The plant in question is Echinophora spinosa, a plant typical of the mobile front dunes of the Levantine peninsular coastline, considered Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and classified as Special Protection in the archipelago.
The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment has launched a project in the Es Trenc-Salobrar de Campos Natural Park to repopulate this protected natural area with flora that has been catalogued, protected and has almost disappeared from the Balearic Islands. The plant in question is Echinophora spinosa, a plant typical of the mobile front dunes of the Levantine peninsular coastline, considered Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and classified as Special Protection in the Balearic archipelago.
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The Natural Environment is carrying out a project in the Es Trenc-Salobrar de Campos Natural Park to repopulate this area with catalogued, protected and almost extinct flora in the Balearic Islands
In this regard, the Directorate-General for the Natural Environment and Forestry Management explains that the populations of this plant on the Balearic Islands are dwindling. In Mallorca, on the beach of s’Arenal de Sa Ràpita, in a very specific area of its dune system, the only population of this species survives within the Es Trenc-Salobrar de Campos Natural Park. However, this population has now almost disappeared, and this year there is only a single sprout left. The decline has mainly been caused by the direct impact of the waves during storms due to the reduction of the beach and also by the destabilisation of the dunes due to human traffic and pets.
Because of all this, and in anticipation of its disappearance, the Park’s management team contacted the Menut Forestry Centre (CEFOR), as its germplasm bank contains seeds of this plant. The technicians of this centre began to implement the germination protocols and, after about six months, a stock of about 40 seedlings of this species has been obtained.
On the other hand, the brigade of the Balearic Institute of Nature (IBANAT) of the Park has built six 2×2 m protective fences with wooden sticks and grids to protect the plants, and informative signs have been put up. The plants were planted at the beginning of November, with the intention of taking advantage of the rains, in the best-conserved front dunes of S’Arenal den Tem, also within this protected natural space. Moreover, the repopulation task has been agreed upon and supervised at all times by the Government’s Species Protection Service.
The collaboration of all these administrative and management bodies, which depend on the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, has made the repopulation of this catalogued species in the Park possible. In the near future, new repopulations are planned in other dunes within the Park from these planted specimens. The aim is to preserve biodiversity and reconstitute the habitats of the front dunes, which play an essential role in the preservation of the entire beach-dune system.