The status of Palmer's agave at Coronado National Memorial

Abstract

The status of the Palmer's agave (Agave palmeri) population at Coronado National Memorial was determined by studying recruitment, herbivory and flowering. Data was collected during the summers of 1995 and 1996. Baseline information was found that will aide in comparisons about the population in the future. The population structure was found to have a large number of younger individuals with a high mortality rate. The older age classes had a much lower mortality rate. The affect of grazing was examined as one of the possible impacts to this specific population. There were no significant differences in recruitment, flowering or herbivory between areas exposed to grazing versus areas not exposed to grazing. Palmer's agave is a long-lived species that will require several years of monitoring its population to get a better understanding of the factors that determine its population dynamics.