, flower and fruit production tending to be higher at the CC site and in the year 2004. Wood density and xylem water potentials were negatively related to each other, and midday water potentials were higher at the CC site. Differences in phenology found among years suggest that the timing of rainfall as well as the duration of periods without rain may play a more important role in phenology than total annual precipitation. Also differences inter-sites suggest a strong effect of site on tree phenology. Proximity to superficial bodies of water, such as cenotes, coupled with a greater concentration of available phosphorus in the soil may modify the effect of drought in this tropical dry deciduous forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 61-cm core was obtained from 4 m below the water table in Cenote Aktun Ha, on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The cenote is 8.6 km from the Caribbean coast and its formation and evolution have been largely affected by sea-level change. The base of the core dates to 6,940-6,740 cal year BP and overlying sediments were deposited rapidly over the subsequent ~200 years. The pollen record shows that the cenote evolved from a marsh dominated by red mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle) and fern (Polypodiaceae) to an open-water system. These vegetation changes were controlled by water level and salinity and are thus useful indicators of past sea level. At the base, the δC isotopic ratios reveal the influence of terrestrial vegetation (−29‰ VPDB), but shift to more negative values up-core (−33‰), indicating an influence from particulate matter in the flooded cenote pool. Although microfossil populations were nearly absent through most of the core, the microfossil assemblage in the upper 6 cm of the core is dominated by the juvenile foraminifer Ammonia tepida and the thecamoebian genus Centropyxis. These populations indicate open-water conditions in the cenote and a major environmental shift around 6,600 cal year BP, which is related to sea-level rise in the Caribbean basin. These data fit well with previously established sea-level curves for the Caribbean Sea. Our reconstruction of the environmental history of Cenote Aktun Ha helps elucidate the floral and hydrological history of the region, and highlights the utility of cenote sediments for studying the Holocene sea-level history of the Caribbean Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims:  Isolation and antimicrobial evaluation of aquatic bacterial strains from two cenotes. Methods and Results:  A total of 258 bacterial strains were isolated from the water and sediment of two cenotes in the Yucatan peninsula, all of which were screened against six pathogenic micro-organisms. Antimicrobial activity was detected in 46 of the isolated strains against at least one of the target strains tested. Antimicrobially active isolates were identified as: Aeromonas, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Photobacterium, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Shewanella, Stenotrophomonas genera, and 13 remained unidentified. All antimicrobially active strains were able to grow in salt medium at a concentration of 75 g l−1, thus classifying as moderately halotolerant bacteria. Most of the antimicrobially active strains exhibited a broad action spectrum, where 61% was because of uncharacterized antimicrobial substances, 25% because of bacteriocins and 13% because of siderophores. Ten strains were able to biosynthesize biosurfactant metabolites. Conclusions:  Native bacteria from the Yucatan peninsula showed an interesting antimicrobial activity, diverse mode of action and moderate halotolerance to salt. Significance and Impact of the Study:  This is the first report on bacterial isolates from cenotes of the Yucatan peninsula and their antimicrobial characterization, with great potential for future biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present 52 new geographic location records for the peracarid crustacean Antromysis cenotensis Creaser, 1936, endemic in cenotes of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. This species is currently considered threatened and, therefore, is protected by Mexican law. These results arise from several expeditions carried out between 2017 and 2020 in 75 locations within the cenote-ring, the interior, and coastal plains of the peninsula. A comprehensive literature review provided 84 geographic location records since the species was described in 1936. A map with 136 geographic location records that better describe the current species distribution is also included. With this information, plus some notes on the ecology of the species, a comprehensive literature and data review, and a brief analysis regarding the possible factors associated with the confirmed absence of the species in some locations in the state of Yucatan, we provide a brief and condensed summary of the actual knowledge on this particular species. The data in Darwin Core format can be retrieved in Zenodo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative forms of tourism have often been radically opposed to mass tourism. However, the example of Riviera Maya, an urbanized coastline at the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico),put in tourism since 1970, and of its rural Mayan hinterland, shows that this opposition needs to be qualified. Not only are new tourism practices emerging, but they are also associated with tourism of new places and the emergence of leaders. Based on an ethnographic study, this article studies tourist environment of the town of Yokdzonot, located a few kilometers from Chichén Itzá, a popular touristic destination classified as cultural heritage of humanity since 1988; it will show its originality as well as the socio-territorial consequences of tourism development of the said place, marked by social and spatial inversion.