Aguadas Calakmul

Location and general structure information on 101 waterbodies (aguadas) in the region of Calakmul (Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Balam-Ku State Reserve) in Campeche, Mexico. This work is part of the PhD thesis of José António L. Barão-Nóbrega at University of Salford in collaboration with Operation Wallacea.

To visualize the data, please download the database file through this link: Map Aguadas Calakmul (Google Earth Placemarks).

Google Earth software is required to view the data. If you don't have Google Earth installed, please click here to download: Install Google Earth

Additional data on aguada general structure (e.g. hydroperiod, dominant vegetation, etc..) can be found by following this link: Aguadas Calakmul - Attribute table.

For geographical information on other waterbodies within the region please use CONABIO's GIS dataset (Garcia 2000).

Further information on plant communities in the freshwater wetlands of the region of Calakmul please see: Moreno-Casasola, P., Infante-Mata, D. & López-Rosas, H. (2012) Tropical freshwater swamps and marshes. Wetland habitats of North America: Ecology and conservation concerns (eds D. Batzer & A. Baldwin), pp. 389. University of California Press, Berkeley. Link: http://www.researchgate.net/Moreno-Casasolaetal2012.

Additional information on other aspects related to aguadas in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve can be found on UNESCO's MAB (Man and the Biosphere Programme) status report "Ecosystem integrity and community participation related to water availability within and around Calakmul Biosphere Reserve", by Dení Rayn PhD (Link).

For general information on soil and vegetation characteristics in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve please see: Monsivais-Huertero A,, Jimenez-Escalona J. C., Galeana-Pizaña J. M., Torres-Gomez A. C., Magagi R., Goïta K., Zempoaltecatl-Ramirez E., Constantino-Recillas E., Juarez-Vazquez J. D. & Hernandez-Sanchez J. C. (2016). Understanding the dynamic of a tropical forest located in Southern Mexico using remotely sensed data. Conference Paper in Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), IEEE International, pp. 3826-3829. Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7729992.

Acknowledgements: JAL Barão-Nóbrega thanks KY Slater, C Acton, R Jehle, A Lopez-Cen, D Sima-Pantí, J Rendón von Osten, JR Cedeño-Vásquez, M González-Jáuregui, S Padilla-Paz and J Lopez-Sosa and his team from Centro Operativo de Reservas Estatales Balam Kú & Balam Kin for their assistance and support during the all stages of this project. A special thanks to S Henderson, Don Luciano from Conhuas, Don Antonio from Zoh Laguna and all comisários (elected village representatives) and local guides from the different Ejidos for their support in the field. Without their assistance, this study would not have been possible.

Author's notes: This open access database serves as a working tool for anyone who might want to develop a project related with waterbodies in the region of Calakmul. It aims to provide a solid starting point on location and general structure of what we consider the most relevant / accessible aguadas in the region, which was something I did not have when I started my PhD project. Furthermore, it also aims to serve as the baseline database structure for a citizen science waterbody monitoring project in the region.