''Manilkara mayarensis'' is a plant species in the family of sapodillas, which grows wild only in Cuba's Oriente Province. Here its members range in scale from shrubs to small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. Its usual haunts are along creeks, ravines and other naturally formed

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...

s within its montane, serpentine shrubwood

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

Threats

Mineral interests have often been favored over

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

considerations, and the result has meant a kind of self-perpetuating cycle of

diminishing returns In economics, diminishing returns are the decrease in marginal (incremental) output of a production process as the amount of a single factor of production is incrementally increased, holding all other factors of production equal ( ceteris parib ...

for both. That is to say, permanent loss of habitat is related directly to the further

scarcity In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...

of the

mineral resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

in the mountains where ''M. mayerensis'' live, which is caused, yet also spurred on by, an ever greater drive to obtain said minerals.

References

mayarensis Plants described in 1925 Endangered plants Endemic flora of Cuba Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Sapotaceae-stub