BioSciCat is studying the 'Cargola del Cap de Creus' Erodium foetidum, a species declared endangered, commissioned by the Parc Natural del Cap de Creus.
In 2020, BioSciCat initiated actions for the study and conservation of the 'Cargola del Cap de Creus' Erodium foetidum, an endemic plant in the south of France and Cap de Creus (Spain), classified as an endangered species.
The results of the 2021 surveys indicate an increase in the number of individuals in some of the plots studied. The number of individuals in each plot varies according to the death or disappearance of individuals and the birth of new ones.
It was found that the number of reproductive elements of each fertile specimen decreased considerably. In the 7 plots studied, 757 reproductive elements were counted, compared to 1525 the previous year, which represents a decrease of 50.4%. The causes could be the phenological delay, due to the decrease in temperature and the increase in precipitation during the year 2021.
Regarding the land-clearing operations carried out during the autumn of 2020 by the Parc Natural del Cap de Creus, at the edge of the known range of the species, it seems that they did not directly favor Erodium foetidum, since no speciments were detected in the area.
Today there is little data on longevity or inter-annual variability of recruitment and death of individuals, so it is still difficult to determine a robust demographic tendency for the species. It is precisely for this reason that the importance of continuing to monitor the population in the coming years should be emphasized.
The report of the 2021 campaign is available on this link (Catalan version).