Ephedra funerea NT Taxonomic Authority: Coville & C.V.Morton Global Assessment Regional Assessment Region: Global Endemic to region Synonyms Common Names Ephedra californica v (Coville & C.V. Morton) L. D. Benson DEATH VALLEY MORMO English
Upper Level Taxonomy Kingdom: PLANTAE Phylum: TRACHEOPHYTA Class: GNETOPSIDA Order: EPHEDRALES Family: EPHEDRACEAE Lower Level Taxonomy Rank: Infra- rank name: Plant Hybrid Subpopulation: Authority:
General Information Distribution Endemic to southwestern USA occuring in California, southern Nevada and western Arizona.
Range Size Elevation Biogeographic Realm Area of Occupancy: Upper limit: 1700 Afrotropical Extent of Occurrence: 81739 Lower limit: 300 Antarctic Map Status: Depth Australasian Upper limit: Neotropical Lower limit: Oceanian Depth Zones Palearctic Shallow photic Bathyl Hadal Indomalayan Photic Abyssal Nearctic Population Variously described as scarce to abundant: common and abundant (Baker 13971) in Arizona; fairly common (Sanders 9049) - Mojave desert; uncommon, but widespread on rocky slopes and wash edgees (Sanders 28019) - Mojave desert; uncommon (Sanders 24258) - Southcentral Mojave desert and scarce (Elvin 3798) - southern Mojave.
Total Population Size Minimum Population Size: Maximum Population Size: Habitat and Ecology Shrub, found growing in desert scrub, on rocky slopes with gravelly or sandy soil in arid areas, sometimes on stabilised dunes. Associated with limestone mountain ranges in Nevada. Associated vegetation includes mixed scrub such as Larrea sp. and Ambrosia sp. Coning from March to April and seed reported to be dispersed by seed-caching rodents.
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 Shrub - large Perennial shrub (>1m), also termed a Phanerophyte (>1m)
Threats General threats include expansion of urban areas such as Las Vegas, increased fragmentation of habitat with road building and use of off-road vehicles as well as overgrazing in some areas. Collections have been made recently (2008) indicating the species is still extant.
Past Present Future 1 Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced) 1.4 Infrastructure development 1.4.2 Human settlement 1.4.3 Tourism/recreation 1.4.4 Transport - land/air 10 Human disturbance 10.1 Recreation/tourism 10.4 Transport 13 None Conservation Measures Global Status rated as G2- Imperilled (NatureServe 2009) indicating a species at high risk of extinction. In the Flora of North America it has also been listed as a species of conservation concern. No samples have been collected as an ex situ conservation measure and one record is known from a botanic garden. It occurs in several protected areas throughout its range including the California Desert National Conservation Area and Death Valley National Park.
In Place Needed 3 Research actions 3.2 Population numbers and range 3.4 Habitat status 3.5 Threats 3.6 Uses and harvest levels 3.8 Conservation measures 3.9 Trends/Monitoring 4 Habitat and site-based actions 4.4 Protected areas 4.4.1 Identification of new protected areas 5 Species-based actions 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 United States Arizona California Nevada General Habitats Score Description Major Importance 3 Shrubland 1UnsetSuitable 3.4 Shrubland - Temperate1Unset Suitable 3.5 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry1Unset Suitable 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)1 Suitable Not applicable 8 Desert 1Suitable Not applicable 8.1 Desert - Hot1 Suitable Not applicable
Ecosystem Services Insufficient Information available Species provides no ecosystem services
Species Utilisation Species is not utilised at all
Purpose / Type of Use Subsistence National International 3. Medicine - human and veterinary The stems of most members of this genus contain the alkaloid ephedrine and are valuable in the treatment of asthma and many other complaints of the respiratory system (Plants for a Future 2010).
Trend in the level of wild offtake/harvest in relation to total wild population numbers over the last five years: Unknown Trend in the amount of offtake/harvest produced through domestication/cultivation over the last five years: Unknown CITES status: Not listed
Livelihood Value There is no information for this species regarding its livelihood value.
IUCN Red Listing Red List Assessment:(using 2001 IUCN system) Near Threatened (NT)
Red List Criteria: 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 The range is restricted to south eastern California and across the borders with Nevada and Arizona. It is listed as a species thought to be at risk of extinction using the NatureServe ranking system (NatureServe 2009). E. funerea and the habitat in which it occurs is under some threat from human development and disturbance from off-road vehicles. Over-grazing may also be a threat. At present there is insufficient information to apply a threatened rating to this species using the IUCN criteria. However, the range is restricted and any further deterioration may lead to a rating under criterion B in the near future. Hence, a rating of Near Threatened is given. Reason(s) for Change in Red List Category from the Previous Assessment: Genuine Change Nongenuine Change No Change Genuine (recent) New information Taxonomy Same category Genuine (since first assessment) Knowledge of Criteria Criteria Revisio and criteria Incorrect data used Other Same category but previously change in criteria Current Population Trend: Unknown Date of Assessment: 18/09/2010 Name(s) of the Assessor(s): A.Bell & S.Bachman Evaluator(s): Notes:
% population decline in the past: Time period over which the past decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): % population decline in the future: Time period over which the future decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): Number of Locations: Severely Fragmented: Number of Mature Individuals:
Bibliography Cutler H., 1939, Monograph of the North American Species of the Genus Ephedra, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden4, 373- 428, , Hollander J. L., Wall, Stephen B. Vander, 2009, Dispersal syndromes in North American Ephedra., International Journal of Plant Sciences3, 323-330, , NatureServe, 2009, An Online Encyclopedia of Life, , Published online at http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/, Plants for a Future, 1996-2010, Plants For A Future, Earth, Plants, People., , , RBG Kew, 2009, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, , Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/, Webster G.L., 1961, The altitudinal Limits of Vacular Plants, Ecology3, 587-590, ,