Conserving and restoring the Caicos pine forests: The first decade

Abstract

The severe and rapid attack on the Caicos pine Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis (Pinaceae) by the non-native invasive pine tortoise scale, Toumeyella parvicornis , has resulted in the death of most of the trees in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in just over a decade. Local and international conservation efforts have enabled the necessary multi-disciplinary research, data gathering, and monitoring to develop and implement a restoration strategy for this endemic tree from the Bahaman archipelago. The native plant nursery established on North Caicos and horticultural expertise acquired throughout the years were crucial to the successful rescue of Caicos pine saplings from the wild populations and cultivation of new saplings grown from locally sourced seeds. These saplings have been used to establish six Restoration Trial Plots on Pine Cay and a seed orchard on North Caicos in TCI. Core Conservation Areas (CCAs) for the Caicos pine forests have been identified and mapped. To date, forest within the Pine Cay CCA has been supplemented by planting more than 450 pine trees, which have survived at a high (>80%) rate.

Conserving plants within and beyond protected areas – still problematic and future uncertain

“…Depending on the quantities needed, some botanic gardens have the capacity to grow on such material, but often dedicated conservation nurseries are needed. For example, the Native Plant Biodiversity Conservation Nurseries in North Caicos and in Providenciales, (Dani Sanchez et al., 2019) nursery and the horticultural expertise acquired by them over the years in growing native plants were crucial to the successful rescue of the Caicos pine Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis .…”

Conservation-oriented restoration – a two for one method to restore both threatened species and their habitats

“…The experimental approach is highly relevant to restoration whose goal is to rehabilitate existing habitats or create new habitats for threatened species because introductions of such species in general have a low chance of success (Maunder, 1992, Seddon et al., 2007, Godefroid et al., 2011, Dalrymple et al., 2012, Drayton and Primack, 2012). Thus, broadening the list of species introduced in different combinations and treatments (Howe and Martinez-Garza, 2014), and replicating introduced populations over time and space (Guerrant, 1996, Dani Sanchez et al., 2018) is a way to maximize likelihood of reintroduction success.…”

Current knowledge, status, and future for plant and fungal diversity in Great Britain and the UK Overseas Territories

“…(Gray et al, 2017), and Wahlenbergia (Yang et al, 2017) from St Helena, and Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis (Sanchez, Ingrouille, Cowan, Hamilton, & Fay, 2014;Dani Sanchez et al, 2019), Vachellia anegadensis (Bárrios, 2015),…”

“…Many territories are growing threatened species for reintroduction programmes, e.g., in Turks and Caicos Islands Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis (Sanchez et al, 2019), and on Ascension including Anogramma ascensionis (Baker et al, 2014).…”