Mauritius

Mauritius has one of the highest rates of endemism on earth, and many of its endemic plant species are represented by only a handful of individuals. The original vegetation of the island comprised palm savannah, low altitude dry forest and upland wet forest. However, almost all native plant communities are now badly degraded by introduced species and clearance for sugar cane. Deer, pigs and monkeys cause widespread damage to vegetation, but rats and introduced invertebrates also affect regeneration. Alien plants such as Chinese guava and privet have colonised gaps in native communities and quickly out-competed the native species.

With 357 of the island’s 671 native plant species being classified as rare, vulnerable or endangered, there was clearly a role for ex situ conservation to support the efforts to preserve species in the wild in Mauritius. In July 2006, funding from the Darwin Initiative allowed the creation of a wild species seed bank at Robinson Road, Curepipe, as part of a collaboration between Kew and a number of institutes (see box). The funding also pays for two members of staff, responsible for collecting, cleaning and banking samples of seed from 300 native plant species by June 2009.

To date, 24 members of staff in country have been trained in seed collecting and processing, in the hope that ex situ conservation of the flora of Mauritius will continue beyond the lifetime of the current project.