This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Approved Conservation Advice (s266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) Approved Conservation Advice for Tylophora williamsii This Conservation Advice has been developed based on the best available information at the time this Conservation Advice was approved; this includes existing plans, records or management prescriptions for this species. Description Tylophora williamsii, Family Asclepiadaceae, is a herbaceous twiner with white latex. The stems are cylindrical, up to 1 mm in diameter with internodes up to 90 cm long. Leaves are dark green on the upper side, pale green on lower side, oval-shaped, up to 6.5 cm long, 4 mm wide, with two extra-floral nectaries at the base of the leaf. Flowers are clustered in radiating groups of up to 5. Each flower is about 9 mm in diameter. The petals are green, brown or green with purple blotches, and greater than 3 mm long. Fruit form follicles, 5 cm long and 2 to 4 cm wide (Forster, 1992, 1996). Conservation Status Tylophora williamsii is listed as vulnerable. This species is eligible for listing as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) (EPBC Act) as, prior to the commencement of the EPBC Act, it was listed as vulnerable under Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwlth). Distribution and Habitat Tylophora williamsii occurs from Charter Towers to the Pascoe River in northern Queensland. This species grows in deciduous vine thickets and is associated with other vines including Secamone elliptica, Cynanchum bowmanii and Gymnema pleiadenium (Forster, 1992). It also grows in riparian notophyll rainforest on rocky slopes with Tristaniopsis exiliflora, Melaleuca leucadendra, Eucalyptus acmenoides and Syncarpia glomulifera (BRI collection details, n.d.). This species occurs within the Cape York, Wet Tropics and Burdekin (Queensland) Natural Resource Management Regions. The distribution of this species overlaps with the “Semi-evergreen vine thickets of the Brigalow Belt (North and South) and Nandewar Bioregions” EPBC Act-listed threatened ecological community. Threats The main potential threats to T. williamsii include localised extinction due to restricted distribution; vegetation clearing; changed fire regimes; habitat degradation by feral pigs (Sus scrofa); and invasive weeds, such as Lantana (Lantana camara) (Landsberg & Clarkson, 2004; ANRA, 2007). Research Priorities Research priorities that would inform future regional and local priority actions include: • Design and implement a monitoring program or, if appropriate, support and enhance existing programs. • More precisely assess population size, distribution, ecological requirements and the relative impacts of threatening processes. • Undertake survey work in suitable habitat and potential habitat to locate any additional populations/occurrences/remnants. Tylophora williamsii Conservation Advice - Page 1 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Regional and Local Priority Actions The following regional and local priority recovery and threat abatement actions can be done to support the recovery of T. williamsii. Habitat Loss, Disturbance and Modification • Monitor known populations to identify key threats. • Monitor the progress of recovery, including the effectiveness of management actions and the need to adapt them if necessary. • Identify populations of high conservation priority. • Ensure road widening and maintenance activities (or other infrastructure or development activities) involving substrate or vegetation disturbance in areas where T. williamsii occurs do not adversely impact on known populations. • Minimise adverse impacts from land use at known sites. • Control access routes to suitably constrain public access to known sites on public land. • Investigate formal conservation arrangements, management agreements and covenants on private land, and for crown and private land investigate inclusion in reserve tenure if possible. Invasive Weeds • Develop and implement a management plan for the control of Lantana in the region. • Identify and remove weeds in the local area, which could become a threat to T. williamsii, using appropriate methods. • Manage sites to prevent introduction of invasive weeds, which could become a threat to T. williamsii, using appropriate methods. • Ensure chemicals or other mechanisms used to eradicate weeds do not have a significant adverse impact on T. williamsii. Trampling, Browsing or Grazing • Implement the Threat Abatement Plan for feral pigs (DEH, 2005). • Prevent grazing or associated pressure at known sites through exclusion fencing or other barriers. Fire • Develop and implement a suitable fire management strategy for T. williamsii. • Identify appropriate intensity and interval of fire to promote seed germination. • Provide maps of known occurrences to local and state Rural Fire Services and seek inclusion of mitigative measures in bush fire risk management plans, risk register and/or operation maps. Conservation Information • Raise awareness of T. williamsii within the local community. Enable Recovery of Additional Sites and/or Populations • Undertake appropriate seed collection and storage. • Investigate options for linking, enhancing or establishing additional populations. • Implement national translocation protocols (Vallee et al., 2004) if establishing additional populations is considered necessary and feasible. This list does not necessarily encompass all actions that may be of benefit to T. williamsii, but highlights those that are considered to be of highest priority at the time of preparing the conservation advice. Tylophora williamsii Conservation Advice - Page 2 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Existing Plans/Management Prescriptions that are Relevant to the Species • Weeds of National Significance Lantana (Lantana camara) Strategic Plan (ARMCANZ, 2001), • Threat Abatement Plan for Predation, Habitat Degradation, Competition and Disease Transmission by Feral Pigs (DEH, 2005), • Wet Tropics Management Plan 1998 (WTMA, 1998), and • Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy (WTMA, 2004). These prescriptions were current at the time of publishing; please refer to the relevant agency’s website for any updated versions. Information Sources: Agriculture & Resource Management Council of Australia & New Zealand (ARMCANZ) 2001, Weeds of National Significance Lantana (Lantana camara) Strategic Plan, National Weeds Strategy Executive Committee, Launceston. Australian Natural Resources Atlas (ANRA) 2007, Biodiversity Assessment – Brigalow Belt North – Species at risk and the Threatening Process, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, viewed 5 June 2008, <http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/vegetation/assessment/wa/ibra-bbn-species-threats.html>. BRI collection records (undated), Queensland Herbarium specimens. Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) 2005, Threat abatement plan for the predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs, viewed 25 June 2008, <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tap/pig/pubs/feral-pig-tap.pdf>. Forster, PI 1992, ‘A taxonomic revision of Tylophora R. Br. (Asclepiadaceae: Marsdenieae) in Australia’, Australian Systematic Botany, vol. 5, pp. 29–51. Forster, PI 1996, ‘Asclepiadaceae’ in Flora of Australia, vol. 28, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, pp. 271–273. Landsberg, J & Clarkson, J 2004, Threatened Plants of the Cape York Peninsula: A report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service. Vallee, L, Hogbin, T, Monks, L, Makinson, B, Matthes, M & Rossetto, M 2004, Guidelines for the Translocation of Threatened Plants in Australia (2nd ed.), Australian Network for Plant Conservation, Canberra. Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) 1998, Wet Tropics Management Plan 1998, reprinted 2005, Wet Tropics Management Authority, Cairns, Queensland, viewed 27 May 2008, <http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/ LEGISLTN/CURRENT/W/WetTropMgmtP98.pdf>. Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) 2004, Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy: the conservation, rehabilitation and transmission to future generations of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, WTMA, Cairns, Queensland, viewed 27 May 2008, <http://www.wettropics.gov.au/mwha/mwha_pdf/Strategies/ wtmaConservationStrategy.pdf>. 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