Abstract
Efforts to conserve rare plant species can be limited by a lack of time and funding for monitoring. Understanding species occurrence and distribution patterns within existing protected habitat and throughout the entire species range can help stewards prioritize rare plant monitoring. We created a database of rare plant occurrences from public, private, and research sources to analyze the distribution of rare plant species throughout the existing protected area within the Nature Reserve of Orange County in California, USA. We analyzed species occurrence relative to the urban edge, roads, trails, and mean high tide line. We also determined the vegetation community with the highest number of rare plant species to help prioritize habitats for conservation and restoration. We found that some parts of protected areas have more rare plant species and we also found sampling biases on the location of occurrence data. We found that rare species occur close to roads and trails and the mean high tide line. Rare species were in all vegetation communities within the reserve, including degraded areas. Using patterns of distribution and considering the immediate threats to a rare species population can help land managers and stewards prioritize monitoring toward the most threatened species.
Highlights
Rare plant species have ecological, political, and intrinsic value, leading land managers and conservationists to advocate for their protection
The rare plant species within this study occur in Orange County, California, USA and many are protected within the 38,000-acre (15,384 hectares)
We calculated rare plant species richness to range from 0–15 unique species per square kilometer grid throughout the Natural Communities Coalition (NCC) Reserve System (Figure 2b)
Summary
Rare plant species have ecological, political, and intrinsic value, leading land managers and conservationists to advocate for their protection. Rare species may be rare because of their life history characteristics, such as their dependency on a disturbance regime or a specific pollinator [5,6,7]. Species ranges may be at the periphery of protected land, with only one population or maybe even one individual [8]. These species are subject to inbreeding or extinction just from their small population sizes alone [9,10]. It’s important that conservation efforts cover the diversity of rare species characteristics when establishing reserves
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