This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 16/12/2008 Approved Conservation Advice (s266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)

Approved Conservation Advice for plicata

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 , Family , is a terrestrial orchid with nodes borne on a thickened bulb-like stem (pseudobulb). Pseudobulbs are up to 5 cm in length and width, more or less egg-shaped, and crowded. Leaves are up to 90 cm long, 6 cm wide, yellow-green to dark-green, pleated and arching. The apex tapers gradually to a point, with about three leaves arising from each pseudobulb. The flower stem is up to 1 m tall, hairy, bearing three to 40 white to purple flowers, with up to eight open at a time. and are up to 30 mm long, fairly broad and widely spreading. The labellum (lip) is deeply three-lobed and T- shaped when flattened. Lateral lobes are long, narrow, erect, and embrace the . The mid-lobe projects forward, its apex broadened (Jones, 1988; Dockrill, 1992). Flowering can occur from July to March, the main period being November to January (Dockrill, 1992).

Conservation Status Spathoglottis plicata 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). Spathoglottis plicata is also listed as vulnerable under the Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006 (Queensland).

Distribution and Habitat Spathoglottis plicata occurs on , Queensland, from Cooktown to the Jardine River (Jones, 1988). It is also widespread in tropical from to the west Pacific (Cribb & Tang, 1982). In , it grows in lowland regions or low ranges, in or close to swamps, in seasonally inundated areas and in moist, grassy patches close to streams, in Melaleuca swamp forest and gallery closed forest (Jones, 1988; Dockrill, 1992, Landsberg and Clarkson, 2004). Herbarium specimens have been collected from Weipa, Temple Bay, Hicks Island, Shelburne Bay, Captain Billy Creek and Elliot River (BRI collection records, n.d.). This species occurs over a range of 15 000 km2 with at least six locations (Landsberg and Clarkson, 2004). The population size is unknown. Spathoglottis plicata is reserved in Iron Range National Park and Jardine River National Park (Briggs & Leigh, 1996). Australian cultivated of this species probably originate from overseas (Dockrill, 1992). This species occurs within the Cape York (Queensland) Natural Resource Management Region. The distribution of this species overlaps with “The community of native species dependent on natural discharge of groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin” EPBC Act-listed threatened ecological community.

Spathoglottis plicata Conservation Advice - Page 1 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 16/12/2008 Threats The main potential threats to Spathoglottis plicata in Australia include over-collection and illegal collection by orchid enthusiasts,disturbance and foraging by feral pigs (Sus scrofa), and altered hydrology (Landsberg & Clarkson, 2004). Populations of feral pigs have become established in parts of Cape York Peninsula (Earth Tech, 2005) and are known to cause vegetative and substrate disturbance, particularly in swamp habitats (DEH, 2005).

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.  Develop a genetic tagging system to establish a means of identifying illegal collections from the wild, and providing evidence required for prosecution (see for example Palsboll et al., 2006).  Investigate the precise taxonomic relationship between Australian S. plicata populations and non-Australian populations using appropriate methodologies including DNA marker analysis.

Regional and Local Priority Actions The following regional and local priority recovery and threat abatement actions can be done to support the recovery of S. plicata.

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.  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.  Manage any changes to hydrology that may result in changes to the water table levels, increased run-off, sedimentation or pollution.  Investigate formal conservation arrangements, management agreements and covenants on private land, and for crown and private land investigate inclusion in reserve tenure if possible. Trampling, Browsing or Grazing  Implement the threat abatement strategies and priority actions for the control of Feral Pigs in the local region (DEH, 2005).  Protect important populations through pig-exclosure fencing. Conservation Information  Raise awareness of S. plicata within the local community.  Establish and/or maintain partnerships with private landholders and managers of land on which populations occur to ensure appropriate conservation. Enable Recovery of Additional Sites and/or Populations  Undertake appropriate seed and mycorrhizal fungi collection and storage. Spathoglottis plicata Conservation Advice - Page 2 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 16/12/2008  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 S. plicata, but highlights those that are considered to be of highest priority at the time of preparing the conservation advice.

Existing Plans/Management Prescriptions that are Relevant to the Species  Threat Abatement Plan for Predation, Habitat Degradation, Competition and Disease Transmission by Feral Pigs (DEH, 2005), and  Cape York Back on Track Biodiversity Action Plan (EPA, 2008). These prescriptions were current at the time of publishing; please refer to the relevant agency’s website for any updated versions

Information Sources: BRI Collection Records (no date), Queensland Herbarium specimens. Briggs, JD & Leigh, JH 1996, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, Centre for Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Canberra, ACT. Cribb, PJ & Tang, CZ 1982, ‘Spathoglottis (Orchidaceae) in Australia and the Pacific Islands’, Kew Bulletin, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 721-729.

Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) 2005, Threat Abatement Plan for Predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs, viewed 22 September 2008, . Dockrill, AW 1992, Australian Indigenous Orchids, revised edition, vol. 1, Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton. Earth Tech 2005, Cape York Peninsula natural resource management plan – final draft, viewed 22 September 2008, . Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2008, Cape York Back on Track Biodiversity Action Plan, Environmental Protection Agency, Brisbane, viewed 22 September 2008, .

Jones, DL 1988, Native Orchids of Australia, Reed Books, Frenchs Forest. 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.

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.

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.

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