s 639.99 Nllcsr 2001 Conservation Status of Rorippa calycina (persistent-sepal yellowcress) Montana in Preparedfor: U.S.FishandWildlifeService UnderSE-5PSegment11 STATE DOCUMENTS COLLECTION "lAY 1 ;3 2001 Preparedby: MONTANASTATELIBRARY HELEN15A1,5MEO.N6TtAhNAAVE5.9620 BonnieHeidel MontanaNaturalHeritageProgram 1515E.SixthAvenue Helena,MT 59620-1800 March 2001 W^ MONTANA j __i) Natural Heritage MONTANASTATELIBRARY 3 0864 0015 6141 7 Conservation Status of Rorippa calycina (persistent-sepal yellowcress) Montana in ©2001 MontanaNatural HeritageProgram StateLibran,'Building•P.O.Box201800•1515EastSixthAvenue•Helena,MT59620-1800•406^44-3009 Thisdocumentshouldbecitedasfollows: Pleidel,B. 2001.Conservationstatusoi'Rorippacalycina(persistent-sepalyellowcress)in Montana. ReporttotheU.S.FishandWildlifeService.MontanaNaturalIIcritageProgram, Helena. 10pp. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Rorippacalycina(persistent-sepalyellowcress)is rankofRorippacalycinainMontanaremainsat aregionalGreatPlainsendemicthathasbeen S1withtheexpectationthatWyoming'sYellowtail recordedat23sitesinWyoming,andatotalof5 Reservoirpopulationmayextendintothestate. historicorextirpatedsitesinMontanaandNortli Dakota.Itwasaformercandidateforlistingunder Thisspecies'long-termviabilityhingesonexisting theEndangeredSpeciesActuntilthecandidate Wyomingpopulations,mostofwhichareassoci- programwasdiscontinuedin1996. atedwiththeartificialconditionsofreservoirs ratherthanfree-flowingrivers.Theseareconsid- Duringthisstudy,over150milesofriparian eredrelativelysecurebarringdetrimentalwater habitatand6reservoirsweresurveyedinthe managementchangesandnoxiousweeden- areasoftheknownrecords,representingthe croachment.Thisreportandthemostcurrent historicrangeofRorippacalycinainMontana. Wyomingstatusreport(FertigandWelp1998) Thesesurveysdidnotrelocatethespecies. One aretobeusedtogetherasreferencesonthe ofthe5Montanacollectionrecordswasfoundto speciesstatusinMontanaandpertinentaspectsof bebasedonamisidentifiedspecimen.Thestate itsbiology. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS WethankCathieJean.JackGreenlee,Susan calycinainajointBighornCanyonNational Rinehart,andMikeErwinfortheirpaddlingand RecreationArearareplantreport,andforinterest- helponthesurveys.CedronJonesgraciously ingdiscussionsonthespecies.Thereportwas provideduseofhiscanoe.RonaldHartman(RM) reviewed,editedandproducedwiththehelpof reviewedandannotatedtheChoteauCounty JoyLewis,SueCrispin,andKatrinaScheuerman. voucherspecimen.Specialthanksareextendedto ThisworkwassupportedbyaSection6grant WalterFertig.WyomingNaturalDiversityData- agreementbetweentheU.S.FishandWildlife base,foracopyoftheWyomingstatusreporton ServiceandtheMontanaStateLibrary-Montana Rorippacalycina,forprovidingmostofthe NaturalHeritageProgram. currentinformationanddiscussiononRorippa TABLEOFCONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. METHODS ] II. 1 III.SPECIESINFORMATION 2 A.CLASSIFICATION 2 B.PRESENTLEGALOROTHERFORMALSTATUS 2 C.DESCRIPTION 3 D.GEOGRAPHICALDISTRIBUTION 4 E.HABITAT 6 LANDOWNERSHIP F. 8 IV.ASSESSMENTANDMANAGEMENTRECOMMENDATIONS 8 A.POTENTIALTHREATSTOCURRENTLYKNOWNPOPULATIONS: 8 B.MANAGEMENTPRACTICESANDRESPONSE: 8 C.CONSERVATIONRECOMMENDATIONS: 9 D.STATUSRECOMMENDATIONS: 9 E.INTERPRETATIONOFSURVEYRESULTSTODATE: 9 V.LITERATURECITED 10 TablesandFigures Table1.HeritageRankDefinitions Table2.RorippacalycinasurveyareasinMontana Figure1.IllustrationofRorippacalycina Figure2.PhotographofRorippacalycina Figure3.RorippacalycinadistributioninMontana,NorthDakotaandWyoming I. INTRODUCTION tageProgram(MTNHP)tosystematicallysurvey forthespeciesinMontanaandevaluateitsstatus. Rorippacalycina(persistent-sepalyellowcress) ThisreportandthemostcurrentWyomingstatus wasfirstdiscoveredbyF.V.Haydenin1854 report(FertigandWelp1998)aretobeused alongtheYellowstoneRiverupstreamfromMiles togetherasreferencesonthespeciesstatusin Cit>'nearthehistoricsiteofFortSarpy(Sheffield). Montanaandpertinentspeciesbiology. Montana.Twomorecollectionsweremade beforetheturnofthecenturyonornearthe ThisstudywasconductedbytheMontanaNatural MissouriandYellowstoneRiversinMontana,and HeritageProgram(MTNHP),whichcollects, onewasmadeimmediatelydownstreaminNorth maintainsandprovidesstatewideinformationon Dakota. ThefactthatRorippacalycinawasonly featuresofbiologicalsignificance,includingspecies knownfromfourhistoriccollectionsprovidedtlie ofspecialconcernandnaturalvegetation. basisforrecommendingthatthespeciesbe MTNHPservesasaclearinghouse,assembling consideredforlistingasthreatenedunderthe informationfromsecondarysourcessuchas EndangeredSpeciesAct(AyensuandDeFilipps museumspecimens,publishedarticles,andreports 1978). andsupplementingitwithfieldstudies. InWyoming,Rorippacalycinawasfirstdiscov- METHODS eredin1977,andconcertedsurveysdocumented II. atotalof23occurrences.Mostoftheseare restrictedtoreservoirmargins,andWyoming Theauthorconductedfieldsurveysin1999-2000 botanistsconsideritsecureinthestate,basedon torelocatethespeciesinthefourriverreaches thepresumptionthatitcanpersistinreservoir whereithasbeencollected.Thefifthcollecfion settings.(Lichvar1981,FertigandWelp1998).It wasfromastockpondandwasresurveyedin wasalsocollectedintheNorthwestTerritories 1993(Heidel1994)andisconsideredexfirpated. (MulliganandPorsild1966),2500kmfromits Inadditiontoresurveyedareas,3otherMissouri/ nearestknownstation,presumablydispersedby YellowstoneRiverreachesand6reservoirswith waterfowl(Rollins1993). potentialhabitatweresurveyed.Thisincludedthe lowerYellowstoneRiver,immediatelyupstream Therehasbeennostatewidesurveyforthe fromthesinglehistoriccollectionsiteinNorth speciesinMontanaorNorthDakota,buttwo Dakota. newMontanacollectionrecordswereaddedby botanistsdoingconsultingworkin1980and Weusedinformationontheknowndistributionof 1990.Oneofthecollectionsitesisastockpond. RorippacalycinainMontana,whichhadprevi- Thissitewasresurveyedandthespeciesiscon- ouslybeencompiledfromherbariumrecordsby sideredextirpated(Heidel1994).Theothernew MTNHPinthe1980'sandintegratedinMTNHP recordwasbasedonaspecimenthatwas statewidedataresourcesandreferences(e.g., misidenfified,asdeterminedinthecourseofthis LesicaandShelly1991). Thefollowingherbaria study. housethe5specimenso{Rorippacalycinafrom Montana:MontanaStateUniversity.Universityof Surveyofthisspecieswasidentifiedasapriority Montana,andMissouriBotanicalGarden.Infor- inMontanabecauseitwasknownonlyfrom mationonthehabitatandstatuselsewherewas historicorextirpatedrecordscollectedfromareas obtainedfromscientificliteratureandknowledge- thatremainsomeofthemostextensivefree- ableindividuals. fiowingriverhabitatinthespecies'range.In1999, theU.S.FishandWildlifeServiceprovided Inpreparationforsurvey,sandyshorelinesites Section6supporttotheMontanaNaturalHeri- wereidentifiedandmappedwithtlichelpof .. . BLMlandstatusmaps(1:100,000),alongwith withinthegenus.Stuckey(1972)considered aerialphotosinselectcases. Fieldworkwas Rorippacalycinatobemostcloselyrelated conductedbetween7July-22Oct.Thepres- toR.columbiae(syn.R.calycinavar. enceofotherspeciesofRorippainfruitindicated columbiae)andR.subumbellata,2other suitablephenologyforidentificationoftherare localizedendemicsoftheColumbiaRiverand species.ThespeciesflowersfromlateMayto LakeTahoeareas,respectively.Accordingto August,althoughbloomingmayextendinto Stuckey.all3representold,relicspeciesand Octoberunderfavorablecircumstances.Since theonlysurvivorsofaformeriymorewide- phenologyandshorelineaccessdependsonwater spreadandmorphologicallyvariablecomplex. levels,andfinitsareneededforverification,most AmongMontanaspecies.Rorippacalycinais ofoursurveywasconductedafterriverflowshad mostcloselyrelatedtoR.sinuata(Stuckey peaked.Ateachsite,notesweretakenonthe 1972). dominantspecies,theMustardFamilyspecies present,andthesubstratetextureatthewater's B.PRESENTLEGALOROTHERFOR- edge. MALSTATUS Otherstatespeciesofspecialconcernwere 1. NATIONAL documentedonPlantSpeciesofSpecialConcern surveyforms,mapped,andphotographed. a. LEGALSTATUS:Rorippacalycinawas formerlyaC2candidateforlistingunderthe EndangeredSpeciesAct(USFishandWild- III. SPECIES INFORMATION lifeService1993).TheC2listincluded speciesthatmighthavewarrantedlistingas A.CLASSIFICATION ThreatenedorEndangered,however,FWS lackedsufficientbiologicaldatatosupporta 1 SCffiNTIFICNAME;Rorippacalycina listingproposal.InFebruary1996,FWS (Engelm.)Rydb. (Rydberg1900;Stuckey reviseditscandidatepolicyandeliminatedthe 1972). C2designation.AsaresultRorippacalycina currentlyhasnolegalstatus. 2. SYNONYMS:Nasturtiumcalycinum Engelm.(Warren1858) b. HERITAGERANK:Definitionsforglobaland stateranksaregiveninTable1 3 COMMONNAMES:persistent-sepal yelllowcress 2. STALE MONTANA 4. FAMILY:BrassicaceaeorCruciferae(Mus- a. tardFamily) L LEGALSTATUS:None. 5. SIZEOFGENUS:Rollins(1993)recognizes approximately75speciesinthisgenusworld- ii HERITAGERANK:Rorippacalycinais wide,wdth29speciesoccurringinNorth rankedS1inMontana,indicatingthatitis America.Dom(1984)recognizeseight criticallyimperiledbecauseofextremerarity, speciesinMontana. basedononerecentrecordthatisconsidered extirpated.3historicrecords,andthestrong 6. PHYLOGENETICRELATIONSHIPS.- likelihoodofoneWyomingpopulationcross- Rorippacalycinaisoneof6speciesin ingthestateline. SectionSinuatae,themostprimitivegroup