Tag Archives: Rare plants

Plants of Concern on the Prairie

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Over the course of the internship at Midewin, we have worked with Plants of Concern (POC), a rare plant monitoring program based in the Chicago Botanic Garden, which monitors populations of rare and state listed plants at Midewin. We also worked with the US Fish and Wildlife to monitor federally endangered Dalea foliosa (leafy prairie clover). The Plants of Concern protocol revolves around “subpopulations,” which are defined as having a distance of at least 50 meters between the nearest plants. Separate EO’s (element occurrences) are considered separate populations; many EO’s have more than one subpopulation. Level one protocol is focused on assessing the extent and abundance of plants in a subpopulation, and it is done for all subpopulations monitored by POC. Level two protocol provides information on demographics by looking at a small area and seeing how many fruits and seedlings plants are produced. Information is also recorded on threats to the population, including invasive species (both herbaceous and woody plants) and other impacts such as deer browse and trampling. 

Dalea foliosa (leafy prairie clover), a federally endangered species found in dolomite prairies.

We monitored 3 subpopulations of Silene regia (royal catchfly), 2 subpopulations of Malvastrum hispidum (hispid false mallow), a subpopulation of Trifolium reflexum (buffalo clover), 4 subpopulations of Agalinis auriculata (eared false foxglove), and a subpopulation of Sanguisorba canadensis (Canadian burnet) with POC, as well as one subpopulation of Dalea foliosa with USFWS and another subpopulation with Midewin staff. Interestingly, species can behave quite differently in restorations as compared to wild populations. For example, Silene regia was very rare in the wild and was extirpated from the Chicago Region according to the Flora of the Chicago Region, whose authors assigned this species a C value of 10. So, the population we monitored was re-introduced, not wild. However, it has been highly successful in restoration, being present in most of the restorations at Midewin (coming up from seed), and the population we monitored has over 1000 individuals. Interestingly, in some of the places where it grows, it seems to prefer more disturbed areas over higher quality ones. In one restoration, it was growing happily in the weedy roadside border with Bromus inermis and Pastinaca sativa but avoiding the adjacent restoration with diverse native vegetation such as Dalea purpurea, Baptisia alba, Eryngium yuccifolium, Sorghastrum nutans, Parthenium integrifolium, Silphium laciniatum, and Silphium terebinthinaceum. Given that the core of this species’ range is in the Ozarks of Missouri, I wonder whether Silene regia was simply dispersal-limited. Now that it has human assistance through widespread seeding in many restorations and even ornamental plantings (due to its showy flowers), it may be more widespread in the region than it ever was to begin with. 

Silene regia (royal catchfly).
Malvastrum hispidum (hispid false mallow), a dolomite specialist.

Thankfully, Agalinis auriculata also seems to be doing quite well from seeding in restorations as it was present in at least two sites outside of the original two remnant sites at Midewin. The restored populations may now even outnumber the remnants. It would be interesting to monitor these restored populations and verify whether this is true. I believe that this shows that many plants are only rare because of lack of habitat, and that re-creating the habitat where it had been erased previously, and re-introducing these species, can be a resounding success. 

Agalinis auriculata (ear-leaved false foxglove).

Homage to the Huachuca Water Umbel

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The Huachuca water umbel, Lilaeopsis schaffneriana var. recurva is tiny but mighty – and a flood plain opportunist who deserves our attention as dedicated conservationists.

This semi-aquatic plant, although small, is imperative for erosion control and overall maintenance of sensitive wetland habitats. Since this species can produce both sexually through flowers and asexually through rhizomes – it’s seedbanks can persist viably for up to 10 years, allowing the plant to recolonize quickly after periods of drought if precipitation is great enough. In events of extreme downpours and flooding caused by desert monsoons, the Huachuca water umbel can expand its population quickly by establishing itself in newly disturbed habitats by dislodged rhizomes opportunistically dispersing and re-rooting themselves in a different site along the aquatic system. However, the unique ability is dependent upon the presence of a refugia – or a suitable, unaltered wetland habitat that supports these isolated individuals.

In the Huachuca mountains, healthy riparian communities are starting to disappear. As the Huachuca water umbel seeks to find refuge – it finds itself fighting an uphill battle against increased cattle allotments leading to overgrazing, aquatic habitat degradation, stream pollution from wildfire sedimentation, invasive species competition, recreation, and extreme drought. With all these factors at play, great concern for the species was expressed by the Center for Biological Diversity and in 1997 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rightfully added the Huachuca water umbel to the list of species under the Endangered Species Act.

Last week, myself and B. Sonday accompanied Coronado Forest Botanist Hannah in monitoring and collecting data for these important individuals.

Measuring a large umbel population in the Huachuca Mountains.

We collected data for two separate drainage areas and found several microsites of umbel populations throughout both. However, in the first drainage where evidence of the presence of cattle was high – distance between umbel populations were significant and individuals within those populations made up just 0-5% percent of the total vegetation coverage.

In conclusion, the Huachuca water umbel is struggling to overcome adversity in face of a changing climate and poor land management. But, monitoring efforts play an imperative part in understanding this plants ecology and to best provide solutions for increasing their populations in the future.

After the Fire: Allium gooddingii

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It’s no surprise that wildfires can have devastating impacts on people, wildlife, and the ecosystem. In high-severity wildfires, habitats are destroyed causing susceptible populations to decline. Such is the case for a rare species of wild onion, Allium gooddingii, better known as Gooding’s onion.

Allium gooddingii

Allium gooddingii is an endemic plant to New Mexico and Arizona where it generally grows under the canopy of high-elevation mixed conifer and spruce forest. In New Mexico, A. gooddingii can be found at Gilia and Lincoln National Forest. However, over 95% of A. gooddingii populations and their habitats have been heavily burned by wildfires since 2006 (Roth 2020). As a result of the wildfires, A. gooddingii is a Forest Sensitive Species and is listed as endangered species by the State of New Mexico (Roth 2020).

Allium gooddingii at Lincoln National Forest

On Lincoln National Forest, A. gooddingii can only be found at the Smokey Bear Ranger District at elevations above 10,000 feet. In recent years, large populations in the district have burned in two wildfires: the Little Bear Fire (2012) and Three Rivers Fire (2021). The Little Bear Fire burned a total of 44,330 acres in the Southern Sierra Blanca regions of LNF, including 80% of known A. gooddingii sites (Roth 2020). In addition, the Three Rivers Fire burned more than 7,000 acres of LNF, burning into the Little Bear burn scar. Both fires left the species’ habitat without any canopy cover.

Little Bear burn scar on the left and Three Rivers on the right.

With the loss of canopy cover, the long-persistent of these plants is questionable. Therefore, surveys are carried out to monitor the impacts of fire on A. gooddingii populations. Luckily, I had the opportunity to join the Wildlife Crew in my district and partake in the surveys over several days. The surveys entailed heading to different scouting points within areas that were either burned by the Little Bear, Three Rivers, or not burned at all. At each point, the number of A. gooddingii individuals were counted within a 10 meter radial plot.

However, it was not an easy task getting to the different points. We had to hike down and up several steep slopes at an elevation of 11,000 feet to get to the points. Despite the challenging hikes, we completed all 16 scouting points. Later in the season, the Wildlife Crew will head back and collect seeds to be used for future restoration in LNF.

The Wildlife Crew and Peter surveying the onion species in a non burned area.

Pollinators

One of the most abundant populations I’ve seen at Three Rivers burn scar had several pollinators roaming around. I was able to capture a few.

Various pollinators captured on a single clump of A. gooddingii within the Three Rivers burn perimeter.

Literature Cited

Roth, D. 2020. Status report. Goodding’s onion (Allium gooddingii). Gila and Lincoln National Forest, NM. Unpublished report prepared by the EMNRD-Forestry Division, Santa Fe, NM for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Region 2, Albuquerque, NM. http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SFD/ForestMgt/endangeredandrareplantreports.html