Microclimatic Variation Across Forest Edges in Naturally Fragmented Petenes of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

In tropical environments, the microclimatic conditions that modulate the edge influence in naturally fragmented forests have scantly been studied. Also, it is virtually unknown how microclimatic variations in the matrix-patch transition are associated with traditional harvesting practices occurring mainly at the edge of forest patches. Here, we documented three microclimatic parameters (temperature, relative humidity, and photosynthetically active radiation) in the matrix-patch transition of natural forest patches or petenes with and without palm ( Sabal japa ) extraction in a coastal wetland of the Yucatan Peninsula. The microclimatic parameters were recorded in six petenes with and without palm extraction (three sites per type), along three radial transects from outside (matrix) to the forest patch interior, and in diurnal periods when the environmental conditions of the wetland were most extreme but constant during the day. In contrast to relative humidity, which notably decreased during the dry season, temperature and photosynthetically active radiation showed similar variation along the matrix-patch transition in petenes with and without palm extraction. Only photosynthetically active radiation decreased toward the interior of the peten , with the highest values starting at the matrix in the rainy and dry seasons. The scant variation for temperature and relative humidity, as well as changes in PAR from the matrix to the interior of petenes , suggests an edge influence modulated by the patch’s forest structure and the presence of mangroves, even in those petenes with palm harvesting. The abiotic parameters studied in petenes suggest an edge influence mainly associated with the vegetation structure and presence of mangroves on the patch’s periphery that appears to promote the persistence of petenes in this naturally fragmented Mesoamerican ecosystem.