Assessment Report - Eragrostis comptonii

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	LILIOPSIDA	POALES	POACEAE

Scientific Name:	Eragrostis comptonii
Species Authority:	De Winter
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	-
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K.
Reviewer/s:
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: Eragrostis comptonii has a very restricted distribution, with an estimated extent of occurrence of 387.032 km² and an area of occupancy of 16 km². There are ongoing threats to its habitat from overgrazing by livestock, and most of the known range does not fall within protected areas. Based on this, it has been assessed as Endangered, under Criteria B1 and B2. Date last seen: 1986
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species is known from four localities in north-western Eswatini.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini;

Population
Population:	This species is known from four localities in north-western Eswatini, but there is no information on population sizes or trends. It is possible that this is an under collected species, and occurs in additional localities in the area. None of the records are from recent years, but it has been assumed for the purposes of this assessment that the plant still occurs in these areas, as grasses have not been investigated recently in this part of the country.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population

Population:

This species is known from four localities in north-western Eswatini, but there is no information on population sizes or trends. It is possible that this is an under collected species, and occurs in additional localities in the area. None of the records are from recent years, but it has been assumed for the purposes of this assessment that the plant still occurs in these areas, as grasses have not been investigated recently in this part of the country.

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	The description of this species includes the following with regard to habitat and ecology: "Its ecology is very poorly known. Judging from the notes on specimens it tends to favour somewhat shady places such as at the foot of rocks or on forest margins." (Winter, 1990). The localites where this plant has been found all fall within the grassland biome, in KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) (Mucina et. al. 2018).
List of Habitats:	4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

The description of this species includes the following with regard to habitat and ecology:
"Its ecology is very poorly known. Judging from the notes on specimens it tends to favour somewhat shady places such as at the foot of rocks or on forest margins." (Winter, 1990). The localites where this plant has been found all fall within the grassland biome, in KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) (Mucina et. al. 2018).

List of Habitats:

4 Grassland
4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	There are ongoing threats to the highveld grassland in Eswatini, with extensive overgrazing in many areas. In addition there are land use changes, such as establishment of plantations or other forms of agriculture. It is currently not known if this would directly affect this plant.
List of Threats:	2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	One of the four localities recorded for this species falls within Malolotja Nature Reserve.
List of Conservation Actions:	3 Species management 3.4 Ex-situ conservation 3.4.2 Genome resource bank

Bibliography
	Bachman S, Moat J, Hill AW, de la Torre J and Scott B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126. Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186. Winter, B.D. 1990. A new species of Eragrostis (Chlorideae) in the E. curvula alliance. Bothalia 20: 208.

Bibliography

Bachman S, Moat J, Hill AW, de la Torre J and Scott B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126.
Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186.
Winter, B.D. 1990. A new species of Eragrostis (Chlorideae) in the E. curvula alliance. Bothalia 20: 208.

Citation: