Giving Compass' Take:

• According to a new study, ongoing habitat management could help prevent hurricane-driven extinctions, such as the one of the pineland croton in Florida. 

• How can aid organizations and other nonprofits make biodiversity a greater priority? How can funders work to mitigate the environmental damage caused by humans? 

• Learn how to fund environmental issues. 

A rare Florida plant, the pineland croton, weathered the damage from Hurricane Irma better in plots that were under human management than those left alone, the researchers found. The work could have implications for management of rare species in the face of extreme conditions.

Pineland croton is a perennial shrub found in the pine rockland forests of south Florida. This rare plant requires fire to survive, and is the only host plant for two species of endangered butterfly—Bartram’s scrub-hairstreak and the Florida leafwing. Without croton, the butterflies will go extinct.

“It may seem strange to associate fire with places like the Everglades and Florida Keys, but these plants flourish in rocky, dry areas that aren’t usually seasonally flooded,” says first author Erica Henry, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University.

“Historically, pine rocklands burned frequently, and the croton seems to both seed and re-sprout following fire. But in the Keys particularly, using fire to maintain these habitats isn’t possible due to human development.”

Henry was initially interested in determining the most effective means of managing croton populations in Everglades National Park and the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key. However, in 2017 Hurricane Irma struck Florida and created another opportunity for research.

Read the full article about habitat care by Tracey Peake at Futurity.