Abstract

This work describes a complexity window in the Mexican Pacific, the Peña Blanca coastal landscape, which hosts a socio-environmental habitat resulting from the interaction of coastal features, their biophysical elements, and the regional climate (rains, drought, hurricanes, and storms). The cliffs on the coast of Colima, Mexico, are a habitat that allows the development of marine species adapted to constant and intense waves, sea breezes, splashes, and a rocky substrate, which become limits or edges that explain their spatial and temporal distribution. The so-called “chitons and hat snails” (Chiton articulatus and Calyptraea spirata) are recognized and identified as gastro-ecological elements and a regional food heritage resulting from the coastal complexity. Given their regional endemism, their populations, nutritional aspects, and interactions with the local community should be studied to establish inclusive and sustainable socio-ecological strategies for the maintenance of these marine species in the face of artisanal extractive processes and the current climate variability.

Keywords:Coastal socio-environmental complexity; Gastro-ecological landscapes; Univalves; regional food heritage; Conservation