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Development of a population of Boswellia elongata Balf. F. in Homhil nature sanctuary, Socotra island (Yemen)

  • Socotra biodiversity research and nature conservation
  • Published:
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Abstract

We assessed seven decades of change in the largest known population of the endangered endemic Boswellia elongata Balf. F. (Burseraceae) on Socotra Island (Yemen). To quantify the population change we evaluated tree number and locations on digitized images from various sources in the period 1956–2017 and combined this with direct field measurements of the population between 2011 and 2017. Our study reveals that the Homhil Nature Sanctuary B. elongata population shows a continuous decline since 1956. The steady but slow natural decline was strongly accelerated by two catastrophic cyclones in November 2015, when 38% of the trees were directly destroyed by strong winds. During the following 2 years 29% of the remaining trees died additionally. The remaining population has a bell-shaped size distribution; most trees are around 40 cm in diameter (range 18 to 70 cm). Tree ring analysis of 11 dead trees with a diameter of 29 to 44 cm without bark, resulted in estimated tree ages between 80 and 101 years. We estimate that similar-sized trees showing strong signs of senescence have a maximum age of a little over 100 years. The age structure of the Homhil population is, therefore, unbalanced with large sized trees prevailing. Natural regeneration is absent for decades. Viable seeds are available and have been shown to germinate, but the development of seedlings into saplings is a bottleneck. If the decline continues at the current rate, only 30 trees will remain there in 2036. Protection, planting and awareness activities are needed to keep this unique frankincense tree in Homhil Nature Sanctuary.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank  the Franklinia Foundation, Boswellia the Czech Development Agency and partly UNE for supporting our research.

Funding

This work was supported by the Franklinia Foundation (2020-03) "Conservation of the endangered endemic Boswellia trees on Socotra Island (Yemen)", by the Czech Development Agency Project "Support of quality of high education in the Socotra province" (ID 22/2015/10) and partly supported by the UNE project "Support to the Integrated Programme for the Conservation and Development of Socotra Archipelago" (ID UNEP-GEF #5347).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, CZ-613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Samuel Lvončík, Karolína Hušková, Salem Hamdiah & Petr Maděra

  2. Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Petr Vahalík

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Forest Ecology and Management Group, Wageningen University, Bornsesteeg 69, 6708 PD, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Frans Bongers & Jan Peijnenburg

  4. Freie Universität Berlin, Kaiserwerther str. 16-18, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Julian Jansen van Rensburg

  5. Department of Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva str. 101, SL-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Salem Hamdiah

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  1. Samuel Lvončík
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This paper belongs to a Topical Collection “Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago” edited by Fabio Attorre and Kay Van Damme, conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra Conference, 26–29 September, 2019, Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy”.

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Lvončík, S., Vahalík, P., Bongers, F. et al. Development of a population of Boswellia elongata Balf. F. in Homhil nature sanctuary, Socotra island (Yemen). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 31, 747–759 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00936-4

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