• Submitted by: Luis Manuel Mazorra
• Science and Technology
• 01 / 19 / 2012

---

A beautiful nature with varied species of flora and fauna on display in Santiago de Cuba the Siboney-Juticí Ecological Reserve, which also contains the largest bat colony of the country and a good part of endemic plant species.

 Located in the coastal strip, between the bay of Santiago and Siboney community, the area will be part of a project for the prevention, management and control of invasive alien species and vulnerable ecosystems, which will benefit 30 other Cuban regions.

   Arturo Salmeron, a researcher at the Eastern Center of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, told reporters that an extension, which exceeds two thousand hectares of land and marine habitats, threats have been mitigated, for example, the lionfish and ipil-ipil leucaena .

   He mentioned among the leading integrated management activities in the area, especially in environmental education, and care and protection of flora and fauna, mainly in the control of alien species that degrade the ecosystem.

   Landscape values, ecological, tourist, historical, cultural and biota present in Siboney-Juticí, and naturalness as a whole, are important for the conservation and sustainable use of its resources, so it is necessary to protect them, said Salmeron.

   Majáes The Cave of the most significant from the point of view wildlife and a real attraction for visitors, he said, because it has rich biodiversity and the main colony Phyllnoycterispoeyi country, bat endemic and included into the list of threatened vertebrates.

   Salabarría Dalia, a specialist of the Center for Information, Management and Environmental Education, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba, noted recently that studies have been done and work on strengthening the regulatory system to prevent entry of invasive species to the environment Cuban.

   Similarly warned that environmental pollution, habitat loss and climate change magnify the damage.

   The marine biologist said that more than 20 varieties, among these, the marabou, African tulip, the casuarina, the clarity, the cowboy or the Santanilla bird, are treated in such important areas as the two major wetland on the island: the Swamp Zapata and Cauto Delta.

   It also occurs in the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt, in the province of Guantanamo, Hatibonico ecological zone of the Biosphere Reserve Baconao (between Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo), and mountain ecosystems of the archipelago.