Role of micro-reserves in conservation of endemic, rare and endangered plants of the Valencian region (Eastern Spain)

Abstract

Since 1998 the Valencian Community (Spain) has pioneered the establishment of plant micro-reserves (PMR), which has resulted in a network currently comprising 299 sites. The PMR are compatible with large protected areas including natural parks (NP, 22 areas). In fact, 73 PMR are included within the NP network (internal subnet of PMR) and 226 PMR are outside NP (external subnet). Here we analyze how the PMR network complements that of NP in capturing rare (RS, twp categories), endemic (ES, three categories) and endangered (TS, four categories) plants. The external subnet increases the number of plant species with territorial protection by 10.8% in RS, 15.8% in ES and 21.0% in TS categories. Additionally, when comparing number of species in the external and internal PMR subnets not shared with the alternative subnet type, the former has higher absolute and relative values for the nine categories analyzed. We propose that the internal network should be increased only to capture populations of the species that are not included in the external subnet.

Keywords:

• micro-reserves
• plant conservation
• in situ
• threatened species
• endemic plants
• protected areas

Acknowledgments

To Dr Vicente Deltoro (Vaersa-Servicio de Vida Silvestre, Generalitat Valenciana) for his language revision and translation into English. Dr Vernon H. Heywood and an anonymous reviewer provided useful advice and corrections which enhanced significantly the manuscript. Dr Jordi López-Pujol advised some final changes and kindly made a global revision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study has not been specifically funded. The establishment and development of the PMR network has been supported since 1992 through the European Commission's LIFE-Nature program, and EAGF and EAFRD structural and cohesion funds – co-financed by the Spanish Government through the Regional Development Plan for the Valencian Community.