Long-Sepalled Daviesia (Daviesia megacalyx) recovery plan
Renee Hartley and Sarah Barrett
Government of Western Australia, Department of Environment and Conservation 2008
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts 2008
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About the plan
Scientific Name:
Daviesia megacalyx
Common Name:
Long-sepalled daviesia
Family:
Papilionaceae
Flowering Period:
July to September
DEC Regions:
South Coast
DEC District:
Albany Work Centre
Shires:
Ravensthorpe
Recovery Team:
Albany District Threatened Flora Recovery Team
Illustrations and/or further information:
Brown, A., Thomson-Dans, C. and Marchant, N. (Eds). (1998) Western Australia's Threatened Flora. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia; Western Australian Herbarium (1998) FloraBase - Information on the Western Australian Flora. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia. http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/science/.
Current status:
Daviesia megacalyx was declared as Rare Flora under the Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 in 1987 and is currently ranked as Endangered (EN) under World Conservation Union (IUCN 2001) Red List criterion B1+2e, due to its limited extent of occurrence and low number of mature individuals. The species is confined to an area of approximately 85 hectares over a range of 25 kilometres in which nine populations total approximately 109,477 mature plants. The species is listed Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Description:
This erect bushy shrub, up to 1.5 m high, has angular branches. Dull green leaves, 4 to 8 cm long, are flat, blunt and erect. The 1 cm long flowers are in clusters in the leaf axils. They each have a yellow standard petal, with a yellow centre surrounded by red, and a deep red keel. Triangular fruits, about 1.5 cm long, have a large conspicuous calyx, which persists on the plant and turns black, long after the pods have been shed.
Habitat requirements:
The species is confined to heavy red gravely-clay over laterite in the Ravensthorpe Range.
Habitat critical to the survival of the species, and important populations:
Habitat critical to the survival of Daviesia megacalyx includes the area of occupancy of known populations; areas of similar habitat surrounding the known populations – these areas provide potential habitat for natural range extension and/or for allowing pollinators or other biota essential to the continued existence of the species to move between populations; and additional occurrences of similar habitat that may contain important populations of the species or may be suitable for future translocations or other recovery actions intended to create important populations. All population are considered important for the long-term recovery and survival of the species.
Benefits to other species/ecological communities:
The Ravensthorpe Range occurs within one of the fifteen National Biodiversity Hotspots. The Ravensthorpe Range is habitat for a number of endemic species and threatened species, and some twenty Priority taxa. Recovery actions put in place for Daviesia megacalyx will benefit these species and reciprocally, recovery actions put in place for these species will benefit D. megacalyx.
International obligations:
This plan is fully consistent with the aims and recommendations of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Daviesia megacalyx is not specifically listed under any international treaty and therefore this plan does not affect Australia's obligations under any other international agreements.
Role and interests of Indigenous people:
Involvement of the Indigenous community is being sought through the advice of the Department of Indigenous Affairs to determine whether there are any issues or interests identified in the plan. A search of the Department of Indigenous Affairs Aboriginal Heritage Sites Register has identified six registered sites that occur in close proximity to the Daviesia megacalyx populations. Where no role is identified for the Indigenous community associated with this species in the development of the recovery plan, opportunities may exist through cultural interpretation and awareness of the species. Indigenous involvement in the implementation of recovery actions will be encouraged.
Affected interests:
Population 6 is on freehold land. All other populations occur on Crown land.
Social and economic impacts:
The implementation of this recovery plan has the potential to have some minimal social and economic impact as all populations are located on mining tenements and one is on freehold land. However, recovery actions refer to continued negotiations between stakeholders with regard to these areas.
Evaluation of the Plan's Performance:
The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), in conjunction with the Albany District Threatened Flora Recovery Team (ADTFRT) will evaluate the performance of this IRP.
Completed Recovery Actions:
The following recovery actions have been implemented:
- All land managers have been notified of the location and threatened status of the species.
- Seed collections have been made by staff of DEC's Threatened Flora Seed Centre (TFSC).
- Staff from the DEC Albany Work Centre have regularly monitored populations.
- Staff from the DEC Albany Work Centre have conducted some surveys for additional populations.
Objectives
The objective of this Interim Recovery Plan is to abate identified threats and maintain or enhance in situ populations to ensure the long-term preservation of the species in the wild.
Criteria for success:
The number of populations and individuals within populations remains stable or increases over the five years of the plan.
Criteria for failure:
The number of populations or the number of individuals within populations decreases over the five years of the plan.
Recovery actions
- Coordinate recovery actions.
- Monitor populations.
- Continue fire management.
- Continue seed collection.
- Conduct further surveys.
- Liaise with stakeholders.
- Obtain biological and ecological information.
- Map habitat critical to the survival of the species.
- Promote awareness.
- Review the IRP and assess the need for further recovery actions.
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