A recent expedition to the Cape region of the Baja California Peninsula helped build capacity for the next generation of women botanists in the region.
Expert botanists Dr. Mariana Delgado and Dr. Sula Vanderplank invited Curator of Botany Dr. Jon Rebman to co-lead an expedition throughout the Cape region of the Baja California Peninsula. The expedition focused on training 10 young and upcoming women biologists from Mexico and a few young men on the flora and rare plant species of the region.
The excursion participants contributed to the scope of a larger project, Baja Rare, which seeks to find and document the rare plants of the Baja California Peninsula. In addition to helping build capacity by documenting the region's flora, Dr. Rebman focused on developing a photographic plant guide of rare plants in each area the team visited.
Below, you can read more about the trip, the fieldwork, and what the botanists found.
Stop 1: Los Planes Watershed
The first stop was in the Los Planes watershed, an area characterized by sites that are openly grazed and sites that are protected from grazing by fencing. The team was interested in comparing tree density between protected and unprotected sites to better understand the impacts of cattle and goat grazing on plants. One tree of interest was the ocote (Nahuatlea arborescens), a sunflower tree restricted to the Cape region.
Stop 2: Los Cabos
The second stop of the trip was to survey rare plants species at the tip of the Peninsula—Los Cabos. As a very popular tourist destination, Los Cabos faces extraordinary threats to habitat loss due to resort development and urbanization so the team enlisted the help of Glenn Ehrenberg, a local botanist that lives in San Jose del Cabo. The region between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo is being developed at an alarming rate and it is home to many narrowly endemic plants that only occur on the small coastal hills and along the beaches in this region.
Stop 3: Balandra
The third and last stop of the trip included a stop at Balandra, a natural protected area near La Paz. The team was accompanied by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) rangers to survey the location for a new trail that is being proposed for the public. The survey will inform where the trail is placed, as CONANP is interested in avoiding any impact to the protected area’s biological resources. The surveys revealed two extremely rare and micro-endemic plant species including Senegalia pacensis and the newly described Encelia balandra, the latter of which is only known from three tiny populations!
The expedition’s efforts are one of many ways the Museum is continuing to build capacity for partners on both sides of the border. By training the next generation of scientists in the region, we’re helping conserve nature for people today and for generations to come.
Tree density study group in the Los Planes watershed.
Ocote (Nahuatlea arborescens) in the Los Planes watershed.
Expedition leaders Drs. Mariana Delgado, Sula Vanderplank, & Jon Rebman (left to right) in Cabo San Lucas.
Expedition team surveying and filling out assessment forms for the rare plant populations in Cabo San Lucas.
Coastal hills with patches of remaining native vegetation surrounded by development in Cabo San Lucas. The native vegetation patches were surveyed on the expedition.
Porophyllum maritimum, a rare and narrowly endemic plant to Los Cabos.
Agave capensis, a rare and narrowly endemic plant to Los Cabos.
Canavalia rosea, a rare native plant found in the estuary at San Jose del Cabo.
Survey participants at Balandra, a natural protected area near La Paz.
Posted by Jon Rebman, Curator of Botany and Paula Sternberg Rodríguez, Science Communications Manager on February 24, 2025
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