Laguna Colombia Ecological State Park in Cozumel, Quintana Roo: A Promising Habitat for Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber).

Laguna Colombia Ecological State Park (PEELC), also known as Punta Sur Ecotourism Park, is a State Reserve located on the southern coast of Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo. Under the guardianship of the Foundation of Parks and Museums of Cozumel (FPyMC) this State Reserve was designated as a Natural Protected Area on July 15, 1996 with the official name of "Zona Sujeta a Conservación Ecológica" and on April 7, 2011 the ANP was updated and recategorized as the Laguna Colombia Ecological State Park. The PEELC has an area of 1,130.64 ha of which 560.70 ha of mangroves and 383.2 ha of wetlands or estuarine lagoons (INEGI, 2021) and that make up the habitat of the flamingo in Cozumel.

For: David Alonzo-Parra [dalonzo@pedroyelena.org], Héctor González-Cortés [hgc231@gmail.com], P. Sabido [paulina_sabido@hotmail.com], E. Serrano [eserrano@pedroyelena.org], E. Yepez [eyepez@pedroyelena.org]. 2024.

Flamingos at Colombia Lagoon in Cozumel, Q.R. Photo by Héctor González (PEELC).

Keywords: Cohorte, Fidelidad al hábitat, distribución y dispersión, Subpoblación, factores bióticos y abióticos.

Based on the bird monitoring program carried out by PEELC's management, the Flamingo was considered a resident species, since records are kept practically all year round with abundances of up to 32 individuals. However, in 2005 after hurricanes Emily and Wilma, the effects caused by these natural phenomena were directly reflected in the wetlands and the mangrove ecosystem, which caused many species of aquatic birds, including flamingos, to cease to be observed. It was not until the late 2010s that between 2 and 5 isolated individuals were again recorded within the lagoon complex.

It is relevant to consider that, in 2014, mangrove restoration actions were developed with the support of CONAFOR, which allowed improving habitat conditions and thanks to these efforts, the avifauna has returned to have a greater presence at the site, including the flamingo, so that the Colombia Lagoon in Cozumel is again a promising habitat for flamingos. In addition to the increase in the frequency of sightings and in the number of Flamingo individuals in the bird monitoring, 6 sightings of banded Flamingos were recorded; of these, 3 are in 2019, one in 2020, one in 2021 and one in 2022. According to the FlamencoLab platform, all of these Flamingos are born and banded in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve located 237 km from PEELC and belong to cohorts born in 2014, 2016 and 2019, with three of these being 3 year old juveniles (Young: between 1 and to 4 years old) and the other 3, adults of 5 (2 individuals) and 6 years (1 individual) of age (Table 1). 

Table 1. Record of ring codes in Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) in the Laguna de Colombia wetland in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico from 1999 to 2022 and born in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, Yucatán, Mexico.

From the data described above, it is noteworthy that the individuals banded and recorded in the PEELC are not older than 6 years. Likewise, these records indicate a certain fidelity to the habitat of the 2014 and 2016 cohorts, since in the case of the individual with the DHHT code has two sightings in consecutive years and the DLAS individual has 3 sightings at the site (two in 2019 and one in 2021).

Figure 1. Location of the Laguna Colombia State Ecological Park and representation of the route of Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) banded in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve to the sighting site at the Laguna de Colombia wetland in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Studies conducted by Sanz-Aguilar et al. (2012) on the distribution of flamingos show that in their first years they move moderate distances from their places of birth; however, after the third year, they make longer journeys, with significant variations between cohorts and a marked site fidelity during the non-breeding phase, which is related to the lower cost and risk faced by inexperienced young flamingos. This pattern reinforces the possibility that young flamingos can be observed in the Laguna Colombia State Ecological Park in Cozumel, given that it is a relatively short distance from their birthplace (237 km). In this sense, it is important to mention that the distribution of a species is determined by factors that operate at different scales and intensities, so that the ranges of geographic displacement of a population contract, expand or fragment in response to these biotic (food sources) and abiotic (flood levels) factors.

In this sense, the balance between the costs and benefits of geographical movements under different environmental conditions conditions conditions the dispersion patterns of the flamingo population. These patterns are part of the process of adaptation to spatio-temporal fluctuations of resources and environmental adversities (Sanz-Aguilar et al., 2012). Based on the above argument, it is important to consider for the conservation of flamingos, that all their habitats, independently of the number of individuals registered, contribute to improve the survival of the population.

The subpopulation of flamingos of the species Phoenicopterus ruber in the Yucatan Peninsula has its main area of distribution in the coastal wetlands that extend from the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, to the Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve in Campeche (Gálvez et al. 2014). Likewise, nesting sites for this species are found in this strip of wetlands, the most important for the number of reproductive events in the last 49 years recorded or documented, being the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve with 44 events. Other reproductive events recorded are those of the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve in 2022 and 2023, El Palmar State Reserve in 1994, 1997 and 2017 and the Ciénagas y manglares de la costa norte de Yucatán State Reserve with 3 events: Uaymitún (1989 and 1992) and San Crisanto (2022).

Nineteen years have passed since the Flamingo banding program began in 1996 and we know very little about the factors that determine the distribution patterns of Yucatan-born Flamingos. Therefore, the information generated in collaboration between the FlamencoLab Program and the management of the Cozumel Parks and Museums Foundation's Laguna Colombia State Ecological Park is important to guide the management and conservation policies of the PEELC and the Flamingo. This collaborative partnership is a model that would need to be multiplied to generate the volume of data required for more robust technical data.

Literature cited:

Gálvez X., A., A. Gavaldón, N. Cruz, L. Guerrero y E. Marvi. 2014. Distribución, abundancia y composición por edades de los bandos de Flamenco (Phoenicopterus ruber) fuera de sus áreas de reproducción en los humedales de Yucatán, México. Revista Cubana de Ciencias Biológicas. Vol. 3, No. 3. 52 – 59 pp.

Sanz-Aguilar A., A. Béchet, C. Germain, A. Johnson y R. Pradel. 2012. To leave or not to leave: survival trade-offs between different migratory strategies in the greater Flamingo. Jouernal of Animal Ecology. 81, 1177-1182.

Glossary

• Cohort: Refers to a group of individuals from the same population that share similar characteristics such as size, age and development.

• Habitat fidelity: The ability of an organism to remain in and use a specific habitat throughout its life cycle, reflecting its preference and adaptation to particular environmental conditions such as vegetation type and food availability.

• Distribution: Area of geographic space where a species is constantly present over time.

• Subpopulation: Group of individuals of the same species that occupy a specific geographic region within the area of distribution, presenting distinctive genetic characteristics and local adaptations that identify them as a unique population group.

• Biotic factors: These refer to all living organisms within an ecosystem that interact with each other and with their environment. These include plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms.

• Abiotic factors: are the non-living (physical-chemical) components of the environment that affect the organisms and communities in an ecosystem. Among the most important we can find: water, air, temperature, light, pH, soil, humidity, oxygen and different nutrients.