Cuba: Camagüey, Sierra de Cubitas - The Field Museum

CONSERVATION TARGETS
Conservation targets are the elements
of physiographic, biological, or
cultural diversity that we want to
persist in the landscape. The targets
for the Sierra de Cubitas and the
adjacent southern plains were chosen
because they are (1) vegetation types
that are especially species-rich,
diverse, or threatened, (2) species,
subspecies, or communities/
assemblages that are endemic to the
country, the region, or the locality,
(3) species, subspecies, or
communities/assemblages that are
rare, threatened, endangered,
vulnerable, or declining (including
economically valuable species),
(4) migrant species possibly made
vulnerable by their dependence on
the local landscape, (5) institutions,
social assets, or human-built
structures that are both significant
for the landscape’s diversity and
threatened, and (6) human land uses
and social/ecological practices that
appear to support biodiversity
conservation.
We identified the following conservation targets for the Sierra during the rapid
inventory. Site managers and planners should continue research on these targets
to refine our selections. Detailed lists of conservation targets are provided at the
beginning of each group’s chapter in the Technical Report.
Vegetation
Plants
Mollusks
Evergreen forest, semideciduous forest, cuabal
(spiny xeromorphic scrub on serpentine), and farallones
(cliff and rock wall) vegetation in the Sierra; savanna
vegetation with good potential for recuperation from
human disturbance
Eight species considered threatened globally:
Zamia pumila (Zamiaceae), Coccothrinax pauciramosa
(Arecaceae), Garcinia aristata (Clusiaceae), Behaimia
cubensis (Fabaceae), Cedrela odorata and Swietenia
mahagoni (Meliaceae), and Guaiacum officinale and
G. sanctum (Zygophyllaceae); and 80-85 Cuban endemics
present in the Sierra de Cubitas or the adjacent savanna
to the south
Emoda bermudezi, Farcimen camagueyanum, Liguus
fasciatus, Oleacina straminea, Opisthosiphon greenfieldi,
O. banoense, O. obturatum, O. evanidum, Macroceramus
hendersoni, Alcadia camagueyana, Cysticopsis naevula,
and Steatocoptis bioscai (especially the local endemics)
CUBA: CUBITAS ABRIL/APRIL 2006 71