Sustainable Land Use Management Needed to Conserve the Dragon’s Blood Tree of Socotra Island, a Vulnerable Endemic Umbrella Species

Petr Maděra, Daniel Volařík, Zdeněk Patočka, Hana Kalivodová, Josef Divín, Martin Rejžek, Jan Vybíral, Samuel Lvončík, David Jeník, Pavel Hanáček, Abdullateef Saad Amer and Petr Vahalík
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Petr Maděra: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Daniel Volařík: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Zdeněk Patočka: Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Hana Kalivodová: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Josef Divín: Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Martin Rejžek: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Jan Vybíral: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Samuel Lvončík: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
David Jeník: Department of Plant Biology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Pavel Hanáček: Department of Plant Biology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Abdullateef Saad Amer: UNEP/GEF Project, Hadibo, Socotra, Republic of Yemen
Petr Vahalík: Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: Unsustainable overgrazing is one of the most important threats to the endemic and endangered population of dragon’s blood tree ( Dracaena cinnabari ) on Socotra Island (Republic of Yemen). However, there is a lack of information about the exact population size and its conservation status. We estimated the population size of D. cinnabari using remote sensing data. The age structure was inferred using a relationship between crown projection area and the number of branch sections. The conservation importance of each sub-population was assessed using a specially developed index. Finally, the future population development (extinction time) was predicted using population matrices. The total population size estimated consists of 80,134 individuals with sub-populations varying from 14 to 32,196 individuals, with an extinction time ranging from 31 to 564 years. Community forestry controlled by a local certification system is suggested as a sustainable land management approach providing traditional and new benefits and enabling the reforestation of endemic tree species on Socotra Island.

Keywords: Soqotra; population decline; overgrazing; Conservation Importance Index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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