Assessment Report - Senecio mlilwanensis

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	ASTERALES	ASTERACEAE

Scientific Name:	Senecio mlilwanensis
Species Authority:	Compton
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. & Mhlongo, N.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This Eswatini endemic has a restricted distribution, with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 206.392 km², and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 32 km². There are ongoing threats of habitat degradation due to livestock grazing, and habitat loss to urban development for part of its range. It is known from between 10 and 15 locations and is therefore assessed as Vulnerable, under Criteria B.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	It is found in the Eswatini highveld and upper middleveld areas.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini;

Population
Population:	No population surveys have been carried out for this species. In one area where it has been observed, it was recorded to be locally frequent. For the purposes of this assessment, locations inferred from older herbarium records have been included on the basis of continued existence of appropriate habitat in these areas.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	This species has been found in rocky areas in grassland and savanna, the vegetation types estimated from the localities being KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16), Barberton Montane Grassland (Gm17) and Swaziland Sour Bushveld (SVI14) (Mucina et. al. 2018). The subpopulations falling within the savanna vegetation type are primarily on the edges of this vegetation type, adjacent to the KaNgwane Montane Grassland areas. One subpopulation occurs as scattered individuals, in rocky grassland with occasional trees. The area has been subject to frequent burning, which does not appear to have had any major impact on the subpopulation.
List of Habitats:	2 Savanna 2.2 Savanna - Moist 4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

This species has been found in rocky areas in grassland and savanna, the vegetation types estimated from the localities being KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16), Barberton Montane Grassland (Gm17) and Swaziland Sour Bushveld (SVI14) (Mucina et. al. 2018). The subpopulations falling within the savanna vegetation type are primarily on the edges of this vegetation type, adjacent to the KaNgwane Montane Grassland areas. One subpopulation occurs as scattered individuals, in rocky grassland with occasional trees. The area has been subject to frequent burning, which does not appear to have had any major impact on the subpopulation.

List of Habitats:

2 Savanna
2.2 Savanna - Moist
4 Grassland
4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	The distribution of this species includes areas which are currently subject to livestock overgrazing and there is also ongoing loss of its habitat to urban development.
List of Threats:	1 Residential & commercial development 1.1 Housing & urban areas 2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	One subpopulation, where the type specimen was collected is within Mlilwane Game Sanctuary. This area, however, is not managed for plant conservation. This species could be protected through the development of urban green space 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

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: