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The mountain forests of Middle America are renowned for their endemic biodiversity, and arboreal alligator lizards (genus Abronia) are high-profile vertebrates endemic to this region. In this work, we describe a new species of arboreal Abronia that is known only from the type locality in the Northern Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The new species is diagnosed from all other members of the genus Abronia by the following combination of characters: lack of protuberant or spine-like supra-auricular scales, lack of protuberant or casque-like posterolateral head scales, dorsum of head pale yellow with distinct dark markings, 35–39 transverse dorsal scale rows, lateralmost row of ventral scales enlarged relative to adjacent medial row, and dorsum brown with darker crossbands that are sometimes reduced to rows of spots. We provisionally include the new species in the subgenus Lissabronia based on genomic and morphological evidence, but our results also suggest a close relationship to the subgenus Abaculabronia. The new species is geographically separated from the nearest Lissabronia and Abaculabronia species by the lowland Central Depression of Chiapas. Ongoing habitat loss and other factors imperil the new species, leading us to propose its listing under multiple threatened species frameworks. Because the Northern Highlands have poor coverage of protected areas, we briefly comment on the potential of this new species for stimulating conservation in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat destruction and degradation represent the most significant contemporary threats to populations of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) and Morelet's crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) throughout their respective ranges. In addition to destroying nesting sites, escalating inter- and intra-specific competition, and increasing instances of human-crocodile conflict, it has been suggested that habitat decline may also be contributing to recent hybridization that could threaten each species' genetic integrity. In this paper, we use the Placencia Peninsula in southern Belize as a case study, synthesizing remote-sensing based quantification of historical land use / land cover (LULC) change in the study area with insights from literature to demonstrate the potential role of LULC change as a driver of crocodile hybridization in the area. Using visual interpretation and supervised classification of satellite imagery, we found that, between 1976 and 2017, built-up land, agriculture, and aqua-culture expanded dramatically in the study area at the expense of mangrove and littoral forests, evergreen broadleaf forests, and savanna. The widespread conversion of traditional crocodile habitat to anthropogenic land uses likely increased the concentration of suitable American and Morelet's crocodile habitat within a diminished sympatric zone, making Placencia's increasingly human-modified landscape more conducive to crocodile hybridization in 2017 than it was four decades prior. With similar landscape conversions taking place throughout the crocodiles' overlapping zones in North and Central America, hybridization may soon represent an increasingly substantial threat to both species' conservation statuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Tropical mountains are rather interesting ecosystems that exhibit a diverse array of features of an ecological niche that shapes the geographic distribution of species and their co-occurrence patterns. Both historical and contemporary factors significantly influence species and lineages diversification and distribution on mountains. We studied the Peromyscus mexicanus rodent group, distributed across mountains in Guatemala-Chiapas and Central America. We aimed to describe the phylogeography, demography, current distribution, and potential range changes due to future climate change. Based on a framework of genetic (mitochondrial and nuclear sequences) and ecological niche modeling methods, we show that lineages with particular ecological features and distribution on lowlands and highlands have distinctive demographic histories associated with glacial and interglacial cycles during the Pleistocene–Holocene. Additionally, the distribution range of some lineages will potentially be significantly reduced by future climate change. This information is crucial for management and conservation purposes for these lineages in particular, but also as a cautionary tale for potential climate change impacts on a variety of mountain taxa. Mountains harbor a significant number of the World's biodiversity, both on tropical and temperate regions. Notably, one crucial gap in conservation is the consideration of historical and contemporary patterns influencing differential distribution in small mammal mountain species and how climate change will affect their distribution and survival. The mice Peromyscus mexicanus species group is distributed across mountains in Guatemala-Chiapas and Central America, which experienced significant effects of glacial and interglacial cycles. We determined phylogeographic and demographic patterns of lowlands and highlands mountain lineages, revealing that the radiation of modern P. mexicanus lineages occurred during the Pleistocene (ca. 2.6 mya) along Nuclear Central America. In concert with climatic cycles and the distribution of habitats, lowland and highland lineages showed recent population size increase and decrease, respectively. We also estimated the current and future distribution ranges for six lineages, finding marked area size increase for two lineages for which vegetation type and distribution would facilitate migrating towards higher elevations. Contrastingly, three lineages showed range size decrease; their ecological requirements make them highly susceptible to future habitat loss. Our findings are clear evidence of the negative impacts of future climate change, while our ability to manage and conserve these vulnerable ecosystems and mountain species is contingent on our understanding of the implications of climate change on the distribution, ecology, and genetics of wildlife populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Chiriqui Beach, in the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé on the Caribbean coast of Panama, is the most important nesting beach for leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in Caribbean Central America. Beach surveys during the 2003 and 2004 nesting seasons documented 3077 leatherback nests in one season and a minimum of 234 individual leatherbacks. Monitoring of nest fate revealed that predation by dogs represents the greatest human-related survival threat to leatherbacks at Chiriqui Beach, although the killing of leatherbacks from the same nesting population on beaches near the Panama-Costa Rica border also is of concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conservation Biology 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.)

The article reports on the collaboration between the Belize Fisheries Department and Wildlife Conservation International which led to the establishment of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize, Central America. The protection of part of the Belize Barrier Reef represents an important progress in the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. The operating funds of the reserve was provided by support groups worldwide. It will be open to visitors and is expected to benefit the neighboring areas through increased tourism.