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:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This species has a restricted distribution, with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 4921.024 km², and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 44 km². There is an ongoing decline in habitat quality as a result of overgrazing by livestock and the spread of invasive alien plants. It faces potential future loss of habitat due to expansion of forestry plantations. Based on this, it has been assessed as Vulnerable, under Criterion B.
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. The population trend is unknown, but it is inferred to be declining due to habitat degradation. It appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of 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 locations of older records, as the habitat still exists.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population

Population:

No detailed population surveys have been conducted, but the plant's continued existence has been confirmed. The population trend is unknown, but it is inferred to be declining due to habitat degradation. It appears to have a very specific habitat requirement of 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 locations of older records, as the habitat still exists.

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	Based on recent observations, 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 is 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:

Based on recent observations, 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 is 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 threats to this species are ongoing heavy grazing and burning of its grassland habitat, as well as encroachment of wattle (Acacia spp.). As this species has also been recorded from within forestry plantation areas, it is likely to have lost habitat to afforestation in the past, planting up of grassland areas currently maintained as firebreaks could result in rapid future 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 threats to this species are ongoing heavy grazing and burning of its grassland habitat, as well as encroachment of wattle (Acacia spp.). As this species has also been recorded from within forestry plantation areas, it is likely to have lost habitat to afforestation in the past, planting up of grassland areas currently maintained as firebreaks could result in rapid future 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. More fieldwork is required to determine the population size, distribution and trends. There is a need to investigate the detailed habitat requirements for this species, as it appears to have very specific preferences. This information would contribute to conservation planning for this plant.
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, A.W., 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, A.W., 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: