Forest quality in the southwest of Mexico City. Assessment towards ecological restoration of ecosystem services Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Doctor rer. nat. of the Faculty of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany By Víctor Ávila-Akerberg Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany 2009 Dean: Prof. Dr. Heinz Rennenberg First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Werner Konold Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Albert Reif Date of disputation: December 9th 2009 Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to the forests in the area under study and to my family and friends! Thanks to Dr. Werner Konold, for accepting me as a PhD student, having trusted on my research, for always being there whenever I needed him, and for encouraging and supporting my trips to courses and conferences around the world, vielen Dank! I would like to thank Dr. Albert Reif for being my second supervisor and for the given advice and comments on the thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Lucia Almeida, for having taught me so many things, for believing in me and together having achieved so much in the Magdalena river watershed. My great appreciation goes to Dr. Jorge Meave del Castillo, for advising me and have shared part of his enormous experience and patience on scientific writing. Special thanks go to Esther Muschelknautz, for always being there to answer the administrative questions, attending and organizing the milestones and the extra- curricular courses in the International PhD Program “Forestry in transition”. During the last three years of my life, I have met and shared moments with many wonderful persons. It is difficult to put/organize all the names here, and I hope not to forget to mention anyone, thank to all of you for being there! All my group of friends from the first MEG/FEM generations: Liviucu, Luli, Sabine, Kate, Manolives, Jorgiño, Yvonne, Diana, Kasia, Juan Carlos and family (Inka, Lukas, Maya), Christopher, Sabaheta, Karol, Vered, Amy, Weyna, Ana Lucía. My friends in Mexico: Pablo Ortíz, Pablo Gesundheit, Adrián, Diego, Iura, Beto, Edurne. My friends, related to the time spent in Germany: Ricardo, Paola, Renato, María, Rafael, Liliane, Oxana, Tatiana, Yadrith, Carlos, Riccardo, Zuzana, Tatsiana, René, Raghav, Lawrence, Pawanjeet. All the people in Mexico, my colleagues and friends from the Mountain Ecosystems Laboratory and from the Science Faculty: Inti (thanks a lot for the help with the field work!), Verónica, Paula, Fiorella, Yedith, Juan, Carlos, Madai, Myriam, Fabiola, Mónica, Mariana, Julieta, Alya, Bety Ludlow, Bety González; José Luis Villarruel, Osvaldo, Hogla, Cintia, and all the van drivers. i My colleagues and friends from the Institut für Landespflege: Sabine Schellberg and family (Johannita, Joe and Uwe), Christoph, Karl-Heinz, Steffen, Kristina, Timea, Anne, Irene, Carolin, Sandra, Benoit, Peter, Harald, Franz, Akiyo, Oliver, Tatjana, Silke, Claude, Ilona, Patrick, Gerd, Claudia, Reiner, Evelyn, Manuel, Mirjam, Mattias, Katharina, Thomas, Dessi. My family, who has always been providing me motivation, emotional support and confidence, you know how important you are to me. Thanks to my mother Marianne, my father Rauliño, sisters Diana and Claudia, brothers Martín, Andrés, and Oscar, and nephews Ramón, Iván, Bruno, Camila, Renata and the youngest Nicolás; I love you! Special thanks and acknowledgements to my partner and company, for all her love and support, thanks Tanya! Last, but not least, I want to thank the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), for the given scholarship and the administrative support. ii INDEX 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem statement and objectives ............................................................................1 1.2 Expected outcome and research structure ..............................................................2 2. Conceptual framework and historical background........................................................5 2.1 Criteria and indicators for the assessment of sustainable forest management .. 5 2.1.1 International Tropical Timber Organization .................................................. 8 2.1.2 Montréal Process .................................................................................................9 2.1.3 Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)................................................ 9 2.1.4 Forest quality, sustainable forest management assessment at the landscape level................................................................................................................................10 2.2 Ecological restoration of ecosystem services........................................................10 3. Research area: the southwest of Mexico City...............................................................12 3.1 Mexico .........................................................................................................................12 3.1.1 Brief historical and social conditions..............................................................12 3.1.2 Megabiodiversity................................................................................................13 3.1.3 General situation of the temperate forests in Mexico .................................14 3.2 The basin of Mexico City .........................................................................................15 3.2.1 History, population and definitions................................................................15 3.2.2 Climate, hydrology and water use ...................................................................17 3.2.3 Antique and present vegetation in the basin of Mexico City .....................19 3.2.4 Land possession regime....................................................................................19 3.3 Magdalena Contreras municipality and Magdalena river watershed..................20 3.3.1 History and population.....................................................................................20 3.3.2 Geology and soil................................................................................................21 3.3.3 Climate and hydrology......................................................................................22 3.3.4 Legal status and protection history.................................................................24 3.3.5 Land possession regime....................................................................................26 4. Phytodiversity, phytosociology and plant communities’ spatial distribution in the southwest of Mexico City ....................................................................................................28 4.1 Summary .....................................................................................................................28 4.2 Introduction................................................................................................................29 4.2.1 Vegetation and floristic diversity of Mexico .................................................29 4.3 Method ........................................................................................................................30 4.3.1 Floristic list .........................................................................................................30 4.3.2 Vegetation mapping ..........................................................................................32 4.3.3 Phytosociological table .....................................................................................33 4.4 Results .........................................................................................................................35 4.4.1 Flora.....................................................................................................................35 4.4.2 Vegetation and land use units map.................................................................36 4.4.3 Phytosociology...................................................................................................39 iii 4.5 Discussion...................................................................................................................45 4.5.1 Phytodiversity.....................................................................................................45 4.5.2 Vegetation map and phytosociology ..............................................................46 5. Environmental and other social and economic benefits provided by the forests in the southwest of Mexico City .............................................................................................50 5.1 Summary .....................................................................................................................50 5.2 Introduction................................................................................................................51 5.3 Methods.......................................................................................................................52 5.3.1 Stakeholders’ interviews ...................................................................................52 5.3.2 Carbon content ..................................................................................................53 5.3.3 Biodiversity use and conservation ..................................................................55