Assessment Report - Monopsis malvacea

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	ASTERALES	CAMPANULACEAE

Scientific Name:	Monopsis malvacea
Species Authority:	E.Wimm.
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	-
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Vulnerable B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K.
Reviewer/s:
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: Monopsis malvacea has a restricted distribution, with an estimated extent of occurrence of 4921.024 km², and an area of occupancy of 44 km². There are ongoing threats to this species from overgrazing by livestock, expansion of forestry plantations, and habitat degradation due to invasive alien plants. Based on this, it has been assessed as Vulnerable, under Criteria B1 and B2. Date last seen: 2023
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species is known from the Eswatini highveld, from the Hlatikhulu area in the south, extending to the Nkhaba area in the north. It has also been recorded from the Wakkerstroom area in South Africa.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini; KwaZulu-Natal;

Population
Population:	No detailed population surveys have been conducted, but the plant's continued existence has been confirmed in 2022. It appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of east facing rocky areas within grassland, but where it is found, it can be locally abundant. For the purposes of this assessment, it has been assumed that the species still occurs at localities from older records, as the habitat still exists.
Population Trend:

Population

Population:

No detailed population surveys have been conducted, but the plant's continued existence has been confirmed in 2022. It appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of east facing rocky areas within grassland, but where it is found, it can be locally abundant. For the purposes of this assessment, it has been assumed that the species still occurs at localities from older records, as the habitat still exists.

Population Trend:

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	This species appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of east facing rocky areas within grassland, but more fieldwork is required to confirm this. The vegetation type where it has been recorded is primarily KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16), with one record from Ithala Quartzite Sourveld (Gs2) and the South African record from Wakkerstroom Montane Grassland (Gm14) (Mucina et. al. 2018).
List of Habitats:	4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

This species appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of east facing rocky areas within grassland, but more fieldwork is required to confirm this. The vegetation type where it has been recorded is primarily KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16), with one record from Ithala Quartzite Sourveld (Gs2) and the South African record from Wakkerstroom Montane Grassland (Gm14) (Mucina et. al. 2018).

List of Habitats:

4 Grassland
4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	The potential threats to this species are the ongoing heavy grazing and burning of the grassland areas, as well as encroachment of wattle (Acacia spp.). Currently however, there is no information on the extent of decline in available habitats. As this species has been recorded from within forestry plantation areas, planting up of grassland areas currently maintained as firebreaks could result in rapid habitat loss for this species.
List of Threats:	2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.2 Wood & pulp plantations 2.2.2 Agro-industry plantations 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming 8 Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases 8.4 Problematic species/disease of unknown origin 8.4.2 Named species 8.4.2 Named species

Threats

Major Threat(s):

The potential threats to this species are the ongoing heavy grazing and burning of the grassland areas, as well as encroachment of wattle (Acacia spp.). Currently however, there is no information on the extent of decline in available habitats. As this species has been recorded from within forestry plantation areas, planting up of grassland areas currently maintained as firebreaks could result in rapid habitat loss for this species.

List of Threats:

2 Agriculture & aquaculture
2.2 Wood & pulp plantations
2.2.2 Agro-industry plantations
2.3 Livestock farming & ranching
2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming
8 Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases
8.4 Problematic species/disease of unknown origin
8.4.2 Named species
8.4.2 Named species

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	This species is currently not known from within any protected areas.
List of Conservation Actions:	1 Land/water protection 1.2 Resource & habitat protection 3 Species management 3.4 Ex-situ conservation 3.4.2 Genome resource bank 4 Education & awareness 4.3 Awareness & communications

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.

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.

Citation: