Pokemeboy

Common Name: pokemeboy, blackbrush wattle
Scientific Name: Acacia anegadensis
Categories: Endangered
Conservation Status: Critical - CR B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v)

Why is this species important? Pokemeboy is confined to an area of 38 km², of which only 25 km² is suitable (terrestrial) habitat. The actual area of occupancy has been estimated as less than 10 km² of limestone. This legume is important for promoting succession of vegetation, as well as providing a suitable habitat and food source for the Anegada iguana, Cyclura pinguis, a species itself numbering less than 200 individuals. Where is it found? Pokemeboy is endemic to Anegada Island in the British Virgin Islands (part of the Caribbean island bio-geographic region). How do people use it? A dense, thorny evergreen acacia, it is planted for shade, but the roots also physically break the crusts of limestone rock on which it lives, allowing other species to grow and subsequentally increasing fertility. Why is it threatened? The island is under extreme pressure for residential and tourism development. This has already resulted in documented habitat fragmentation and loss, leading to a decline in the quality of available habitat. It has been suggested that this will accelerate in the next few years, resulting in a continued decline in the quality of the habitat and a reduction in the number of mature individuals. Construction of marinas along the coastal areas has been an on-going issue in the BVI, as well as other tourism-related development. What conservation action is needed? As part of a year 2000 Darwin Initiative Project on Anegada, a collaborative effort between the BVI National Parks Trust, Fauna and Flora International and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Dr. Mike Gillman of the UK’s Open University is investigating the threats to and rates of regeneration of this species. Gillman has found relatively widespread adult trees, but little regeneration, giving concerns for the long-term survival of the species. Work is continuing and an ex situ population has been established at the JR O’Neal Botanic Garden on Tortola to investigate germination and seedling establishment.