Petenes (hammock ecosystems) are island-like natural spots of vegetation, unique worldwide, restricted to the Peninsula of Yucatan, Mexico, the Everglades in Florida, United States of America, and the Ciénaga de Zapata, Cuba. In Mexico, this ecosystem has been subject to anthropogenic disturbance, mainly due to wood extraction, land fragmentation, fires, flora and fauna extraction, and the expansion of human settlements. Notwithstanding its ecological importance, there are few studies concerning its current status. In the present work the effect of human intervention upon the vegetation and soil properties in petenes of the Petenes Biosphere Reserve, Campeche was analysed, comparing three disturbed and three conserved petenes. The conserved petenes had lower plant density (ind/ha) in all vegetation layers, lower plant cover (in the measured layers: medium and lower) (m2/ha), and higher basal area (measured only in the superior layer) (m2/ha). Soils did not differ between the two classes of petenes, which suggests that the antropic activities have not caused a negative impact on them.
