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Demography of an endangered endemic rupicolous cactus

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Abstract

We compared the demography of two populations of Mammillaria huitzilopochtli, an endemic and threatened rupicolous cacti species with a narrow distribution in the semiarid Tehuacán-Cuicatlán region of central Mexico. Censuses were conducted over a 5-year period in two populations: a disturbed site (S1) and a well-preserved site (S2). Five annual size-based matrices and a mean transition matrix of each population were constructed to estimate demographic trends. Prospective time-invariant analyses were performed to calculate population growth rate and elasticities, whereas prospective stochastic analyses were performed to assess quasi-extinction probabilities and how simulated changes in recruitment, stasis and growth affected the population growth rate. Retrospective perturbation analyses (life table response experiments, LTREs) were used to explore the contributions of demographic processes, plant sizes, and temporal variability (years) to the observed variations in population growth rate. The species showed decreasing population growth rates for almost all years and sites, S1 showed lower population growth rates than S2. Quasi-extinction probabilities were 1 after 9 years for S1 and 17 years for S2. Elasticity values were highest for matrix entries corresponding to plants remaining in the same category (stasis) followed by growth and fecundity. LTREs showed that fecundity had negative contributions to population growth rates for all years in S1 population, while it had positive contributions in 4 out of 5 years in population S2. Prospective stochastic analyses showed that increasing recruitment by 50% could give population growth rates >1 in S2 while none of the simulations give this value in S1. Increasing survival also raises population growth rates but always below one. These results indicate that populations under the influence of human disturbance will eventually be lost. According to the models the most promising management strategy to conserve this species is to increase recruitment rates and to give special care to reproductive adults.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the doctoral studies of AFM at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco (UAM-X) of Mexico under the advice of MMS, JG. We are grateful to the Cassiano Conzatti Botanical Garden of CIIDIR IPN Oaxaca for providing the facilities to carry out the experiments. Permit to collect fruits (SGPA/DGVS/00615) was granted by SEMARNAT, México. This research was supported by two CGPI–IPN projects (No. 20070431, 20080718) to AFM, project BBV BIOCON 04-084 CONACyT CB-2006-1 #62390 and CONACyT CB-2007-01 #83790 to JG, project 0350 SEMARNAT-CONACyT and PASPA-DGAPA-UNAM to MCM. We thank I. Rodriguez for field assistance, and Jerónimo Reyes for locating of populations of M. huitzilopochtli. This article was written during a sabbatical leave by JG and MCM at NMSU with B. Milligan who provided logistic support and helped implementing the popbio package.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Unidad Oaxaca, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CIIDIR IPN Oaxaca), Hornos 1003, C.P. 71230, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca, Mexico

    Alejandro Flores Martínez & Gladys Isabel Manzanero Medina

  2. Lab. Ecología, Sistemática y Fisiología Vegetal, Depto. El Hombre y Su Ambiente, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco (UAM Xochimilco), Calzada del Hueso 1100, Col. Villa Quietud, 04960, Coyoacán, DF, Mexico

    Jordan Golubov

  3. Instituto de Ecología, A. C., Carretera Antigua a Coatepec Km 2.5, Apartado Postal 63, C.P. 91000, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Carlos Montaña

  4. Depto. Ecología de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Apdo Postal 70-275, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    María C. Mandujano

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  1. Alejandro Flores Martínez
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  2. Gladys Isabel Manzanero Medina
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  3. Jordan Golubov
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  4. Carlos Montaña
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  5. María C. Mandujano
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Correspondence to María C. Mandujano.

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Martínez, A.F., Medina, G.I.M., Golubov, J. et al. Demography of an endangered endemic rupicolous cactus. Plant Ecol 210, 53–66 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-010-9737-6

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