Cactus Seed Biology Monograph

CHARLOTTE SEAL; J. FLORES; M. I. DAWS; N.E. CALDERON; A. CERONI STUVA; G. GALÍNDEZ; P. ORTEGA BAES; P. LEÓN-LOBOS; C.M. FLORES ORTIZ; R. QUINTANAR; P. DAVILA ARANDA; W. STUPPY; T. ULIAN; M. WAY; H.W. PRITCHARD

Cuba

Simposio; II Simposio Internacional sobre Restauración Ecológica, Cuba.; 2007

The Cactaceae are a diverse family of c.1800 species, located mainly across vast areas of North and South America. Species of Cactaceae have great value in terms of nutrition, medicine, ornamental appeal and as building materials. As a result of overuse and the fact that longer-lived perennials are at greater risk of extinction due to environmental perturbation, many taxa are judged to be of conservation concern. For example of the 143 cactus taxa in Chile, 52% are vulnerable, 14% rare and 27% endangered. There has been significant research on seed biology of the Cactaceae, generating data for many traits including germination, dormancy, dispersal and morphology. However, species data is often incomplete for all traits, there is a bias in which species are studied and some data are not easily accessible, for example in the ‘grey’ literature, including internal institutional reports. Thus we are producing a monograph of cactus seed biology to summarise all existing data. It will be available in hard copy and electronic forms. This is a joint project between Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, USA and the UK.