This volume investigates the contemporary fauna that inhabit the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. Divided into 15 chapters, it addresses and describes their diversity, taxonomic and biogeogaphic affinities, and ecological characteristics. The Cuatro Ciénegas Valley is a unique oasis in the south-central region of the State of Coahuila, part of the Sonoran Desert, in Mexico. Several clues, specially derived from the study of the microbiota, suggest a very ancient origin of the valley and its permanence through time. This condition had promoted a high level of endemism and led to unique interactions between the resident species.

The Neotropical area is a main setting of the earliest experiences of domestication ofplants, and evolutionary processes guided by humans, which continue being active inthe area. Studies comprised in this Research Topic show a general panorama aboutsimilarities and particularities of processes of domestication for different plant groupsand regions, some of them illustrate how the domestication processes originated anddiffused, how landscape domestication has operated and continues being practicedand others discuss some of the main challenges for designing policies for biosafetyand conservation of plant genetic resources. It is an attempt to identify main topicsfor research on evolution under domestication, and opportunities that researcherscan find in the Neotropics to understand how and why these processes occurredin the past and present.