2023-08-17 11:10:03
There are natural environments in which our ecological footprint materializes directly. This is the case in certain high mountain areas, where our footprints of mountaineers or hikers can end up with some endemic species of flora to which it does not occur to us to pay attention or avoid crushing. To our eyes, these may seem just like wild flowers among the stones, without imagining that for botany they have a value that is difficult to quantify.
This is the case of Linaria sagrensis (family Plantaginaceae), recently found in the Granada sierra de la Festival and described for the first time by a group of researchers from the Andalusian Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries, Food and Organic Production Research and Training (IFAPA), together with authors from the University of Granada (UGR) and the University of Almería.
“Despite finding ourselves in 2023, there are still undescribed species in the Iberian Peninsula,” announces the botanist Francisco Bruno Navarro Reyes enthusiastically presenting the recent research work, the results of which have been published in the journal Nordic Journal of Botany.
It is a perennial plant, which grows in the calcareous scree of high Mediterranean mountains, with pink-purple flowers.
His satisfaction is understood when he becomes aware that the landscape it’s a ecosystem in which all the elements, however insignificant they may seem, are intertwined, are interdependent and they comply functions very specific.
Thus, in the first scientific article devoted to the Linaria sagrensis, it is mentioned as a plant that sprouts in the calcareous scree from high mountain Mediterranean, more precisely, in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, while comparing it with its morphologically closest relatives.
A life among the stones
This endemic plant of the Sierra de la Sagra is characterized by being perennial, hairy in appearance, with dense corymbiform inflorescence (open and racemose). Its corolla is small, pink-violet, with dark veins and a palate between yellow and orange, according to its detailed description in the abstract of the scientific article.
In the real landscape, a small purple flower with yellow sparkles it makes its way between the stones where, sometimes, a botanist who notices it passes by.
It is “a species of vascular plant that only lives at the summit of this mountain range in Huéscar, Granada, for above 2000 m altitude”, which specialists call ‘glerícola’ or ‘glareícola’ since “it only lives in glazed (courts) of stones and gravel strongly inclined and mobile”, as detailed by Navarro to SINC.
“Son very special habitats (included in the Natura 2000 Network), where only some species are capable of vegetating” and, therefore, they usually appear on “lists of” rare and/or threatened species (as in the cases of the Grenade crepes o to Platycapnos saxicola)”, describe.
The inaccessibility of areas of some mountain ranges such as Sierra de la Sagra, Cazorla, Castril or Sierra Nevada means that new species or populations that had not been previously described continue to appear even today.
Francisco B. Navarro, Principal Investigator
Asked about the curiosity of these findings in areas relatively close to large cities, the researcher elaborates: “The Iberian Peninsula and specifically the Sierras Béticas are what are called ‘biodiversity hotspots‘ (biodiversity hotspots), thanks to its orographic, geological, edaphic and climatic diversity, as well as its latitudinal situation, which has facilitated the refuge of numerous species of past times and climates”.
“Along with this high diversity -he adds-, the inaccessibility of large areas of some important mountainous massifs such as Sierra de la Sagra, Cazorla, Castril or Sierra Nevada means that new species or populations that had not been previously discovered continue to appear today.” previously described, despite the fact that botanical explorations began at the beginning of the 19th century”.
Something similar happens, according to Navarro, in “steppe areas and semi-arid highlands such as the Guadix-Baza depression”, which “have been little studied”. To this must be added “the extensive taxonomic knowledge that must be gathered to discern in the field what can be a new species of what not, which is only available to very few specialistsincreasingly scarce”, he argues.
What is the reason for this decline in botanists with comprehensive knowledge of the territories? is the question that arises. Navarro argues: “Today in science tends to overspecialization (focus on specific species or groups), which generates a great general myopia, not only in the environmental field”.
In his opinion, “having extensive taxonomic knowledge It supposes a lot of effort of study and recognition that is not prioritized in a highly competitive scientific system like the current one.
Summits not without danger
This humble flower of the scree, which stopped being anonymous Thanks to the watchful eye of botanists like Navarro, for the moment it has a brief biography. “The species was discovered in June 2021” and the consequent “prospecting and sampling would serve us for its confirmation and the subsequent comparative study until its publication,” he says.
However, both the Linaria sagrensis Like other plants with recent names and surnames, they run imminent risks in the current scenario of global warming and due to the new conditions to which ecosystems are subjected with the emergence of mass tourism.
One of the measures that could help protect species at risk of extinction would consist of restricting (or diverting) the movement of people through the gleras areas, according to experts.
“The dangers that threaten this species are, on the one hand, climate change, since it lives in very specific high mountain conditions and any modification can affect its current distribution area, which is reduced to a few square kilometers”, confirms the botanist.
On the other hand, he warns thatthe lack of control of sports activities in nature is affecting the conservation of this species (and others equally rare or threatened) since the gleras or scree of La Sagra are the place chosen by many mountaineers for promotion and, above all, the descent of this imposing mountainous massif, despite being a priority protection habitat”.
When asked about the measures of preservation that it would be necessary to establish, the expert answers: “Despite being included in a ZEC (Special Conservation Area), in the Sierra de la Sagra no control measures are being applied or regulation of sport activities in nature except for those strictly official or of a business nature”.
In his opinion, “the main measure that should be taken is to divert the traffic of people from the gleras and scree areas to others enabled for these sports practices that do not put this sport at risk.” fragile mountain habitat”, which is located in “the highest limestone peak in the southern third of the peninsula”.
The solution, in this case, would be to “inform about the fragility of these places of special conservation and also persuade (with alternatives) the users of this space,” he suggests.
Navarro also clarifies that, currently, “the Sierra de la Sagra is in Natural Park declaration process by the Junta de Andalucía, which could facilitate the protection of these priority species or habitats in the future”.
Likewise, the scientist regrets that “this new species is not included in the Andalusian Catalog of Threatened Species” and advocates doing it “imminently”. This is how he puts it: “Unfortunately for Andalusia, this decree is outdated since it has not been the subject of any review since its publication in the Law 8/2003 on Wild Flora and Fauna of Andalusia”. In his opinion, the legislation should include “the discoveries and advances in the knowledge of the Andalusian flora of the last 20 years.”
Reference:
Blanca, g. et al. “Linaria sagrensis (Plantaginaceae), a new high mountain species from the SE Iberian Peninsula”. Nordic Journal of Botany (2023)
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