Plant micro-reserves in Valencia (E. Spain): A model to preserve threatened flora in China?

Simón Fos; Emilio Laguna; Juan Jiménez; Miguel Ángel Gómez-Serrano

doi:10.1016/j.pld.2017.10.002

Plant micro-reserves in Valencia (E. Spain): A model to preserve threatened flora in China?

Plant Divers. 2017 Oct 18;39(6):383-389. doi: 10.1016/j.pld.2017.10.002. eCollection 2017 Dec.

Authors

Simón Fos^{1

2}, Emilio Laguna^{2

3}, Juan Jiménez², Miguel Ángel Gómez-Serrano^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ VAERSA-Generalitat Valenciana, Avda. Corts Valencianes, 20, 46015, Valencia, Spain.
² Servicio de Vida Silvestre, Generalitat Valenciana, C./ Castán Tobeñas, 77, 46018, Valencia, Spain.
³ Centro para la Experimentación e Investigación Forestal (CIEF), Generalitat Valenciana, Avda. Comarques del País Valencia, 114, 46930, Quart de Poblet, Valencia, Spain.

Abstract

The Valencian Community (eastern Spain) was the pioneer territory establishing plant micro-reserves (PMRs). Its model to protect small sites for endemic and endangered plants has been exported to several countries around the globe. This paper highlights 1) the role of PMRs to complement the protection provided by large protected areas, 2) how the establishment of PMRs fosters the increase of floristic knowledge, and 3) the fact that continuous monitoring of PMRs also yields new records of endangered species found within the same PMRs. The flexibility of the PMR approach -it can be adapted to other national and regional legislations- allows its transfer to other rich-biodiversity regions and countries such as China.

Keywords: BDBCV, Biodiversity Databank of the Valencian Community; Endemic plants; NP, Natural Park; PMR, Plant Micro-Reserve; Plant micro-reserves; Protected areas; Threatened species; VCTPS, Valencian Catalog of Threatened Plant Species; in situ conservation.