Mexican Fauna in Agroecosystems: Challenges, Opportunities and Future Directions

Agroecosystems play a central role in the environmental crisis that considerably affects the functioning of the ecosystems worldwide. In Mexico, the expansion of agroecosystems is the main cause of deforestation and one of the main threats to its biodiversity. Food production and human well-being depend on ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, so it is essential to rethink the way food is produced in countries as biologically and culturally diverse as Mexico. In this chapter, we analyze the information generated about the impacts of agroecosystems on the native fauna of Mexico (with emphasis on bats, birds, and insects). We discuss the efforts implemented to reduce negative impacts, the importance of the ecosystem services provided by fauna, the areas of opportunity for conservation in such systems, and the areas where it is necessary to increase efforts to generate information for evidence-based conservation and decision making to move towards sustainability in landscapes dominated by human activities.