Expansion of Retama monosperma in the Doñana National Park. Risk assessment for the conservation of threatened communities of mobile dunes. Management proposals

Retama monosperma is a shrub that in the dunes of Doñana National Park (NP), in the last 30 years, has grown from a few individuals in the vicinity of the mouth of the Guadalquivir to occupy some 60 ha in the area known as Punta de Malandar. The expansion of the species is occurring in new dunes formed on emerged areas as a result of coastal progradation since the mid-20th century. Although Retama is native to the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it is not a species native to the national park. Apparently there is an exponential population growth that must be affecting at least 6 terrestrial habitats of European Community interest. Therefore, and according to scientific studies carried out on the Retamares in the Gulf of Cadiz, there is a high degree of threat to protected communities, which are already being displaced and may disappear or be seriously altered in the medium term. The aim of the project is to assess the risk to the conservation of threatened terrestrial habitats of Community interest and to propose measures to control this species. To carry out the project, 8 senior researchers specialising in the ecology and geomorphology of coastal dunes and forest ecology from 4 universities, and with extensive experience in the dunes of the Doñana National Park, will develop a methodology to achieve the following general objectives: 

1-To establish the current distribution of Retama monosperma at Doñana mobile dune system and determine its dispersal capacity.  2-To evaluate the degree of alteration of the habitats where Retama has arrived.  3- To build predictive models of Retama expansion in space and time with a time horizon of 2050 (in the study area). Establish the potential area at risk of Retama expansion in the entire mobile dune system. 4-To propose measures for the protection and conservation of threatened habitats through the management of the Retama population 

Funded by the Autonomous Organism for National Parks. PI: Juan Bautista Gallego-Fernández