Approved Conservation Advice for Dendrobium Nindii
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
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 Dendrobium nindii 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 Dendrobium nindii, Family Orchidaceae, also known as the Blue Antler Orchid or Blue Orchid, is an epiphytic antler orchid with stiffly erect, cylindrical, ribbed, dark brownish to blackish pseudobulbs that are leafy in the upper half. It bears 6–22 leaves that grow 8–15 cm long. Leaves are dark green and leathery, and often concave and notched (Jones, 2006). The raceme is 20–50 cm long, carrying 8–20 flowers (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006). Flowers are white, whitish or pale lilac (Dockrill, 1992), mauve or violet (Jones, 2006), with a darker labellum (lip) (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006). Sepals and petals are fleshy, spreading and twisted. The lateral lobes of the labellum are very large and the labellum has three dark purple ridges. Flowering occurs from July to September or October (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006), and flowers are long-lived (Jones, 2006). Dendrobium nindii occasionally hybridises with Dendrobium (Durabaculum) undulatum and Ceratobium dalbertisii (Dendrobium antennatum) (Jones, 2006). This species is listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) (EPBC Act) as Dendrobium nindii but has recently been moved to the genus Durabaculum (Clements & Jones, 2002). This name change is followed in Jones (2006) and Clements (2008). Dendrobium nindii is considered to be a synonym of Durabaculum nindii in the Australian Plant Census (CHAH, 2008). Conservation Status Dendrobium nindii is listed as endangered. This species is eligible for listing as endangered under the EPBC Act as, prior to the commencement of the EPBC Act, it was listed as endangered under Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwlth). The species is also listed as endangered under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Queensland). Distribution and Habitat Dendrobium nindii is known from the McIlwraith Range on Cape York Peninsula, south to Innisfail, Queensland and is also known to occur in New Guinea (Cribb, 1986; Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006). Localities include Gap Creek in the Bloomfield area, the Daintree River, Port Douglas, and the Johnstone River (Queensland Herbarium, 2008). This species occurs within the Cape York and Wet Tropics (Queensland) Natural Resource Management Regions. Dendrobium nindii occurs up to 400 m above sea level, growing on trees (including mangroves and palms) in near-coastal swamps, coastal rainforest, mangroves, and low altitude gorges and streams (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006). It has been recorded in rainforest on conglomerate and granite (Queensland Herbarium, 2008). It grows with its leaves and inflorescences exposed to strong light or even direct sunlight and its roots shaded (Dockrill; 1992). The distribution of this species is not known to overlap with any EPBC Act-listed threatened ecological communities. Dendrobium nindii Conservation Advice - Page 1 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Threats The main identified threats to Dendrobium nindii were clearing of coastal habitats (Jones, 1992; Jones, 2006) and illegal collection (Jones, 1992). 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. • Undertake seed germination trials to determine the requirements for successful establishment, including mycorrhizal association trials. • Investigate the potential and efficacy of DNA-based or other approaches for the identification of individual plants and/or populations to provide a means for detecting and prosecuting illegal collection from the wild (see for example Palsboll et al., 2006). Regional and Local Priority Actions The following regional and local priority recovery and threat abatement actions can be done to support the recovery of Dendrobium nindii. 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 D. nindii occurs do not adversely impact on known populations. • Design and implement a management strategy to minimise illegal collection. • Control access routes to suitably constrain public access to known sites on public land. • Suitably control and manage access on private land. • Minimise adverse impacts from land use at known sites. • Investigate formal conservation arrangements such as the use of covenants, conservation agreements or inclusion in reserve tenure. Conservation Information • Raise awareness of D. nindii within the local community. Enable Recovery of Additional Sites and/or Populations • Undertake appropriate seed and mycorrhizal fungi 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 D. nindii, but highlights those that are considered to be of highest priority at the time of preparing the conservation advice. Dendrobium nindii 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 • Cape York Peninsula Natural Resource Management Plan (Earth Tech, 2005), and • Mackay Whitsunday Natural Resource Management Plan (MWNRMG, 2005). These prescriptions were current at the time of publishing; please refer to the relevant agency’s website for any updated versions. Information Sources: Clements, MA 2008, Australian Orchid Name Index, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research/Australian National Herbarium, Canberra. Clements, MA & Jones, DL 2002, ‘Nomenclatural changes in the Dendrobieae (Orchidaceae) 1: The Australasian region’, The Orchadian, vol. 13, pp. 485-497. Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH) 2008, Australian Plant Name Index, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, viewed 30 April 2008, <http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni>. Cribb, PJ 1986, ‘A revision of Dendrobium sect. Spatulata (Orchidaceae)’, Kew Bulletin, vol. 41, pp. 615-692. Dockrill, AW 1992, Australian Indigenous Orchids, Revised Edition, SGAP, NSW Region, Sydney. Earth Tech 2005, Cape York Peninsula Natural Resource Management Plan – final draft, viewed 30 April 2008, <http://www.capeyorklandcare.org.au/CYPNRM_Plan.pdf>. Jones, DL 1988, Native Orchids of Australia, Reed Books, Sydney. Jones, DL 1992, ‘Some rare and threatened Australian orchids’, In: Butler, G, Meredith, L & Richardson, M Conservation of Rare or Threatened Plants in Australasia, pp. 203-206, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra. Jones, DL 2006, Native Orchids of Australia Including the Island Territories, Reed New Holland, Sydney. Mackay Whitsunday Natural Resource Management Group (MWNRMG) 2005, Mackay Whitsunday Natural Resource Management Plan, viewed 30 April 2008, <http://www.mwnrm.org.au/publications/regionalplans.html>. Palsboll, PJ, Berube, M, Skaug, HJ & Raymakers, C 2006, ‘DNA registers of legally obtained wildlife and derived products as means to identify illegal takes’, Conservation Biology, vol. 20, pp. 1284-1293. Queensland Herbarium 2008, HERBRECS, Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane. 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. Dendrobium nindii Conservation Advice - Page 3 of 3 .