Cuba: Camagüey, Sierra de Cubitas - The Field Museum

FLORISTIC RICHNESS AND ENDEMISM
Participants/Authors: Adelaida Barreto Valdés, Eddy Martínez
Quesada, Efraín Rodríguez Seijo, Néstor Enríquez Salgueiro,
Robin B. Foster, and William S. Alverson
Conservation targets: Eight species considered to be globally
threatened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN 2004):
Zamia pumila (Zamiaceae), Coccothrinax pauciramosa (Arecaceae),
Garcinia aristata (Clusiaceae), Behaimia cubensis (Fabaceae),
Cedrela odorata and Swietenia mahagoni (Meliaceae), Guaiacum
officinale and G. sanctum (Zygophyllaceae); and the 80–85
species endemic to Cuba that occur in the Sierra de Cubitas
and the adjacent savanna to the south
INTRODUCTION
The province of Camagüey harbors approximately 26.2%
of the vascular plants of Cuba and 10% endemism.
Its floristic relationship is closest with neotropical and
Antillian flora (Martínez 1997). Within this context,
the Sierra de Cubitas occupies a privileged place. Before
the rapid inventory, 713 infrageneric vascular and
non-vascular plant taxa were known throughout the
territory (Pérez et al. 2002). The other large, elevated,
natural area in the province is the Sierra de Najasa,
which harbors only 367 vascular plant species (Barreto
et al. 2002; Barreto et al. in press). Non-vascular plants
have not been inventoried in the Sierra de Najasa.
METHODS
During the four days of the inventory, 16–19 September
2002, two of us (RBF and WSA) walked paths in and
around the Sierra de Cubitas (e.g., Paso de Lesca and
the savannas to the south) and in the accessible habitats
of Reserva Ecológica Limones-Tuabaquey (the Limones-
Tuabaquey Ecological Reserve), including Paso de
Los Paredones, margins of Hoyo de Bonet, Cerro
Pelado, and areas near the Río Máximo dam). We were
not permitted to collect botanical material for which
we had interest, doubt, or were unable to identify, but
we took photographs of the unknown taxa that were
later identified by Ramona Oviedo and Eddy Martínez Q.
These photos will be available on the web
(www.fmnh.org/rbi).
88 RAPID BIOLOGICAL INVENTORIES INFORME/REPORT NO. 08
Four of us (ABV, EMQ, ERS, NES) conducted
field studies over an 8-year period (1994–2002) and
present the results here. We also consulted Pérez et al.
(2002) for additional data. Unfortunately, Cuban and
North American authors did not have the opportunity
to work together in the field or the herbarium, and as
a result harmonizing our results was very difficult.
In Appendix 2, we provide a preliminary list of the
vascular plant taxa in the Sierra in which the species
observed by RBF and WSA during the inventory are
marked. The degree of threat was determined using
IUCN’s Red List (IUCN 2004).
RESULTS
During the rapid biological inventory, we recorded
250 vascular plant taxa, which represent 36% of the
690 taxa documented in Sierra de Cubitas and the
adjacent southern plains (Appendix 2). Of these, 86 were
not recorded for the Sierra although many of these
additions corresponded to species of the adjacent savanna.
Taking into account the additional species
observed during this rapid inventory, there are now
751 species, subspecies, and varieties of plants recorded
for the Sierra and adjacent savanna (Appendices 1
and 2). Of these, 656 are seed plants (Spermatophyta),
including 654 plants with flowers (Magnoliophyta) and
2 species of Zamia (Cycadophyta); 60 are mosses and
liverworts (Bryophyta); and 35 are ferns and fern allies
(Pteridophyta, Lycopodiophyta, and Psilophyta).
BRYOPHYTA
The mosses and liverworts of the Sierra de Cubitas
include 60 species in 39 genera and 28 families.
Most are found at Hoyo de Bonet, including Lejeunea
longifissa (Lejeuneaceae) and Radula cubensis
(Radulaceae), which are endemic to eastern and central
Cuba (Appendix 1). In southeastern Cuba, the latter
species is only known from the Sierra Maestra,
Sagua-Baracoa, and Hoyo de Bonet (Méndez et al. 1990;
Yamada 1988).