Rough agalinis (Agalinis aspera) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 2

COSEWIC Executive Summary

Rough Agalinis
Agalinis aspera

Species information

Rough agalinis (Agalinis aspera) is a dicotyledonous (having two embryonic leaves) flowering plant that is currently considered a member of the broomrape family (Orobanchaceae). It is a slender annual herb with narrow linear roughened leaves that are opposite to sub-opposite. Manitoba plants grow up to 35 cm tall and exhibit very little branching. Flowers are borne in a short raceme on stalks that are slender but nearly erect. Only one or two of the showy pink flowers are seen at a time because they only last for a day. The fruit is a dark brown oval-shaped capsule containing numerous tiny diamond-shaped seeds.

Distribution

The species ranges through the central plains from Manitoba to Texas. It is probably most common in Iowa and Nebraska, where it is listed as S4 (subnational rank indicating apparently secure). It is also recorded in Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, northern Texas, southwestern Minnesota and Wisconsin and eastern parts of North Dakota and South Dakota. The Canadian range is restricted to 11 known sites from five rural municipalities in southern Manitoba.

Habitat

This is a prairie species found in low wet meadows that are often at risk due to drainage or heavy grazing. The plants occur where vegetation is sparse and the soil is alkaline. The Canadian sites represent remnant prairie habitats found primarily along roadsides.

Biology

Rough agalinis is an annual herb that relies, in part, on other flowering plants for part of its nutrients (hemiparasitic). Host preference is not currently known.

Population sizes and trends

The population size was very small in 2004, although it may fluctuate from year to year. Only 209 – 229 plants were found at 11 sites within an area of occupancy of less than 5 km². Previous studies are not available to establish trends.

Limiting factors and threats

All prairie habitat has been reduced by the expansion of agricultural activity in the province of Manitoba. Most of the Manitoba sites are in road allowances.

Special significance of the species

Agalinis aspera is specially adapted to prairie habitat and may represent a unique evolutionary line.

Existing protection

This species currently does not have any protection in Canada.

COSEWIC History

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was created in 1977 as a result of a recommendation at the Federal-Provincial Wildlife Conference held in 1976. It arose from the need for a single, official, scientifically sound, national listing of wildlife species at risk. In 1978, COSEWIC designated its first species and produced its first list of Canadian species at risk. Species designated at meetings of the full committee are added to the list.  On June 5th 2003, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) was proclaimed. SARA establishes COSEWIC as an advisory body ensuring that species will continue to be assessed under a rigorous and independent scientific process.

COSEWIC Mandate

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other designatable units that are considered to be at risk in Canada. Designations are made on native species for the following taxonomic groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, arthropods, molluscs, vascular plants, mosses, and lichens.

COSEWIC Membership

COSEWIC comprises members from each provincial and territorial government wildlife agency, four federal entities (Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada Agency, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership, chaired by the Canadian Museum of Nature), three non-government science members and the co-chairs of the species specialist subcommittees and the Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge subcommittee. The Committee meets to consider status reports on candidate species.

Definitions (2006)

Wildlife Species
A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.

Extinct (X)
A wildlife species that no longer exists.

Extirpated (XT)
A wildlife species no longer existing in the wild in Canada, but occurring elsewhere.

Endangered (E)
A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Threatened (T)
A wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.

Special Concern (SC)Footnote1
A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.

Not at Risk (NAR)Footnote2
A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances.

Data Deficient (DD)Footnote3
A category that applies when the available information is insufficient (a) to resolve a species’ eligibility for assessment or (b) to permit an assessment of the species’ risk of extinction.

 

Canadian Wildlife Service

The Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, provides full administrative and financial support to the COSEWIC Secretariat.

 

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