their biggest problem is us

Of all the places in the world, the Limonium estevei “chose” a very specific place to live, evolve and develop: a beach in the municipality of Mojácar, in the southeastern end of the peninsula. What the poor thing didn’t know is that it was a bad place to survive.

Scientists, however, have known this for a long time.

Although they were wrong. The “Mojácar immortelle” is an ultra-endemism of the Mediterranean coast of Almería and, therefore, experts have feared for years that hybridization would wipe it out. But, all those years, the immortelle has held up.

Now, a study from the University of Almería published in ‘Biodiversity and Conservation’ has discovered that, although there are hybrids with the L. cossonianumthe risk of this erasing the genetic identity of the species does not exist. Your problem is another.

Location, location, location. The problem, as researchers have discovered, is that its persistence depends on preserving its edaphic niche. That is to say, it only grows in deliriously specific soils and if those soils disappear, the immortelle has a very difficult time.

This would only be a problem if, by chance, the coastline were in danger. Because Limonium estevei It is a textbook species at risk: a single fragmented population highly dependent on its ecological niche that has no margin for survival in the face of changes in the ecosystem.

And that ecosystem, unfortunately, has enormous tourist potential: Macenas, the beach in question, is in the spotlight of the construction companies in that area of ​​the country. It’s a matter of time before it fills up with people.

The great paradox of the Spanish coast. Although one of its main heritages is bioecological, the Spanish coast is a terrain with strong incentives to self-destruct. The Algarrobico It’s just a few meters away.

In other words, what researchers have discovered is that yes, the culprit is tourism: a model that is based on residential use and the construction of recreational infrastructure on the beachfront. And we do not have clear tools to stop it.

The immortelle is, like so many others, an example of everything that fails in the system. And what is worse, of everything that we cannot solve.

Image | Juanjo

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