Scleria amazonica

This species is found in habitats which have remained relatively stable and intact thanks to their inaccessibility. Some portions have been degraded by cattle grazing, small scale rotational agriculture and burning for pasture maintenance. These remain the most serious threats to plants in the region. Invasive alien species such as Calotropis gigantea have been reported to be a problem in Brazilian caatinga but not yet in Venezuela. The resilience of the species to disturbance is not known, however, the taxon is a clump forming rhizomatous species and regeneration abilities may be good. The taxon is endemic to the region and adapted to seasonal drought and low nutrient availability.

All commercial logging and mining activities are legally banned in Venezuelan Amazonas (Huber 2001). Some of the range falls within protected areas such as Sipapo forest reserve and other smaller reserves. The nearby El Tuparro Nature Reserve was included in a study on the effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity and was found to be efficient in reducing land use pressure (agricultural encroachment, net clearing) and in mitigating threats such as grazing, mining, logging and hunting (Bruner et al. 2001). Populations of this species should be regularly monitored for trends in abundance. Research should be conducted into the resilience of this species to disturbance and its dispersal and regeneration abilities. Seeds should be collected and grown ex situ as well as stored in a genome resource bank.