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Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 41, No. 1, 150-152, 2005Copyright 2005 College of Arts and SciencesUniversity of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Monitoring Efforts Yield NewPlant Records For Mona Island,

Puerto Rico, A Tropical DryForest Wonderland

ELVIA J. MELNDEZ-ACKERMAN1,2, SUSAN

ARAGN1,3, MARIELY MORALES-VARGAS1,3,JOS SUSTACHE4, FRANKLIN S. AXELROD3,CHAMARY FUENTES1,3, JAMES D. ACKER-MAN

3, MIGUEL GARCA5, AND DENNY S.FERNNDEZ6 1CREST-Center for Tropical Ap-

plied Ecolo gy and Conser vat ion , PO Box29341, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3341. 2In-stitute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies, Univer-sity of Puerto Rico, PO Box 21910, San Juan,Puerto Rico 00931-1910, [email protected]. 3Department of Biology, Univer-sity of Puerto Rico, PO Box 23360, San JuanPR 00931-3360. 4Herbarium, Bureau of Fish-eries and Wildlife, Department of Natural Re-sources and the Environment, PO Box 9066600San Juan, Puerto Rico 00906-6600. 5Endan-

gered Species Office, Bureau of Fisheries andWildlife, Department of Natural Resources andthe Environment, PO Box 9066600 San JuanPuerto Rico 00906-6600. 6Department of Biol-ogy, University of Puerto Rico, CUH Station,

Humacao, Puerto Rico 00791

ABSTRACT.Intensive ecological monitoring on

Mona Island, Puerto Rico, yielded seven new floris-tic records for the island. We report for the first time

the following flowering plants: Chamaescyse oph-thalmica (Pers.) D. G. Burch, Flueggea acidoton (L.)G. L. Webster (both Euphorbiaceae), Heteropogoncontortus (L.) P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. (Poaceae),

Neptu nia plena (L.) Benth. (Fabaceae), Piriqueta

ms. submitted August 10, 2004; accepted December28, 2004

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ovata (Bello) Urb. (Turneraceae), Rochefortia acan-thophora (DC.) Griseb. (Boraginaceae), and Schoep-

fia schreberi J. F. Gmel. (Olacaceae). We also docu-

ment the first voucher for the previously reported

Broughtonia domingensis (Lind.) Rolfe (Orchida-ceae).

KEYWORDS.Flora, Caribbean, vascular plants,biodiversity

The Caribbean region is considered thethird most important global biodiversityhotspot (Myers et al. 2000) and a regionwhere a large number of species extinctionsis expected without urgent conservation in-tervention (Brooks et al. 2001). Mona Is-land, located mid way between Puerto Ricoand the Dominican Republic (180308N,675157W), has few endemics but bridgesthe floras of the two large islands and isrecognized as a rare and valuable ecologi-cal laboratory (e.g., Wiewandt 1979; Cin-trn 1991, Trejo-Torres and Ackerman2002).

The most recent checklist of the islandsflora was published by Woodbury et al.(1977). They estimated that 23% of Monasfloristic diversity is rare and emphasizedthat intensive temporal sampling shoulduncover more species. Efforts to documentMona Islands current biodiversity status

are extremely important, as rare species arelikely more susceptible to extinction eitherthrough stochastic events or by the actionsof the introduced goats and pigs (Cintrnand Rogers 1991). Herein we report newplant records with vouchers that have beendiscovered primarily as a result of ongoingcollaborative studies between the Univer-sity of Puerto Rico (UPR) and the Depart-ment of Natural Resources and the Envi-ronment (DNRE). These studies (Proyecto

Mona) aim to evaluate the impact of feralgoats and pigs on the islands flora andvegetation. Specimens reported here were

collected by our research team and by UPR-Ro Piedras plant taxonomy class of Drs.James D. Ackerman and Eugenio Santiago.Voucher specimens are deposited at eitherUPRRP or SJ. Specimens include seven newrecords and a previously reported speciesthat lacked a voucher. This list includesspecies not reported in Woodbury et al.

(1977), Breckon et al. (1988), or Liogier andMartorell (2000).

Broughtonia domingensis (Lind.) Rolfe(Orchidaceae)Plants were previously re-ported growing on dead Plumeria obtusataL. but had not been collected (Coln andValentn 1983). We found several individu-als growing on a live tree ofAntirhea acutata(DC.) Urban (Rubiaceae). This species doesnot occur in the main island of PuertoRico, but is locally common in easternDominican Republic (Ackerman 1995).Voucher: Trail to Bobas after Bajurade l Ce ntro, 1806 48N , 6 752 33W,platform forest, elevation 60 m, 17 June2004, J. Sustache, H. Lpez, V. Rodrguez, & A.Garrastaz s.n. (UPRRP; Proyecto Mona 720).Colonia de Las Bobas, base of Antirheaacutata tree, 17 June 2004, J. A. Sustache 1069(SJ)

Chamaescyse ophthalmica (Pers.) D. G.Burch (Euphorbiaceae)A common herbprobably overlooked because of its similar-ity to other weedy Chamaescyse species.Vouchers: Playa Sardinera, subtropical dryforest, elevation near sea level, limestonesand, with flowers and fruits, 4 November2001, J. D. Ackerman et al. 3641 (UPRRP;Proyecto Mona 263). Sardinera, near sea-level, 16 November 1983, G. R. Proctor & B.Pinto 39798 (SJ).

Flueggea acidoton(L.) G. L. Webster

(Euphorbiaceae)

Voucher: Bajura de LosCerezos, in trail of the bajura due the ante-nas, 25 July 2004, J. Sustache, A. Puente and

J. Fumero 1078 (SJ).Heteropogon contortus (L.) P. Beauv. ex

Roem. & Schult. (Poaceae)Voucher: Pla-teau, Los Caobos Trail between PlayaSardinera and Punta Capitan, elevation 60m, dry coastal scrub over limestone, 3 No-vember 2001, J. D. Ackerman et al. 3550(UPRRP; Proyecto Mona 174)

Neptunia plena (L.) Benth. (Fabaceae)Voucher: Playa Sardinera, dry forest, lime-

stone sand, elevation near sea level, 4 No-vember 2001, H. Weidisch s.n. (UPRRP;Proyecto Mona 267).

Piriqueta ovata (Bello) Urb. (Turnera-ceae)Vouchers: Playa Uvero, coastal veg-etation, elevation near sea level, 1 June2003, M. Morales s.n. (UPRRP; Proyecto

Mona 685).

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Rochefortia acanthophora (DC.) Griseb.(Boraginaceae)Vouchers: Bajura de LosCerezos, in clearing, east part of the bajura,11 August 2002, J. A. Sustache 783 (SJ).Bajura de los Cerezos, bajura forest, eleva-tion 40-50 m, 9 February 2003, S. Aragn, G.Pons & J. Fumero s.n. (UPRRP; Proyecto

Mona 484).Schoepfia schreberi J. F. Gmel. (Olaca-

ceae)Liogier and Martorell (1982) re-ported Schoepfia chrysophylloides (A. Rich.)Planch. from Mona Island, but no voucherhas been located and may not have beenmade. The two species are distinct butwithout verification, the Liogier and Mar-torell report is suspect. Voucher: CaminoEmpalme, casi en la bajura, 30 May 2004,

M. Mor ales & J. Sus tac he s.n. (UPRRP;Proyecto Mona 705).

Acknowledgments.We would like tothank many volunteers that have helpedwith collecting and vegetation monitoring,especially H. Lpez, J. Fumero, studentsfro m E. Me lndez-Ackerman and D.Fernndezs laboratory groups, and thoseenrolled in J. D. Ackerman and E. Santia-gos Plant Taxonomy class (2001) at UPR-Ro P i e d r a s . W e t h a n k P . A c e v e d o -Rodrguez, G. Breckon and an anonymousreviewer for helpful criticisms of an earlier

version of the manuscript. This work couldnot have been possible without the logisticsupport from the Fish and Wildlife Bureauof the DNRE, Mona Island Resident Man-agement Officers, Gaspar Pons and Anto-nio Nieves, and the Office of Reserves andRefuges of DNRE. This research has beensupported by a grant from NSF-CREST toE. Melndez-Ackerman, D. Fernndez andM. Garca (HRD-0206200), and a grant fromthe Wildlife Restoration Program, Pitmann-Robertson-US Fish and Wildlife ProjectW-14 to M. Garca and DNRE.

LITERATURE CITED

Ackerman, J. D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Ricoand the Virgin Islands. Memoirs of the New YorkBotanical Garden 73:1-203.

Brooks, T. M., et al. 2002. Habitat loss and extinction inthe hotspots of biodiversity. Conservation Biology16:909-923.

Breckon, J. G., V. Santiago-Vlez, and D. A. Kolter-

man. 1998. New Plant records for Mona Island,Puerto Rico. Caribbean Journal of Science 34:136-137.

Cintrn, G. 1991. Introduction to Mona Island. ActaCientfica 5:6-9.

Cintr

n, B. B., and L. Rogers. 1991. Plant Communitiesof Mona Island. Acta Cientfica 5:10-64.Coln, H. E., and R. Valentn. 1983. Broughtonia domin-

gensis en la Isla de Mona. Caribbean Journal of Sci-ence 19(3-4):21-22.

Liogier, H. A., and L. F. Martorell. 1982. Flora of PuertoRico and adjacent islands: a systematic synopsis. San

Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.Liogier, H. A., and L. F. Martorell. 2000. Flora of Puerto

Rico and adjacent islands: a systematic synopsis. 2nd

ed. revised. San Juan: Editorial de la Universidadde Puerto Rico.

Myers, J. H., D. Simberloff, A. M. Kuris, and J. R.Carey. 2000. Eradication revisited: dealing with ex-otic species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15:316-320.

Trejo-Torres, J. C., and J. D. Ackerman. 2002. Compo-sition patterns of Caribbean limestone forests: areparsimony, classification, and ordination analysescongruent? Biotropica 34:502-515.

Wiewandt, T. A. 1979. La gran iguana de Mona. Natu-ral History 88:57-65.

Woodbury, R. C., L. F. Martorell, and J. G. Garca-Tuduri. 1977. The flora of Mona and Monito is-lands, Puerto Rico (West Indies). Bulletin of the Ag-ricultural Experimental Station, Rio Piedras, PuertoRico 252:1-60.

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