Restoring Ricord's Rock Iguana Habitat for the Future
By Ernst Rupp, Grupo Jaguara
One of the key components of iguana conservation is making sure they have what they need to sustain them. In today’s world of increasing development and decreasing wild habitat, that has become more imperative than ever.
Fruits for Foraging
In 2023, Grupo Jaragua has continued its efforts to restore degraded habitat in the Dominican Republic to support the endangered Ricord’s Rock Iguana (Cyclura ricordii). The main activity has been to plant the native cactus Alpargata (Consolea moniliformis). Its fruits are a staple food and a source of liquid for the iguanas, and mature Alpargata will produce fruit throughout the year.
With the help of people from the local communities, we have been able to plant more than 200,000 Alpargata cactus pads—called cladodes—in the dry forests of the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve in southwestern Dominican Republic. In addition, we also planted more than 20,000 cladodes of the cactus Caguey (Neoabbottia paniculata) and 5,500 saplings of native Agave (Agave antillarum), which are also important resources for Ricord’s Rock Iguanas.
A Community Effort
This dry forest restoration program has the added benefit of providing significant income for some of the poorest parts of Dominican Republic. We were very pleased to have 165 people from different rural communities participate in the planting activities. Through this work, the communities were also able to learn more about their own native species of iguana, and the role it plays in its ecosystem.
Another aspect of this work is that it will help in mitigating climate change. Restoring the dry forest with cactus species binds significant quantities of CO2, a fact that is not well known by the public. Cacti store large quantities of biominerals and carbon derived from atmospheric CO2 in their tissues. And even when they die, the cacti release these components into the soil, where it is sequestered. In areas with large numbers of cacti, the total long-term accumulation of carbon in these soils is quite significant, meaning less in the atmosphere.
Conservation Via Cactus
Planting cactus may not be quite as exciting as tracking and studying the Ricord’s Rock Iguanas themselves, but it is just as important. Maybe more so, because the cactus sustains the iguanas and keeps them going for the long run.
