PS 58-132
Rediscovering Eugenia fajardensis: Building a research infrastructure for a rare and possibly endangered species
Biodiversity is being lost at unprecedented rates requiring more than ever the study of endangered species. In Puerto Rico, developing meaningful recovery programs is important for maintaining certain endangered species, such as Eugenia fajardensis. This endemic tree species is found on the island of Puerto Rico and is limited to the municipalities of Fajardo, Vieques and Culebra. Botanical records show that the plant was re-discovered in 2005 on Vieques Island, and later in 2008 another plant was discovered in Culebra. More recently, 25 individuals were found at the North Eastern Corridor (NEC) reserve. There are no published records about the ecology of this species, except that is has an extremely restricted distribution. The ecology chapter AKKA SEEDS began a project funded by ESA SEEDS to generate baseline data on the ecology of E. fajardensis. In December 2013 we tagged all individuals found in North Eastern Corridor reserve, the largest of the tree population and started monthly census to evaluated changes in seedling and juvenile growth rates, phenology and herbivory incidents as a function of temperature and precipitation changes.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary data indicates that the seedlings (plants less that 50cm height) are the most abundant plant stage and juvenile the least abundant(plants taller than 50cmand less than 1cm DBH)suggesting the presence of some unknown factor that may be limiting or has limited in the past the abundance of juveniles. A variety of insect pest have been found interacting with seedlings approximately 7 species of insects. For the first time we documented the first mature fruit and due to morphology of the fruit (large, hard fruit and seed coats) and the lack of a potential seed-disperser of that kind of fruit at the site, we hypothesize dispersion mechanism to be by gravity which is consistent with the observation of seedlings clustered downhill from adult plants. Monitoring the incidence of insect pests at the seedlings stage and its effects on plant mortality is recommended as a way to understand what may be limiting the incidence of juvenile at this site. This project has been an opportunity for young students to be in contact with real science for the first time by working in a small research project involving volunteers not only from the natural science faculty but from other faculties as well,also we have had the opportunity to collaborate with other SEEDS Chapter.