Protubera jamaicensis is a distinctive gasteromycete with epigeous fruit-bodies, in consequence its rarity in not due to undersampling. Even while the species has a wide distribution, it is very rare. Since 1900 in the last 120 years it has been observed no more than ten times.
As its main vegetation is Mountain Cloud Forest, its populations are considered in decline due to threats of global warming to this ecosystem. Models for the effect of climate change in mountain cloud forest in Mexico, predict a reduction of 68% in forest coverage over the next 60 years (Ponce-Reyes et al 2012). On the other hand, localities in Costa Rica and Jamaica are also susceptible to the effect of global warming.
Considering the wide distribution of Protubera jamaicensis, its habitat specificity, and the threats faced by mountain cloud forests, the species should be listed as Vulnerable under criteria A3c, because at least half of its subpopulations are suspected to face a reduction in the area and habitat quality of more than 50% in the next 50 years (three generations).
Protubera jamaicensis is a phalloid gasteromycete with egigeous fruit-bodies. It is characterized by its smooth peridia and simple columella ramified in the center of the gelatinous gleba. It can be differentiated from P. brunneus by the peridia surface, gleba consistence and spore size. The rest species of the genus have hypogeous fruit-bodies.
Protubera jamaicensis is a distinctive gasteromycete with epigeous fruit-bodies, in consequence its rarity in not due to undersampling. Even while the species has a wide distribution, it is very rare. Since 1900 in the last 120 years it has been observed no more than ten times. As its main vegetation is Mountain Cloud Forest, its populations are considered in decline due to threats of global warming to this ecosystem.
Considering the wide distribution of Protubera jamaicensis, its habitat specificity, and the vulnerability of mountain cloud forests, the species should be listed as Vulnerable under criteria A3c, because at least half of its subpopulations are suspected to face a reduction in the area and habitat quality of more than 50% in the next 50 years (three generations).
The species distributes in the Caribbean in Jamaica, in the USA in Florida and Massachusetts, in Mexico in Hidalgo and Oaxaca and in Central America in Costa Rica in Cartago. So, it can be considered as is distributed in the northern and central Neotropics.
Even while the species has a wide distribution, it is very rare. Since 1900 in the last 120 years it has been observed no more than ten times.
Known populations are:
Jamaica, Cinchona, observed in 1900 and 1908.
USA, Florida, Madison Hammock, observed in 1942; Massachusetts, Barnstable County, observed in 2003.
Costarica, Cartago, Rio Estrella observed in 1982.
Mexico, Oaxaca, Vista Hermosa observed in 1981; Hidalgo, Tlanchinol, observed in 1988, 2012 and 2013.
Colombia, without locality.
As its main vegetation is Mountain Cloud Forest, its populations are considered in decline due to threats of global warming to this ecosystem.
Population Trend: Decreasing
Almost all observations have made on Mountain Cloud Forest with the exception of the Massachusetts subpopulation observed in a beach dune grass. Epigeous on humus of rotten fern logs.
In Mexico threats for this species come from two main sources: the suburban nature of the vegetation patches where the species is known, and the habitat loss due to climate change. Mountain cloud forests represents less than 1% of the forest area in Mexico, and is severely fragmented. Regarding climate change, it has been predicted a reduction of 68% of the mountain cloud fores in Mexico in the next 50 years due to climate change (Ponce-Reyes et al. 2012).
In Costa Rica and Jamaica the principal threats for the species come from the reduction in the habitat due to climate change, considering that the known localities for the species are inside protected areas.
The main conservation actions needed are related with the preservation of the habitat. Global warming mitigation.
To monitor current populations and understand its biology.
Bautista-Hernández S., Raymundo T., Aguirre-Acosta E., Contreras-Pacheco M., Romero-Bautista L. y Valenzuela R. 2018. Agaricomycetes gasteroides del bosque mesófilo de montaña de la Huasteca Alta Hidalguense, México. Acta Botánica. 123: 21-36.
Challenger, A. 1998. Utilización y Conservación de los Ecosistemas Terrestres de México: Pasado, Presente y Futuro. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad/Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Agrupación Sierra Madre, México, Distrito Federal, México.
CONABIO. 2010. El Bosque Mesofilo de Montaña en México: Amenazas y Oportunidades para su Conservación y Manejo Sostenible. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. 197 pp. México, D.F., México.
Valenzuela, R., Castillo, J. y Guzmán, G. 1981. Descripciones de Especies de Macromicetos
poco Conocidas en México, con Discusiones Sobre su Ecología y Distribución. Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de micología. 15:67-120.
Trierveiler-Pereira, L., Wilson, A. W., da Silveira, R. M. B., & Domínguez, L. S. (2013). Costa Rican gasteromycetes (Basidiomycota, Fungi): Calostomataceae, Phallaceae and Protophallaceae. Nova Hedwigia, 96(3-4), 533-544.
Zeller S. M. 1948. Notes on Certain Gasteromycetes, Including Two New Orders’. Mycologia. 40 (6): 639-668.
Trierveiler-Pereira, L., da Silveira, R. M. B., & Hosaka, K. (2014). Multigene phylogeny of the Phallales (Phallomycetidae, Agaricomycetes) focusing on some previously unrepresented genera. Mycologia, 106(5), 904-911.
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