Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants in Victoria - 2014
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Advisory list of rare or threatened plants in Victoria - 2014 Cover image: Tall Astelia, Powelltown area (courtesy of Elizabeth James) © The State of Victoria Department of Environment and Primary Industries 2014 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including the Victorian Coat of Arms, the Victorian Government logo and the Department of Environment and Primary Industries logo. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en ISBN 978-1-74146-313-2 (pdf) Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, please telephone the DEPI Customer Service Centre on 136186, email [email protected] or via the National Relay Service on 133 677 www.relayservice.com.au . This document is also available on the internet at www.depi.vic.gov.au Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Introduction Purpose of the DEPI advisory lists The Advisory Lists are maintained by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries and are based on technical information and advice obtained from a range of experts. They are reviewed periodically. The information in these lists may be of use in a range of planning processes, such as the preparation of National Park Management Plans, local government planning schemes, regional catchment strategies and in setting priorities for actions to conserve biodiversity. Together with the range of programs and other resources available, lists of this type serve to increase community awareness of threatened species and may encourage community members to become involved in activities to protect threatened species, thereby reducing the risk of their conservation status worsening. Relationship to statutory lists This advisory list is not the same as the statutory list of threatened species and communities established under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG Act). However, some of the species in this advisory list are also listed as threatened under the FFG Act. The FFG Act Threatened List only includes items that have been nominated, assessed by the Scientific Advisory Committee and approved for listing by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security. There are also species on this list that are listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 . This information is included in the tables. Readers who are interested in learning more about this Act should contact the Commonwealth Department of the Environment. Although there are no direct legal requirements that flow from inclusion of a species in this advisory list, taxa assessed as rare, vulnerable or endangered in this list are considered through native vegetation planning permit approval and offset processes under Victoria’s Native Vegetation Regulations. Composition of the list and assessment of taxa The Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants in Victoria - 2014 updates the publication in 2005 of the Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants in Victoria – 2005 (DSE 2005). This list includes a comprehensive list of rare or threatened bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) and a small selection of lichens and fungi. The inclusion of a preliminary list of only nine lichens and fungi is indicative of the poorly known or data deficient conservation status of the vast majority of taxa in these groups for which a definitive list of rare or threatened species must await further taxonomic investigation and the collation of reliable distribution data. The list refers to plants considered rare or threatened in Victoria only: their status elsewhere in Australia or beyond is not considered in assigning Victorian conservation status. Taxa are eligible for inclusion in the list if: • they are recognised as taxonomically valid by the National Herbarium of Victoria, and • they currently occur, or occurred, naturally in Victoria, and • they are, or are highly likely to be, rare or threatened in Victoria. Special cases – infraspecific taxa and hybrids Where a species is subdivided into two or more infraspecific taxa (subspecies, varieties or forms) all of which are also included in the list, then the species-level taxon itself is not included. Such species are listed in Appendix 1. Logically, these species could also be considered rare or threatened but they are excluded to avoid confusion and potential double- counting. Where an EPBC Act or FFG Act status applies only at the species level, this status is shown in parentheses for the infraspecific taxa. Taxa which are generally recognised as naturally-occurring hybrids are included in this list only when they are formally recognised by the National Herbarium of Victoria. In general, such taxa are eligible for inclusion in these lists only when it is established that they are distinctive, stable and self-sustaining and supported by a published taxonomic description. Other DEPI advisory lists The Department of Environment and Primary Industries has also published the Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria – 2013 and the Advisory List of Threatened Invertebrate Fauna in Victoria – 2013. These lists are available from the DEPI web site at http://www.depi.vic.gov.au. The Department of Environment and Primary Industries Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria - 2014 2 also periodically publishes a list of Victorian plants, both native and naturalised, based on data in the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (VBA). Arrangement of the list The list is divided into three sections representing three broad subdivisions of the plant and fungal kingdoms: vascular plants, mosses and liverworts, and fungi and lichens. Nationally threatened taxa of terrestrial, freshwater or marine algae which are known to occur in Victoria (Scott et al. 1997) are not included in this list on account of the very rudimentary knowledge of the distribution and conservation status of algae at the present time. Botanical Name The list is arranged alphabetically by botanical name. The taxonomy and botanical nomenclature used in the list is based on A Census of the Vascular Plants of Victoria (Walsh & Stajsic 2007) and subsequent advice from the National Herbarium of Victoria. It is current as of October 2011. Common Name The common names listed are generally those provided in authoritative publications, including the Flora of Victoria (Walsh & Entwisle 1994, 1996, 1999), A Handbook to Plants in Victoria (Willis 1970, 1973) and other national, state and regional floras. Conservation Status in Australia National conservation status is based on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) list of taxa considered threatened in Australia. In some instances the botanical and/or the common names of plants may have changed since the taxon was first listed under the EPBC Act. In such instances the EPBC Act status has been applied to the circumscription intended at the time of listing under the Act. This information is accurate as at August 2014. For further information regarding the EPBC Act and, in particular, for the most up-to-date listings under the Act, refer to the following website: http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/ The categories are as follows: Code Category EX Extinct: A taxon is extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual of the taxon has died. CR Critically Endangered: A taxon is critically endangered when it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future. EN Endangered: A taxon is endangered when it is not critically endangered but is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. VU Vulnerable: A taxon is vulnerable when it is not critically endangered or endangered but is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future. Conservation Status in Victoria Code Category x Presumed Extinct in Victoria: not recorded from Victoria during the past 50 years despite field searches specifically for the plant, or, alternatively, intensive field searches (since 1950) at all previously known sites have failed to record the plant. e Endangered in Victoria: at risk of disappearing from the wild state if present land use and other causal factors continue to operate. v Vulnerable in Victoria: not presently endangered but likely to become so soon due to continued depletion; occurring mainly on sites likely to experience changes in land-use which would threaten the survival of the plant in the wild; or, taxa whose total population is so small that the likelihood of recovery from disturbance, including localised natural events such as drought, fire or landslip, is doubtful. r Rare in Victoria: rare but not considered otherwise threatened - there are relatively few known populations or the taxon is restricted to a relatively small area. k Poorly Known in Victoria: poorly known and suspected, but not definitely known, to belong to one of the above categories (x, e, v or r) within Victoria. At present, accurate distribution information is inadequate. Status under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 This column provides information on the listing status under the provisions of Part 3 of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 . A taxon may be listed as threatened if it has been nominated, assessed by the Scientific Advisory Committee and approved by the Minister for Environment.