19/1 • 2020, 307–315 DOI: 10.2478/hacq-2020-0003 Conservation assessment and action on Lotus sanguineus (Fabaceae), a critically endangered endemic species to Turkey Ümit Subaşı1,*, Fatoş Şekerciler2 & Mecit Vural3 Key words: Conservation action, Abstract IUCN assessment, Lotus sanguineus Lotus sanguineus is one of the endemic taxa from Mediterranean Region of Turkey. (Vural) D. D. Sokoloff, Endemic, It has hitherto been known from type locality and was assessed under VU and Turkey. EN categories despite the lack of information on the population size, number of location and habitat quality. This study aims to determine the global conservation Ključne besede: varstvene akcije, status and conservation strategies of the narrow endemic species. We collected IUCN ocena, Lotus sanguineus all available data and evaluated them with the field studies. We reported the sizes (Vural) D. D. Sokoloff, endemit, of populations, altitude, coordinates, habitat types and the threats it faces for Turčija. each locality. GeoCAT analyses at global levels indicate the extent of occurrence 19.965 km2 and area of occupancy 9 km2 and there could be an inferred decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation of the original population, suggesting this species might be classified as Critically Endangered, based on criterium B1ab (i, ii, iii) + 2ab (i, ii, iii) in the Red List categorization. Conservation priorities include life history and ecology studies, in-situ conservation, population monitoring and ex-situ conservation to prevent the destruction of the existing gene pool. Izvleček Lotus sanguineus je ena izmed endemitskih vrst mediteranske regije v Turčiji. Dosedaj je poznana samo s tipske lokalitete in je uvrščena v kategoriji VU in EN, kljub pomanjkanju informacij o velikosti populacije, številu lokalitet in kakovosti habitata. V članku želimo ugotoviti globalni naravovarstveni status vrste in ohrani- tvene strategije za to ozko endemično vrsto. Zbrali smo vse razpoložljive podatke in jih ovrednotili s terenskimi raziskavami. Poročamo o velikosti populacij, nad- morski višini, habitatnem tipu in grožnjah za vsako lokacijo. Z analizo GeoCAT na globalnem nivoju smo ugotovili obseg pojavljanja na 19,965 km2 in območje zasedenosti 9 km2. Pričakujemo lahko upad populacije zaradi izgube habitatov in razdrobljenosti prvotne populacije, zato lahko vrsto po kategorizaciji Rdečega seznama ocenimo kot Kritično ogroženo (CE) na osnovi kriterija B1ab (i, ii, iii) + 2ab (i, ii, iii). Naravovarstvene prioritete vključujejo raziskave življenjske zgodovi- Received: 31. 12. 2019 ne in ekologije, in-situ varovanje, populacijski monitoring in ex-situ varovanje za Revision received: 20. 3. 2020 preprečevanje uničenja obstoječega genskega nabora. Accepted: 20. 3. 2020 1 Ege University Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, 35100, İzmir, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Ankara University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, 06100, Tandoğan, Ankara Turkey. 3 Gazi University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Ankara, Turkey. * Corresponding author 307 Ümit Subaşı, Fatoş Şekerciler & Mecit Vural 19/2 • 2020, 307–315 Conservation assessment and action on Lotus sanguineus (Fabaceae), a critically endangered endemic species to Turkey category of the species is VU (Vulnerable). On the other Introduction hand, Kocabaş (2014) proposes the category EN (Endan- Turkey has a rich biodiversity and endemism rate result- gered) for L. sanguineus, only with an estimation of its ing from its geographical location, geological and geo- distribution area. This study aims to determine the ex- morphological features, influence of different climates, tinction risk of this rare endemic species on a global scale range of soil types, topographical diversity with marked and its conservation strategies in consideration of the ur- changes in ecological factors over a short distance (Vural gency of deficiencies in conservation. For this purpose, et al. 1999). All these factors contribute to its biological the distribution, population size, habitat characteristics of uniqueness. It is home to 11707 plant taxa and approxi- the L. sanguineus and threats on the species are identified, mately one in every three plants (3649 endemic taxa) in and therefore the conservation actions are proposed. Turkey is endemic (Güner et al. 2012). This floristic and habitat richness of the country makes it important for global conservation, but has long been neglected in terms Methods of conservation efforts and faces severe challenges. Par- ticularly the effects of agro-pastoral human societies such All the existing information relevant to the systematics as overgrazing, illegal cuttings, population growth, the and distribution of Lotus sanguineus has been evaluated increase of cereal farming and unplanned urbanization (Davis et al. 1988; Vural 1983). Collected specimens de- have led the large-scale destruction of important habitat posited in herbarium ANK have been examined whereas for many species in Anatolia. the samples deposited in Royal Botanic Garden Edin- Assessment of the conservation status of threatened burgh (E) herbarium have been accessed on online type species has become necessary in the present world to pre- specimen catalogues (JSTOR Global Plants, http:// vent the extinction of that species due to the rapid deg- plants.jstor.org/). The seed samples have been deposited radation of the natural ecosystems with the increase of with their genbank numbers (GKN: 045232) in the Seed human populations (Akman et al. 2014). Determination Gene Bank – Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture of the threat, i.e., the extent of the threat and/or the ex- and Forestry General Directorate of Agricultural Research pectation of survival of a threatened species is an impor- and Policies. tant tool to conserve biodiversity (Bernardos et al. 2006). The single known locality ofL. sanguineus from where In this context, The IUCN Red List is globally recognized herbarium specimens were recorded has been confirmed as a standard not only serving to highlight extinction risk by field works, and then, surveyed to determine the distri- levels of species, but also providing guidance to species bution of the species during May–August 2016. conservation responses, identifying priority. For all localities, coordinates, population size (num- Dorycnium sanguineum Vural firstly described by ber of the individuals), elevation, habitat type (following Vural (1983) is basionym of Lotus sanguineus (Vural) the IUCN habitats classification scheme ver 3.1. (IUCN D. D. Sokoloff, one of the endemic taxa only known 2012a)), and the threats (following the IUCN threats from the Karaman province in Turkey. Since the early classification scheme ver 3.2. (IUCN 2012b)) were re- 19th century, most European authors accepted Lotus corded. Also, the species that accompanying with Lotus and Dorycnium as two closely related, but distinct Fa- sanguineus were collected and identified. All coordinates baceae genera (Taubert 1894; Rikli 1901; Dominguez were determined by using the Global Positioning System & Galiano 1979; Talavera & Salgueiro 1999). However, (GPS). Habitat and threat types of each locality were ob- according to recent molecular phylogenetic studies, ac- tained from field observations. The numbers of individu- cepted by many authors suggested that it should not be als were estimated by sampling 10 quadrats randomly separated from Lotus (Allan et al. 2003, 2004; Degtjareva from each locality, the quadrat sizes were 5 × 5 m (Guidi et al. 2006, 2008; Sandral et al. 2010). In this article con- 2010). The numbers of individuals were estimated using trary to tradition, authors prefer to accept former mem- the following formula: bers of Dorycnium placement in Lotus genus as accepted on the International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (https:// www.ipni.org/n/77067709-1). Lotus sanguineus has a very limited distribution but its habitat characteristics, limit of its distribution, locations, Wherein, Ns is the number of individuals of a species, population size, and potential threats of the populations μi is the mean number of individuals in locality i, and Si are not sufficiently well known. According to Red Data is the total area of locality i; μi /25 is the density per m2 Book of Turkish Plants (Ekim et al. 2000), the threat (Guidi 2010). Calculation of the EOO (Extent of Occur- 308 Ümit Subaşı, Fatoş Şekerciler & Mecit Vural 19/2 • 2020, 307–315 Conservation assessment and action on Lotus sanguineus (Fabaceae), a critically endangered endemic species to Turkey rence) and AOO (Area of Occupancy) was carried out by using Geo-Cat (Bachman et al. 2011; http://geocat.kew. Results org/). Because of the narrow distributions of the species Taxonomy and the details on spatial information, which are avail- able in the Area of Occupancy, by using a grid of 1 km2 Lotus sanguineus (Vural) D. D. Sokoloff, Byull. Mos- has been calculated. A 1 km2 grid can be used for as- kovsk. Obshch. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol. 108(3): 43 (2003). sessment when high precision data are available (IUCN Basionym: Dorycnium sanguineum Vural Notes Roy. 2011). Area of Occupancy (AOO, km2), Extent of Oc- Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 41(1): 69 (1983). Type: Turkey currence (EOO, km2), population numbers and field ob- C4 Konya: Karaman, Bucakkisla, east slopes of Cev- servations were used to reassess the conservation status of lik Da., in open Pinus brutia forest, calcareous sub- this species applying the IUCN (2012c) Categories and strate, 550 m, 29 vi 1981, M. Vural 1976