Abstract
We contrasted the demographic trends of three congeneric populations of globose cactus—two of Melocactus ernestii Vaupel (MeC, MeM), and one of Melocactus bahiensis (Britton & Rose) Luetzelb. (MbC)—using survival, growth and reproduction data. Censuses were performed every 2 months in the three populations over a 2-year period (2011–2013 for MeM and MbC, and 2007–2009 for MeC). Two annual size–stage transition matrices and a mean transition matrix for each population were constructed to determine and compare the influence of key life cycle stages, demographic processes, harvest intensity, and pollinator decline. The populations differed in size–stage distributions, flower and fruit production, and size at maturity. The survival curves for the populations of M. ernestii did not differ from each other, but they both differed from the curve for M. bahiensis, which was higher. Based on stochastic simulations, the growth rate (λ) of the MeC population exceeded that of MeM. Retrospective perturbation analyses (life table response experiments, LTRE) showed that adult survival and fecundity were the main contributors to the spatiotemporal differences in λ among populations. Demographic behavior of the three populations was strongly dependent on adult survival counteracting high mortality in early stages; adult annual harvest rates > 10% would cause rapid decline in the three populations. Susceptibility to adult harvesting and high habitat specificity contributes to the populations risk of local extinction and such threats should be monitored to safeguard them.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arias I, Lemus L (1984) Interaction of light, temperature and plant hormones in the germination of seeds of Melocactus caesius Went (Cactaceae). Acta Cient Venez 35:151–155
Caswell H (2001) Matrix population models: construction, analysis, and interpretation, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470057339.vam006m
Cochran ME, Ellner S (1992) Simple methods for calculating age-based life history parameters for stage-structured populations. Ecol Monogr 62:345–364
Colaço MAS, Fonseca RB, Machado CG (2006) Biologia reprodutiva de Melocactus glaucescens Buining & Brederoo e Melocactus paucispinus G. Heimen & R. Paul (Cactaceae), no município de Morro do Chapéu, Bahia. Acta Bot Bras 29:239–249. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042006000200005
Crawley MJ (2013) The R book, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118448908
Crone EE, Menges ES, Ellis MM, Bell T, Bierzychudek P, Ehrlén J et al (2011) How do plant ecologists use matrix population models? Ecol Lett 14:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01540.x
Drezner TD (2003) Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea, Cactaceae) age–height relationships and growth: the development of a general growth curve. Am J Bot 90:911–914. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.90.6.911
Esparza-Olguin L, Valverde T, Vilehis-Anaya E (2002) Demographic analysis of a rare columnar cactus (Neobuxbaumia macrocephala) in the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico. Biol Conserv 103:349–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00146-x
Ferrer MM, Montaña C, Franco M (2015) Habitat-specific demography, source-sink dynamics, and the niche of a common shrub in a heterogeneous and fluctuating environment. Ecography 38:001–009. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.01298
Franco M, Silvertown J (2004) A comparative demography of plants based upon the elasticity of vital rates. Ecology 85:531–538
Giménez-Benavides L, Albert MJ, Iriondo JM, Escudero A (2011) Demographic processes of upward range contraction in a long-lived Mediterranean high mountain plant. Ecography 34:85–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06250.x
Godínez-Álvarez HT, Valverde T, Ortega-Baes P (2003) Demographic trends in the Cactaceae. Bot Rev 69:173–203. https://doi.org/10.1663/0006-8101(2003)069[0173:DTITC]2.0.CO;2
Gomes VG, Quirino ZG, Machado IC (2013) Pollination and seed dispersal of Melocactus ernestii Vaupel subsp. ernestii (Cactaceae) by lizards: an example of double mutualism. Plant Biol 16:22–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12063
Gotelli NJ (1991) Demographic models for Leptogorgia virgulata, a shallow-water gorgonian. Ecology 72:457–467. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937187
Hughes FM, de la Cruz M, Romão RL, Castro MS (2011) Dinâmica espaço-temporal de Melocactus ernestii subsp. ernestii (Cactaceae) no Nordeste do Brasil. Rev Bras Bot 34:389–402
Hughes FM, Jacobi CM, Borba EL (2016) Fate of cohorts in Melocactus (Cactaceae) species is affected by rainfall uncertainty and microrelief structures. Braz J Bot. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-0116-x
Kleinbaum DG, Klein M (2012) Survival analysis. A self-learning text, 3rd edn. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6646-9
Lefkovitch LP (1965) The study of population growth in organisms grouped by stages. Biometrika 21:1–18
Legendre P, Legendre L (2012) Numerical ecology. Elsevier Academic Press, Oxford
Lüttge U (2004) Ecophysiology of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Ann Bot 93:629–652. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mch087
Marengo JA, Chou SC, Kay G, Alves LM, Pesquero JF, Soares WR et al (2012) Development of regional future climate change scenarios in South America using the Eta CPTEC/HadCM3 climate change projections: climatology and regional analyses for the Amazon, São Francisco and the Paraná river basins. Clim Dyn 38:1829–1848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1155-5
Martínez AF, Manzanero GI, Golubov MJ, Montaña C, Mandujano CM (2010) Demography of an endangered endemic rupicolous cactus. Plant Ecol 210:53–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/sl1258-010-9737-6
Martorell C, Montañana DM, Ureta C, Mandujano MC (2015) Assessing the importance of multiple threats to an endangered globose cactus in Mexico: cattle grazing, looting and climate change. Biol Conserv 181:73–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.10.035
Mauseth JD (2000) Theoretical aspects of surface-to-volume ratios and water storage capacities of succulent shoots. Am J Bot 87:1107–1115
McIntosh ME, Boyd AE, Jenkins PD, Mcdade LA (2011) Growth and mortality in the endangered Nichol’s turk’s head cactus Echinocactus horizonthalonius var. nicholii (Cactaceae) in southeastern Arizona, 1995–2008. Southwest Nat 56:333–340. https://doi.org/10.1894/F05-PHCC-01.1
Munguía-Rosas MA, Sosa VJ (2008) Nurse plants vs. nurse objects: effects of woody plants and rocky cavities on the recruitment of the Pilosocereus leucocephalus columnar cactus. Ann Bot 101:175–185. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm302
Nassar JM, Ramírez N (2004) Reproductive biology of the melon cactus, Melocactus curvispinus (Cactaceae). Plant Syst Evol 248:31–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-004-0193-4
PAN (2010) Plano de ação nacional para a conservação das cactáceas. Série Espécies Ameaçadas nº 24. Silva SR (org). Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Brasília
Porembski S, Barthlott W (2000) Granitic and gneissic outcrops (inselbergs) as centers of diversity for desiccation-tolerant vascular plants. Plant Ecol 151:19–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2014.955544
R Development Core Team (2014) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10985-007-9065-x[18000755]
Rojas-Aréchiga M, Vásquez-Yanes C (2000) Cactus seed germination: a review. J Arid Environ 44:85–104. https://doi.org/10.1006/jare.1999.0582
Salguero-Gómez R, de Kroon H (2010) Matrix projection models meet variation in the real world. J Ecol 98:250–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01635.x
Shumway RH, Stoffer DS (2011) Time series analysis and its applications: with R examples. Springer texts in statistics. Springer, Berlin. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7865-3
Taylor NP, Zappi DC (2004) Cacti of eastern Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-004-4925-0
Acknowledgements
We thank Nigel P. Taylor for confirming the identification of plants. We thank Miguel Franco for their very pertinent and constructive suggestions and questions. This research is part of the doctoral studies of FMH (ICB, UFMG). Financial support was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-476337/2010-0). FMH is supported by a research grants from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (PNPD/CAPES). ELB and CMJ are supported by research productivity grants (CNPq).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
FMH originally formulated the idea and conducted fieldwork; FMH and JECF analyzed the data and wrote the first draft. All authors contributed substantially to revisions.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hughes, F.M., Figueira, J.E.C., Jacobi, C.M. et al. Demographic processes and anthropogenic threats of lithophytic cacti in eastern Brazil. Braz. J. Bot 41, 631–640 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-018-0483-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-018-0483-7