Species Summary

Kennedia retrorsa CR Taxonomic Authority: Hemsl. Global Assessment Regional Assessment Region: Global Endemic to region Upper Level Taxonomy Kingdom: PLANTAE Phylum: TRACHEOPHYTA Class: MAGNOLIOPSIDA Order: FABALES Family: LEGUMINOSAE Lower Level Taxonomy Rank: Infra- rank name: Plant Hybrid Subpopulation: Authority: General Information Distribution Kennedia retrorsa is endemic to Australia, distributed in the states of New South Wales. It is highly restricted, with recent collections and confirmed populations known from the Mount Dangar area and the adjacent Goulburn River catchment. Historical records exist from Bilpin in the south although no voucher specimens are available for confirmation. The species has also been recorded from the Colo Heights area but investigations suggest that this population is likely to be K. rubicunda (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2000). Both the Bilpin and Colo Heights populations require additional survey. Range Size Elevation Biogeographic Realm Area of Occupancy: 20 Upper limit: 300 Afrotropical Extent of Occurrence: 20 Lower limit: 0 Antarctic Map Status: Depth Australasian Upper limit: Neotropical Lower limit: Oceanian Depth Zones Palearctic Shallow photic Bathyl Hadal Indomalayan Photic Abyssal Nearctic Population Total population size is not known but a recent survey suggests 12 plants in New South Wales (MSBP 2010). Furthermore, less than 1,000 plants are known to occur within Goulburn River National Park (Briggs and Leigh 1995). The species also occurs on private land, particularly adjacent to Mount Dangar and at Dingo Creek. The known occurrences of the species within conservation areas cannot be considered adequate due to the limited number of known records and the predominance of seedlings and juveniles with the population (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2000). Total Population Size Minimum Population Size: Maximum Population Size: Habitat and Ecology Climbing herb found in a variety of habitats from mountain sides to riparian zones, from sheltered forest to steep, exposed rocky ridgelines; also in eucalyptus woodland or wet forest with Eucalyptus deanei or along creeks with Leptospermum polygalifolium. At Dingo Creek it grows in association with Angophora floribunda, Eucalyptus sideroxylon and E. tereticornis. In creek systems flowing from Mount Dangar e.g. Boodles Creek, the species is in association with Angophora floribunda and Eucalyptus dawsonii and E. punctata. It generally occupies sheltered site, north facing at 0-300 m altitude. This species is pollinated by insects, but self pollination is also likely to play a role in the reproduction of this species. Its seeds are hard coated, which induces a period of dormancy and are mostly locally dispersed. Dispersal and dormancy may be assisted by action of water in riparian zones. The species is likely to be fire sensitive (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2000). Plants reach maturity at approximately 3 years following germination, peak maturity may not be reached until 4 – 6 years (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2006). System Movement pattern Crop Wild Relative Terrestrial Freshwater Nomadic Congregatory/Dispersive Is the species a wild relative of a crop? Marine Migratory Altitudinally migrant Growth From Definition Forb or Herb Biennial or perennial herbacaeous plant, also termed a Hemicryptophyte Vines Vines, lianas and creepers Threats Immediate threats to this species include wildfire, inappropriate hazard reduction burns and associated fire management activities. The majority of the current known populations is reproductively immature and fire has the potential to destroy reproductively immature plants and thus lead to localised extinctions (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2000). Fire intervals of less than 10–15 years are likely to result in sub-population declines, and fire intervals of less than three to four years are likely to result in its extinction (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts 2008). In the New South Wales east coast, 1.46 million hectares of both forest and non-forest landscapes were burnt in 2002-2003 (Montreal Process Implementation Group for Australia 2008); in the Goulburn River National Park the biggest wildfire in 1997-1998 burnt ~24,000 hectares, further prescribed burns were carried out every year since 2000 but the majority of the park has not been burnt since records began (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2004); in Wollemi National Park the largest wildfire in 2001-2002 burnt over ~200,000 hectares and over half of the park was burnt in the last 10 years, large areas of the park are in a moderate level of risk category due to frequent fires leading to populations of threatened species possibly being under threat of depletion if current regimes are continued (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2006). This plant is believed to be palatable, hence grazing may pose an additional threat. Juvenile plants in some populations were heavily cropped, presumably by native animals (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2000). Past Present Future 1 Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced) 1.1 Agriculture 1.1.4 Livestock 1.7 Fires 7 Natural disasters 7.4 Wildfire 8 Changes in native species dynamics 8.3 Prey/food base 9 Intrinsic factors 9.1 Limited dispersal 9.2 Poor recruitment/reproduction/regeneration 9.3 High juvenile mortality 10 Human disturbance 10.5 Fire Conservation Measures It is known to occur within two protected areas in New South Wales, in the Goulburn River and Wollemi National Park. It is listed as a Vulnerable species under Schedule 2 of the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, under the Commonwealth Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 and under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Also listed as 2VCa according to Briggs and Leigh (1995), a Vulnerable species with the geographic range less than 100 km2, with more than 1,000 plants known to occur within the reserved area. The distribution of this species overlaps with the “White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland” Critically Endangered EPBC Act-listed ecological community of which less than 0.1% remains in a near-intact condition. Much of the original habitat was cleared for agriculture, in the areas that remain, grazing has removed the native understorey (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts 2006). Recommendations to reduce threat by fire include: trail maintenance, bush fire suppression, mop up operations and mechanical fuel reduction should be avoided in known species locations (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service 2006). It is recommended that further research is carried out on the response of this species to fire, habitat status, population size and levels of threats. Also to support the recovery of this species is it recommended identification of populations of high conservation priority, raise awareness, management of the threats and establishment of additional populations (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts 2008). The seeds for this species have been collected as part of the Millennium Seed Bank project. Seeds are located at: Wakehurst Place, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) and Mount Annan Botanic Garden, New South Wales (Australia). In Place Needed 1 Policy-based actions 1.1 Management plans 1.1.1 Development 1.1.2 Implementation 1.2 Legislation 1.2.1 Development 1.2.1.2 National level 1.2.1.3 Sub-national level 2 Communication and Education 2.2 Awareness 3 Research actions 3.2 Population numbers and range 3.3 Biology and Ecology 3.4 Habitat status 3.5 Threats 3.9 Trends/Monitoring 4 Habitat and site-based actions 4.1 Maintenance/Conservation 4.4 Protected areas 5 Species-based actions 5.1 Re-introductions 5.4 Recovery management 5.7 Ex situ conservation actions 5.7.2 Genome resource bank Countries of Occurrence PRESENCE ORIGIN Year Breeding Non- Passage Possibly ExtinctPresence Native Introduced Re- Vagrant Origin Round Season breeding migrant extinct uncertain Introduced uncertain only season only Australia New South Wales General Habitats Score Description Major Importance 1 Forest 1UnsetSuitable 1.4 Forest - Temperate1Unset Suitable 5 Wetlands (inland)9 Possible Not applicable 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)1Unset Suitable Species Utilisation Species is not utilised at all IUCN Red Listing Red List Assessment:(using 2001 IUCN system) Critically Endangered (CR) Red List Criteria: B1ab(iii,iv,v) Date Last Seen (only for EX, EW or Possibly EX species): Is the species Possibly Extinct? Possibly Extinct Candidate? Rationale for the Red List Assessment K. retrorsa is listed as Critically Endangered in view of its restricted distribution in eucalypt woodland and riparian zones of the Gouldburn River National Park in New South Wales (EOO and AOO ~20 km2). Fire is the main threat to the species and with largest fire in the Gouldburn area was 240 km2. Therefore the known localities are considered as one location. Furthermore, the number of mature individuals in the known populations is declining and this species is fire sensitive with fire intervals of less than 10–15 years likely to result in sub-population declines. It was initially reported within the Wollemi National Park but it is now believed to be a different species, therefore additional survey in this area is required. This species has been listed as

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