ZooKeys 420: 87–115 (2014)
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.420.7050
www.zookeys.org
CracidMex1: a comprehensive database of global
occurrences of cracids (Aves, Galliformes)
with distribution in Mexico
Gonzalo Pinilla-Buitrago, Miguel Angel Martínez-Morales,
Fernando González-García, Paula L. Enríquez, José Luis Rangel-Salazar,
Carlos Alberto Guichard Romero, Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza,
Tiberio César Monterrubio-Rico, Griselda Escalona-Segura
Abstract
Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family
are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered
at risk at national level and two are globally endangered. Therefore, it is imperative that high quality,
comprehensive, and high-resolution spatial data on the occurrence of these taxa are made available as a
valuable tool in the process of defining appropriate management strategies for conservation at a local and
global level. We constructed the CracidMex1 database by collating global records of all cracid taxa that
occur in Mexico from available electronic databases, museum specimens, publications, “grey literature”,
and unpublished records. We generated a database with 23,896 clean, validated, and standardized geographic
records.
Database quality control was an iterative process that commenced with the consolidation
and elimination of duplicate records, followed by the geo-referencing of records when necessary, and
their taxonomic and geographic validation using GIS tools and expert knowledge. We followed the georeferencing
protocol proposed by the Mexican National Commission for the Use and Conservation of
Biodiversity. We could not estimate the geographic coordinates of 981 records due to inconsistencies or
lack of sufficient information in the description of the locality.
Given that current records for most of the taxa have some degree of distributional bias, with redundancies
at different spatial scales, the CracidMex1 database has allowed us to detect areas where more sampling
effort is required to have a better representation of the global spatial occurrence of these cracids. We
also found that particular attention needs to be given to taxa identification in those areas where congeners
or conspecifics co-occur in order to avoid taxonomic uncertainty.
The construction of the CracidMex1
database represents the first comprehensive research effort to compile current, available global geographic
records for a group of cracids. The database can now be improved by continuous revision and addition of
new records. The CracidMex1 database will provide high quality input data that could be used to generate
species distribution models, to assess temporal changes in species distributions, to identify priority areas
for research and conservation, and in the definition of management strategies for this bird group. This
compilation exercise could be replicated for other cracid groups or regions to attain a better knowledge of
the global occurrences of the species in this vulnerable bird family.
Información adicional con Fernando González-Garcia.
