- Proposed
- Under Assessment
- Preliminary Assessed
- Assessed
- ENPublished
Rinodina brodoana Sheard, Lendemer & E. Tripp
- Scientific name
- Rinodina brodoana
- Author
- Sheard, Lendemer & E. Tripp
- Common names
- IUCN Specialist Group
Lichens- Kingdom
- Fungi
- Phylum
- Ascomycota
- Class
- Lecanoromycetes
- Order
- Teloschistales
- Family
- Physciaceae
- Assessment status
- Published
- Assessment date
- 2017-08-31
- IUCN Red List Category
- EN
- IUCN Red List Criteria
- B2ab(v)
- Assessors
- Lendemer, J.
- Reviewers
- Scheidegger, C.
Assessment Notes
Justification
Rinodina brodoana is a crustose lichen that occurs on the bases of mature oak trees in remnant, mature low- and middle elevation forests within a small area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern North America. The species has likely been historically impacted by large scale habitat loss and degradation, phenomena which are inferred to continue in lands directly adjacent to all extant populations. Increased acquisition and protection of suitable habitat, monitoring of existing populations, and raising awareness of the species are recommended conservation measures for the species.
This species is categorised as Endangered based on the area of occupancy (AOO = 16 km²), small number of total locations (n=4), and the observed decline in habitat quality. The habitat that this species occurs in has been substantially impacted by logging activities in the past, as well as by flooding of lowlands for hydroelectricity. Although the species occurs within the borders of a protected management unit, the habitat quality in this area, including local climatic conditions, could be negatively impacted by proposed resource extraction as well as road/utility corridor construction on directly adjacent federal lands that are not afforded the same protected status.
Lendemer et al. (2014) ranked the species as Critically Endangered B1ab(iii); D, however that rank should be superseded by the one proposed here based on the subsequent discovery two additional populations, albeit within the already documented geographic range.
Geographic range
Rinodina brodoana is narrowly endemic to middle and low elevation mature, acid forests dominated by oak (Quercus) and hickory (Carya) in a small geographic area of the southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina in eastern North America. All of the populations occur on bark at the base of mature oak trees on the mountain slopes above the north shore of Fontana Lake, within Swain County, North Carolina.
Population and Trends
The species was described in 2014 based on two populations discovered 2012 in a protected management unit (Great Smoky Mountains National Park). In 2015 two additional populations were discovered in the same management unit, at locations within several miles of the first discoveries. Extensive fieldwork, spanning decades, by experts within the same management unit (W.R. Buck, J.P. Dey, R.C Harris, J.C. Lendemer, T. Tønsberg, E.A. Tripp) has failed to locate populations outside of the small area within with the species is presently known. Similar efforts throughout the southern Appalachians, as well as large-scale study of museum specimens by taxonomic expert J.W. Sheard, have also failed to locate additional populations either historical or extant.
Population Trend: decreasing
Habitat and Ecology
Rinodina brodoana is narrowly endemic to middle and low elevation mature, acid forests dominated by oak (Quercus) and hickory (Carya) in a small geographic area of the southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina in eastern North America. All of the populations occur on bark at the base of mature oak trees on the mountain slopes above the north shore of Fontana Lake, within Swain County, North Carolina.Threats
The habitat that this species occurs in has been substantially impacted by logging activities in the past, as well as by flooding of lowlands for hydroelectricity. Although the species occurs within the borders of a protected management unit, the habitat quality in this area, including local climatic conditions, could be negatively impacted by proposed resource extraction as well as road/utility corridor construction on directly adjacent federal lands that are not afforded the same protected status.
Conservation Actions
Monitoring of all populations is required to determine whether the species is still decline or stable. Increased acquisition of suitable habitat, and increased protections for suitable habitat already within management units is also needed. The potential impacts of resource extraction and development on adjacent lands should also be evaluated and considered in drafting regulations for use of those areas.
