Strategic Management Prospects v4.0 Species Forecast Report created on 01 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.


Species Overview

Taxon ID 503482
Scientific name Utricularia violacea
Common name Violet Bladderwort
Group Dicotyledons
FFG status Endangered
EPBC status
Violet Bladderwort (Image Source: Atlas of Living Australia)

Violet Bladderwort (Image Source: Atlas of Living Australia)


Species description

Description and life history

The taxon is a terrestrial annual herb; stolons absent. Leaves numerous, rosetted, rosettes 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter, leaves narrowly linear-cuneate to spathulate, 4-5(-12) mm long, c. (0.5-)3 mm wide. Traps moderately numerous from the stem, obliquely ovoid, 1.5-2 mm long, dorsal appendage above trap opening subulate, c. 1mm long, fringed on inner margin, lateral appendages 0.45-0.5 mm long, distally fimbriate. Racemes 1-4, erect, 2.5-10 cm long, 1-flowered; sterile bracts absent; fertile bracts medifixed, c. 1.5 mm long; bracteoles similar to bracts; calyx-lobes subequal, upper lobe broadly obovate, 1.8-2 mm long, 2-2.2 mm wide, lower lobe broadly ovate, 1.4-1.5 mm long, 1.9-2 mm wide. Corolla 4-9 mm long, lower lip violet, palate glabrous, pale yellow with 4 raised ridges subtended by c. 3 dark violet or maroon lines; upper lip obovate, bilobed; lower lip much larger, transversely oblong or elliptic, obscurely to markedly 3-lobed; spur cylindric from a conical base, c. twice as long as lower lip. Capsule globose, 1.5-2 mm diameter; seeds ovoid, c. 0.3 mm diameter. The taxon flowers mostly from October to December (VicFlora 2019). Beauglehole, who is responsible for almost every Victorian specimen, list or incidental record of the taxon, noted a pale-coloured form appearing in hundreds in a shallow temporary swamp on the north side of the Dergholm-Penola Road at the Comaun Road turnoff, 5 km east of the South Australian border, in 1964, in association with the normal violet form.

Distribution

Rare in Victoria where apparently restricted to the south-west between the Little Desert and Portland. Also WA, SA and Tasmania where restricted to islands in Bass Strait (VicFlora 2019). The Victorian stronghold of the taxon is from Dergholm and Roseneath south toward Dartmoor, between Casterton and the South Australian border, with outliers in the western sector of the Little Desert Nationl Park, Jilpanger Nature Conservation Reserve, Glenisla in the western Grampians and the Lower Glenelg National Park.

Habitat

Apparently confined in Victoria to wet heaths and swamps (VicFlora 2019). The taxon is a habitat specialist restricted to sites of low fertility, high organic content in the substrate and permanently or seasonally waterlogged soils. As such, they are not particularly susceptible to weed invasion. Substrates include sandy peat or ‘sandy soil on edge of swamp in water up to 10 cm deep.’ Victorian collectors record the taxon growing in shallow depressions or exposed patches in wet heathland or shallow temporary swamps in association with Allittia uliginosa (Small Swamp-daisy), Baumea acuta (Pale Twig-sedge), Caesia parviflora (Pale Grass-lily), Centrolepis glabra (Smooth Centrolepis), Empodisma minus (Spreading Rope-rush), Eurychorda complanata (Flat Cord-rush), Leptospermum continentale (Prickly Tea-tree), Melaleuca brevifolia (Mallee Honey-myrtle), Patersonia occidentalis (Long Purple-flag), Stylidium beaugleholei (Beauglehole’s Triggerplant), S. despectum (Small Triggerplant), S. perpusillum (Slender Triggerplant) and Utricularia dichotoma (Fairies’ Aprons).

Genetic Risk Index

No genetic risk information is currently available.


Species maps

Habitat Distribution Model

The Habitat Distribution Model (HDM) layer shows the modelled distribution of habitat for Violet Bladderwort 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.


Species Forecast

No Species Forecast data is available because Violet Bladderwort is not yet included in our decision-support tools.

About Species Forecast

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.


Potential actions for species recovery

No Species Forecast data is available because Violet Bladderwort is not yet included in our decision-support tools.


Species prospects in SMP

The benefit data in SMP can be used to consider what the Violet Bladderwort’s prospects are if the landscape scale management actions in SMP are implemented.

No Species Prospects figure is available becuase Violet Bladderwort is not yet included in SMP.


How to get further information and provide feedback

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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