Strategic Management Prospects v4.0 Species Forecast Report created on 05 February, 2024
A Species Forecast Report is a summary of currently available information, the predicted 50-year outlook for the species, and potential pathways to recovery through species-specific and landscape-scale actions.
The report collates data from a range of sources including the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas, Strategic Management Prospects (SMP), Specific Needs Assessments, Threatened Species Action Statements, the Genetic Risk Index, and the IUCN Common Assessment Method.
Species Forecast Reports are intended to be used in conjunction with SMP and other spatial outputs in NatureKit, and Action Statements where relevant.
For more information on Species Forecast Reports, SMP and other biodiversity decision support tools, including user guides, visit Choosing actions for nature webpage on the DEECA website.
| Taxon ID | 501211 |
| Scientific name | Erigeron conyzoides |
| Common name | Daisy Fleabane |
| Group | Dicotyledons |
| FFG status | Endangered |
| EPBC status |
The taxon is a slender, erect perennial (stems annual) to c. 1 m high, glabrous or with a few short hairs toward base, minutely glandular-pubescent below involucre; usually branched just below inflorescence. Leaves narrowly obovate, narrowly elliptic or oblong, 3-13 cm long, 3-12 mm wide, entire or the lowermost shallowly toothed, sometimes sparsely and minutely ciliate; margins often purplish. Inflorescence corymbose. Capitula c. hemispherical; involucral bracts linear, 3-6 mm long, minutely glandular-pubescent; ray florets 1-several-seriate, the outer with white ligules 1.5-3 mm long, more or less erect, shortly exceeding involucre. Cypselas flattened, obovate to oblong, c. 2 mm long, sparsely appressed-pubescent; pappus bristles c. uniform, 4.5-6.5 mm long. The taxon flowers from Janurary to February (VicFlora, 2018).
The taxon is confined to rocky alpine sites in Victoria (e.g. Mt Howitt area, Mt Hotham, Bogong High Plains, Mt Cobberas no. 2) and rarely collected. A specimen at MEL collected by Mueller in 1854 and labelled ‘Snowy River (towards the mouth)’ is almost certainly in error; ‘towards the source’ is a more likely locality. The taxon also occurs in New South Wales (VicFlora, 2018). On the Bogong High Plains, the taxon has been collected only near the Rocky Valley Pondage near Falls Creek. In 1973, the taxon was also collected at Lightbound Creek on the Dargo High Plains.
The taxon is confined to rocky alpine sites (VicFlora, 2018). The taxon is a habitat specialist consistently associated with basalt screes, typically on steep slopes on protected south-easterly aspects or on ridgelines or saddles, often in the shelter of boulders. The current records may represent a relictual distribution pattern. At a site 2 km south-west of Howitt Hut, the taxon is recorded in the gorge below Howitt Plains on a steep slope near a small cascade among basalt boulders. On the eastern slopes of Mt Higginbotham, 500 m from the summit and 50 m below the Great Alpine Road and just south of the double chairlift, the taxon was recorded in 1980 at an exposed site on a basalt boulder field where associated with Grevillea victoriae, Tasmannia xerophila and Podocarpus lawrencei at an elevation of 1710 m. Near the shores of the Rocky Valley Pondage on the Bogong High Plains, the taxon has been collected in a roadside ditch in a highly disturbed site amongst volcanic rock at 1600 m elevation in association with the invasive exotics Trifolium repens, Hypochoeris radicata, Asetosella vulgaris, Bromus hordeaceus and Dactylis glomerata. At Mount Cobberas No 2, the taxon is recorded within rocky woodland on a saddle just north of the summit.
No genetic risk information is currently available.
The Habitat Distribution Model (HDM) layer shows the modelled distribution of habitat for Daisy Fleabane in Victoria. Red shading indicates areas of habitat with relatively higher suitability, compared with yellow shaded areas. HDMs are developed by combining Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (VBA) occurrence records for the species with a range of environmental variables to predict where the most suitable habitat for the species is in Victoria. Species may not always occupy areas of suitable habitat. Threatening processes (prior or ongoing) and disturbance regimes (e.g. fire, timber harvesting) may stop species from occupying otherwise suitable habitat for periods of time. Management actions often focus on currently occupied areas, however management of unoccupied areas can also be important to allow populations to re-establish.
No Habitat Distrabution Model is currently available.
No Species Forecast data is available because Daisy Fleabane is not yet included in our decision-support tools.
A Species Forecast is the estimated likelihood of a species being present in 50 years time. The data for Species Forecasts is drawn from DEECA’s decision support tools, Strategic Management Prospects and Specific Needs Assessments.
Many species benefit from the management of widespread threats, such as weeds and pests, and the benefit of these landscape-scale actions to ~4,200 species is modelled in Strategic Management Prospects. In addition to landscape-scale actions, some species also need actions that improve or protect habitat at certain sites, such as nest boxes or hollow logs, or actions to improve certain populations, such as gene mixing or translocation.
As part of a continuous improvement program for our decision-support tools, we are working to expand the scope of actions modelled in Strategic Management Prospects, and to build the dataset of species benefits from location-specific and population-specific actions.
We can use this data to consider how different actions may benefit a species and examine how different types of on-ground management may contribute to a species’ recovery in 50 years, to develop a Species Forecast.
No Species Forecast data is available because Daisy Fleabane is not yet included in our decision-support tools.
The benefit data in SMP can be used to consider what the Daisy Fleabane’s prospects are if the landscape scale management actions in SMP are implemented.
No Species Prospects figure is available becuase Daisy Fleabane is not yet included in SMP.
For more information on the decision support tools, products and underlying data used in this report, and how the data is collected and developed into products, please visit the following links:
These links include information on how to provide data and feedback into these products.
The Species Forecast Reports will be updated periodically to reflect changes and improvements in the products and tools that inform them (e.g., following updates to SMP).
As the data contained in Species Forecast Reports is drawn from multi-species datasets, it is not currently possible to incorporate species-specific information or feedback directly.
For help or further information get in touch by visiting Choosing actions for nature webpage on the DEECA website.
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