Impact of a hurricane on the herpetofaunal assemblages of a successional chronosequence in a tropical dry forest Ireri Suazo-Ortu~ no 1,4 , Jos e Nicol as Urbina-Cardona 2 , Nancy Lara-Uribe 1 , Jorge Marroqu  ın-P aramo 1 , Yunuen Soto-Sandoval 1 , Jorge Rangel-Orozco 1 , Leonel Lopez-Toledo 1 , Julieta Ben  ıtez-Malvido 3 , and Javier Alvarado-D  ıaz 1 1 Instituto de Investigaciones sobre los Recursos Naturales, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol as de Hidalgo, Av. San Juanito Itz  ıcuaro s/n, Col. Nueva Esperanza, Morelia, Michoac an, CP 58330, M exico 2 Departamento de Ecolog  ıa y Territorio, Facultad de Estudios Ambientales y Rurales, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7 No. 40-62, Bogot a, Colombia 3 Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Aut onoma de M exico, Antigua Carretera a P atzcuaro no. 8701, Ex-Hacienda de San Jos e de la Huerta, Morelia, Michoac an, CP 59180, M exico ABSTRACT Land-use change is the main cause of deforestation and degradation of tropical forest in Mexico. Frequently, these lands are abandoned leading to a mosaic of natural vegetation in secondary succession. Further degradation of the natural vegetation in these lands could be exacerbated by stochastic catastrophic events such as hurricanes. Information on the impact of human disturbance parallel to natural disturbance has not yet been evaluated for faunal assemblages in tropical dry forests. To evaluate the response of herpetofaunal assem- blages to the interaction of human and natural disturbances, we used information of pre- and post-hurricane herpetofaunal assemblages inhabiting different successional stages (pasture, early forest, young forest, intermediate forest, and old growth forest) of dry forest. Her- petofaunal assemblages were surveyed in all successional stages two years before and two years after the hurricane Jova that hit the Paci- fic Coast of Mexico on October 2011. We registered 4093 individuals of 61 species. Overall, there were only slight effects of successional stage, hurricane Jova or the interaction between them on abundance, observed species richness and diversity of the herpeto- fauna. However, we found marked changes in estimated richness and composition of frogs, lizards, and snakes among successional stages in response to hurricane Jova. Modifications in vegetation structure as result of hurricane pass promoted particular changes in each successional stage and taxonomic group (anurans, lizards, and snakes). Secondary forests at different stages of succession may attenuate the negative effects of an intense, short-duration, and low-frequency natural disturbance such as hurricane Jova on successional herpetofaunal trajectories and species turnover. Key words : amphibians; Chamela; community structure; human-dominated landscapes; Mexico; reptiles; successional stages. DISTURBANCES, INCLUDING ANTHROPOGENIC ONES SUCH AS AGRICUL- TURE AND OTHER FORMS OF LAND-USE CHANGE (Bowen et al. 2007, Chazdon et al. 2007), can cause changes in the structure and dynamics of ecosystems (Rykiel 1985, Pickett et al. 1989). Distur- bances are often defined by the intensity, frequency, predictability, spatial extent, and duration (Lake 2000); the severity of a distur- bance is probably the major factor determining the rate and tra- jectory of post-disturbance vegetation development (Chapin et al. 2011). Hurricanes are a form of disturbance that can cause a sud- den and massive release of accumulated biomass and materials and system reorganization (Reice 2005, White et al. 2010, Chapin et al. 2011). Consequently, tropical forest in hurricane-prone areas is not a steady-state ecosystem, but rather a system of patches at different successional stages (Attiwill 1994, Sinclair et al. 2006). Hurricanes can blowdown large trees, thereby generating patches of young and short-statured trees less vulnerable to wind throw in the next hurricane and stabilizing the disturbance regime of a landscape (Slootweg 2010, Chapin et al. 2011). As such hurricanes can produce a cascade of secondary disturbances that change or even reverse the succession trajectories that influence ecosystems natural structure and processes (Reice 2005, Sinclair et al. 2006, Hunter & Gibbs 2007). Major disturbances such as hurricanes could generate important shifts in some ecosystems (Chazdon 2003, Chazdon et al. 2007, Lugo 2008). Furthermore, it has been suggested that the effects of agricultural clearing could be as severe as those of hurricanes (Boucher et al. 2001). In secondary forests that regrow after complete forest clearance due to human activities, land-use type and intensity after site abandonment can influence the patterns of composition and abundance of animal species and various processes that occur during succession (Guariguata & Ostertag 2001), while effects of destructive natural distur- bances such as hurricanes on ecosystems include sudden and massive tree mortality, and these changes can lead to shifts in successional trajectories and rates of species turnover (Scatena & Lugo 1995). Received 20 February 2017; revision accepted 20 December 2017. 4 Corresponding author; e-mail: ireri.suazo@gmail.com ª 2018 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 649 BIOTROPICA 50(4): 649–663 2018 10.1111/btp.12544