Fitzroya cupressoides

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	CONIFEROPSIDA	CONIFERALES	CUPRESSACEAE

Scientific Name:

Fitzroya cupressoides

Species Authority

(Molina) I. M. Johnston

Common Name/s:

English	–	Patagonian Cypress
Spanish	–	Alerce

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Endangered A1cd+2cd ver 2.3

Year Assessed:

2000

Assessor/s

Conifer Specialist Group

History:

1998	–	Endangered (Oldfield et al. 1998)
1997	–	Endangered (Walter and Gillett 1998)

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:	Native: Argentina (Chubut, Neuquén, Rio Negro); Chile (Los Lagos)

Countries:

Native:

Argentina (Chubut, Neuquén, Rio Negro); Chile (Los Lagos)

Population [top]

Population:	Alerce has been logged since the middle of the 17th century. The largest concentration of the species, at the southern end of the Chilean depression, was exploited in the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving no remains except blackened stumps. By the early 1900s a third of the Fitzroya forests had been removed. In the 1930s motorised transport and the building of roads allowed access to the stands in the Coastal Cordillera and High Cordillera. Present estimates of the area taken up by remaining stands lie at 20,000 ha, 15% of their original size. Today the best stands may be found between latitudes of 41º and 42ºS in the High Cordillera. Elsewhere populations are small.

Population:

Alerce has been logged since the middle of the 17th century. The largest concentration of the species, at the southern end of the Chilean depression, was exploited in the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving no remains except blackened stumps. By the early 1900s a third of the Fitzroya forests had been removed. In the 1930s motorised transport and the building of roads allowed access to the stands in the Coastal Cordillera and High Cordillera. Present estimates of the area taken up by remaining stands lie at 20,000 ha, 15% of their original size. Today the best stands may be found between latitudes of 41º and 42ºS in the High Cordillera. Elsewhere populations are small.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems:	Terrestrial

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Exploitation continued at such intensities that chances of regrowth and regeneration are annihilated. Restrictions laid down by the Chilean Government have not been adhered to and illegal logging in remote areas has been impossible to halt.

Major Threat(s):

Exploitation continued at such intensities that chances of regrowth and regeneration are annihilated. Restrictions laid down by the Chilean Government have not been adhered to and illegal logging in remote areas has been impossible to halt.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	The species is listed in CITES Appendix I.

Conservation Actions:

The species is listed in CITES Appendix I.

Citation:	Conifer Specialist Group 2000. Fitzroya cupressoides. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 November 2008.
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