Successful translocation of Narcissus cavanillesii in Portugal

Summary

Narcissus cavanillesii, likely Critically Endangered in Portugal, was known from only two Alentejo sites, one discovered in 1999 during construction of the Alqueva dam and facing complete flooding when the floodgates closed in 2001, leaving researchers just one flowering season to study it before acting. A multidisciplinary team rapidly censused and mapped roughly 1,200 mature individuals across 11 patches, then cut soil and rock blocks containing bulbs, rhizosphere organisms and surrounding substrate intact to preserve spatial structure, first moving the population temporarily above the flood line in 2001 before final translocation to a validated receptor site 1.5 km north, chosen using predictive habitat models cross-checked with field germination trials and secured through negotiation with the landowner. Eleven years of monitoring, initially funded by the dam operator and later supported by Lisbon's Botanical Gardens, tracked reproductive plants and fruit set; reproductive output dropped an average of 24% in the first season, prompting corrective replanting of locally produced seed and temporary fencing from 2004 to 2010 against increased cattle grazing. By 2010 a reproductive individual was found five metres from a translocation plot, confirming pollination, dispersal and germination were functioning at the new site, and by 2011 the population had returned to slightly above its pre-translocation 2000 baseline. The project rates itself successful, crediting a multidisciplinary team, careful ecological matching and distance selection for the receptor site, and preserving the community and spatial structure rather than translocating bulbs alone.