NRLD - 330030 | Cladium mariscus

Assessment ID

330030

Taxon name

Cladium mariscus

(L.) Pohl

Uploaded by

National Red List Database

Taxonomic information

Scientific name

Cladium mariscus

(L.) Pohl

Assessed taxon level

Species

Higher level taxonomic groupings

Plants

Flowering Plants

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

tracheophyta

Class

liliopsida

Order

poales

Family

cyperaceae

Genus

Cladium

Species

mariscus

Species authority

(L.) Pohl

Location and scope

Specific locality or subnational name or regional name

United Arab Emirates (the)

Scope (of the Assessment)

National

Countries included within the scope of the assessment

United Arab Emirates (the)

Country ISO code(s)

ARE

Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?

Not_assigned

Conservation Status

Assessed as

Critically Endangered

Abbreviated status

Qualifying criteria (if given)

Criteria system used

IUCN

(see Assessment details)

Assessment rationale/justification

Within the UAE, this species is known from a single site within the Wadi Wurayah National Park, where it was found in and around small bedrock pools near the base of the permanent waterfall. The species is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR D) on the basis of the small number of mature individuals, which was estimated to number fewer than ten. The species was not re-found at the site following heavy rains in 2014, but was present later in 2019. It is not known if there is a potential rescue effect from populations outside the UAE, although the potential for this is low given the small populations in Oman and their distance from this site. Establishment of the species at other sites with suitable habitat in the UAE is possible but, to date, the species has not been found at other freshwater sites (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019).

Assessment details

Year assessed

2019

Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed

UAE National Red List Workshop

Criteria system used

IUCN

Reference for methods given

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.

Further information

Endemism (according to assessment)

Endemic to region

Not assigned

Taxon distribution as listed in assessment

Within the UAE, this species is confirmed from a single site (small rocky pools at the base of the waterfall and adjacent rocks) in Wadi Wurayah (first reported by V. Chalmers in 2009 (Feulner 2016); <a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00647674"">RBG Edinburgh Herbarium</a> specimen collected 2013). The species was also recorded by Gallacher from the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, however this area represents a very different habitat and altitude, and the record requires confirmation. On a global scale, the species is native to temperate Eurasia, the Americas, North Africa, Australia and to the southwest Pacific (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018). In the Arabian Peninsula, this species is also known from scattered localities in Saudi Arabia (Chaudhary 2001) and from isolated springs and waterbodies in Oman (Patzelt 2014) and on Socotra (Miller and Morris 2004). The nearest confirmed locality to Wadi Wurayah is at the Jazirah oasis in Oman (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Feulner 2016), more than 100 km away.

Is there a map available in assessment?

Yes

Habitat and systems

Ecological system type

Terrestrial

Not_assigned

Freshwater

Not_assigned

Marine

Not_assigned

Habitat

Habitat details as listed in assessment

This is a perennial plant species with sturdy rhizomes (Jongbloed et al. 2013). It a graminaceous herb that grows to c. 2 m in height, found growing c. 5 m below permanent pools, between rocks and beside a permanent waterfall (<a href=""http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00647674"">RBG Edinburgh Herbarium</a>). The species requires standing water (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). The dispersal ability of the plant seeds is uncertain, but both wind dispersal and dispersal by bird are possible.

Threats and conservation measures listed

Threats listed in assessment

The habitat of this species is prone to change and damage from human disturbance (MEW 2010). Feulner (2016) notes that the species locality at the base of a waterfall is vulnerable to flash floods and the species was not found during survey following heavy rain in November 2014, nor in more recent surveys (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019), but was found later in 2019. Feulner (2016) notes that the waterfall area where this species is found is subject to heavy recreational use.

History

The species was not recorded in the UAE in 1996 but it is possible that the species was present either in the seedbank or as underground rhizomes or, alternatively, it was simply not found or identified in surveys. We consider that it is likely to have been present but in similarly small numbers, or as propagules, and would have qualified as CR in 1996.

Publication

UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants

Allen, D.J., Westrip, J.R.S., Puttick, A., Harding, K.A., Hilton-Taylor, C. and Ali, H. 2021. UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants. Technical Report. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates, Dubai.