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Biotropica - 2024 - Richer - Demographic modeling of the endangered subtropical rainforest shrub Graptophyllum reticulatum5.75 MB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Demographic modeling of the endangered subtropical rainforest shrub Graptophyllum reticulatum
Biotropica, Vol.56(4), pp.1-15
2024
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
The subtropical rainforest shrub Graptophyllum reticulatum (Acanthaceae) occurs in only a few populations within a 20-kilometer range in the Sunshine Coast, south-east Queensland, Australia. This endangered plant has been subject to habitat degradation and loss, mostly due to land clearing and urbanization. In the past decades, conservation measures such as land protection and translocation have been put in place to protect the species' wild populations. The aim of the study was to analyze the viability of the species' populations in the long term while assessing the effectiveness of land protection and translocation. Demographic data was collected every decade since 2000; for this study, we resurveyed all known populations including a translocated population and two recently discovered populations. We found that the average number of plants per population has doubled since 2000, except in one population that underwent land clearing. However, after being reduced by 70%, plant abundance in this population has been increasing, giving evidence of natural post-clearing recovery. We developed population growth models for population viability analysis in best, average, and worst-case scenarios to predict the species' viability over the next 100 years. All populations are expected to grow in the next 100 years, except in the worst-case scenario in which removing land protection from the model led to an 80% decline in the total number of plants within 100 years, highlighting the importance of land protection for species' conservation. Overall, if current conservation efforts are maintained, this endangered species is likely to persist for the next 100 years.
Details
- Title
- Demographic modeling of the endangered subtropical rainforest shrub Graptophyllum reticulatum
- Authors
- Amaya Richer - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringYoko Shimizu - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science and Engineering - LegacyAlison Shapcott (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Publication details
- Biotropica, Vol.56(4), pp.1-15
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1111/btp.13335
- ISSN
- 1744-7429; 0006-3606
- Copyright note
- © 2024 The Authors. Biotropica published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Data Availability
- Detailed population location data will be held in the University of the Sunshine Coast Research Repository at https://www.usc.edu.au/research/research-bank and can be made available on request from the corresponding author.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991022797802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
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