Bio227-6: Habitat Loss of the Pecos Sunflower's Beauty

Habitat Loss of the Pecos Sunflower's Beauty

By Barbara Levin

(Google Images, 2015)

Pecos sunflowers are an annual, herbaceous plant that grows from 1-3 meters tall, and typically occupy wet, saline soils. The flower itself has a diameter between five to seven centimeters with bright yellow rays around a dark brownish center. They differ from the common sunflowers because they have narrower leaves, smaller flower heads, and fewer hairs on the stems and leaves. The Pecos sunflower blooms from September to October, which is later than most of the common sunflowers (May to August). Pecos sunflowers have seven populations that include two in west Texas and five in New Mexico.

Since they are annual, these sunflowers need to re-establish populations of adult plants every year. Populations usually grow around springs or ponds due to their suitable soils and hydrologic conditions. They therefore grow in large patches of individuals and their densities include a mixture of factors like soil salinity, soil oxygen and disturbance, and competing vegetation. If a wetland dries out permanently, the whole population of sunflowers would disappear in a given area.

Pecos sunflower was listed as threatened in 1999 and its primary threat to its population decrease is habitat loss and modification. Agricultural and recreational usage require water from the wetlands and have therefore caused major diversion of this habitat before the Pecos sunflower was listed as threatened. For example, springs that fed the Pecos sunflower habitats have been converted to recreational uses like swimming pools and fishponds in New Mexico. Exotic plant species destroy and degrade desert wetlands, which has a huge impact on the population of the sunflowers. The Elaeaganus angustifolia, or the Russian Olive Tree, is an exotic and aggressive tree that takes in large amounts of water from shallow water tables that the Pecos sunflower needs.

(Google Images, 2015)

The goal of the recovery plan is to remove the Pecos sunflower from the list of threatened and endangered species. The objective is to protect and manage the sustainable populations of Pecos sunflowers in their specific and native habitat ranges. This recovery plan consists of three main elements. The first part is to identify at least one core conservation area and one isolated stand within each of the four main regions that ensures the sunflower’s long-term survival rate. Each core habitat must have wetlands that are not threatened by depletion of water levels and demonstrate self-sustainability that includes at least 5,000 Pecos sunflowers for seven out of ten years. The second part of the recovery plan is to identify water rights, address informational gaps, and find compatible land uses. For example, limitations on the use of groundwater should be implemented to assure adequate spring flows. The third part of the recovery plan is to educate landowners, implement management plans, and conservation easement and land purchase. Educating landowners of Pecos sunflowers is simply to raise their awareness of Federal law regulations that established to protect the species. The management plans include the action of limiting exotic species, timing the duration of livestock grazing, and reducing the impacts of recreational development. The conversion easement includes the act of limiting the amount of habitat conversion to non-wetland uses and diversion of water springs.

The following maps show the four core conservation areas: