Endangered Species Poster

NYS Biodiversity Lab Extension

Gary Carlin gcarlin@schools.nyc.gov

November, 2007

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Endangered Species …• Are determined by the U. S. Department of

the Interior to be in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range, as defined in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and as amended.

• Are determined by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to be in imminent danger of extinction or extirpation in New York State, or are federally listed as endangered.

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Threatened Species …• are determined by the U. S. Department of the

Interior as likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their range, as defined in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and as amended. All such species are fully protected.

• are determined by the DEC as likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future in New York State, or are federally listed as threatened.

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Sandplain gerardia (Agalinis acuta)

Federal Status: Endangered

The only Federally Endangered plant species in New York State.

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Common Names

• Sandplain agalinis

• Sandplain false foxglove

• Sandplain gerardia

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Species Classification• Classification:Agalinis acuta • Kingdom Plantae – Plants• Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants• Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants• Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants• Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons• Subclass Asteridae • Order Scrophulariales • Family Scrophulariaceae – Figwort family• Genus Agalinis Raf. – false foxglove• Species Agalinis acuta – sandplain false foxglove

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Sandplain gerardia

Agalinis acuta

is a slender, yellow-green herbaceous annual, growing with few branches up to 20 - 40 cm (7.8 - 15.6 in) tall.

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Detailed Plant Description

• The narrow, linear leaves (2.5 cm [1 in] long) are arrayed oppositely along the stem.

• The pink-purple, tubular flowers are stalked on long pedicels.

• Tiny, light brown, textured seeds are released from oval fruits in the fall.

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The Flowers• Appearing in late

August to early September, its beautiful pink or purple flowers bloom for only a day.

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Fine Details• Each blossom

has shallowly-notched petals with two white lines coming together into a white throat marked with purple spots.

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A Senses of Actual Size

• The flower is usually 10-13 mm (but can be as small as 5 mm) long.

• Seeds are 0.4-0.6 mm, triangular-rounded, and straw colored.

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Interesting Information• Late-season bloomer, August to late

September, its pollinators are bumblebees.

• Seeds disperse close to the parent plant and germination tends to be very low .

• Seedlings of Agalinis acuta show high mortality, leading to speculation that the plant is a hemi-parasite that requires a host plant in order to establish itself.

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Species Habitat• Sandplain gerardia grows in dry, sandy

open areas of the coastal plain.

• It is primarily found in acidic, low-nutrient soils, where many other plants that might compete for sunlight, water, or growing space cannot survive.

• In Maryland it grows in a rare prairie-like habitat called a serpentine barren.

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Species Distribution

• Agalinis acuta occurs in:• Massachusetts• Rhode Island• Connecticut• New York• Maryland

• The species is most frequent in New York, with six populations.

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Species LocationSix of the twelve known natural populations can be found in coastal grassland areas on Long Island.

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New York State Locations

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Numbers Left• Less than fifteen (15) populations of

Agalinis acuta are known

• The largest populations, in New York and Massachusetts, contain up to thousands of plants.

• The global population of Agalinis acuta is likely to be on the order of 10,000 plants.

• Because it is an annual, populations of Agalinis acuta vary widely in numbers from year to year.

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Population Counts

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Global Ranking

• G1 1/1/96

– Critically Imperiled

•Typically 5 or fewer Occurrences or very few individuals remaining

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Federal Status

• LE 9/7/1988

–Listed Endangered

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has enough scientific information to warrant proposing these species for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

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State/Area Protection• State/Area Rank Status Date  

• Connecticut S1 E 1/1/1999  

• Maryland S1 E 4/30/2001  

• Massachusetts S1 E 11/29/2001  

• New York S1 E 4/1/2001  

• Rhode Island S1 E 1/1/2000  

• United States N1 5/28/1993

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Species Threats• Habitat conversion of coastal sandplains for residential

development• Encroachment by invasive exotic competitors• Suppression of fire, grazing, and other disturbances,

permitting growth of competing woody vegetation• Mowing at inappropriate times of year • Drought• Trampling by people and off-road vehicles• Herbicide use • Pesticide use that has eradicated potential pollinators• Possible decline of an unknown host plant• Salt spray associated with oceanic storms and road

maintenance

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NY Management Summary• Monitoring of Long Island populations has been

conducted by Dr. Robert Zaremba, The Nature Conservancy, Boston, Massachusetts

• The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation completed a project with the Long Island Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to re-establish sandplain gerardia (Agalinis acuta) to Long Island. The efforts include replanting, ecosystem management techniques and long term monitoring.

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References• 2002). New York Botanical Garden--The Virtual

Herbarium. [Searchable Web site] New York Botanical Garden. Fordham Road Bronx, New York. http://scisun.nybg.org:8890/searchdb/owa/wwwspecimen.searchform. Accessed: 2002.

• Jordan, Marilyn; Jacobs, Bill. (2001). Description of management to remove two invasive species from Hempstead Plains, NY, threatening Agalinis acuta. The Nature Conservancy. http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/moredocs/eupcy01.pdf. Accessed: 2002.

• Buttrick, Steve. 1990. Ecology Forum: The Weed that Wasn't. Nature Conservancy Magazine: 22-23.

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References, cont.• Mitchell, R.S.; Sheviak, C.J. 1981. Rare

Plants of New York State. Bull. No. 445. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Museum. University of the State of New York. p.96.  

• Mitchell, R.S.; Sheviak, C.J.; Dean, J.K. 1980. Rare and Endangered Vascular Plant Species in New York State. Albany, New York: State Botanist's Office, New York State Museum. In cooperation with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. p.38.

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Endangered Species Project• Everyone will be assigned an Endangered

or Threatened Species of New York State.

• You will use the world wide web to collect information and pictures about your species.

• The Information will be processed (in your own words), organized, and displayed on a white (size) Poster Board.

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Beginning Your Research

• Everyone will start their project at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Website.

• http://www.dec.ny.gov/

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Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)

• Using the menu on the left-hand side of the page, click on:

– Outdoor Recreation (new Page)

– Animal, Plants, & Aquatic Life (n P)

– Species Conservation (new Page)

– Endangered Species (new Page)

– List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Fish & Wildlife Species of NYS

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Finding the Scientific Name

• Go to the DEC List of Endangered and Threatened Species. They appear as 2-column tables.

• Both tables (Endangered or Threatened Lists) have the common name and the Scientific Name.

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Finding Species Information

• The DEC Lists of Endangered and Threatened Species have information links for organisms names that are appear in a blue font color.

• Click on the name of the organism (if linked) in the Common Name Column and it will bring you to the organism’s Fact Sheet.

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The DEC Fact Sheets

Each Fact Sheet contains the organism’s …

• Description

• Life History

• Distribution and Habitat

• Status

• Management and Research Needs

• Additional References

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Finding More Species Information

• Go to a search engine such as Google http://www.google.com

• Type in the common name or scientific name in the search box and click on the “Google Search” dialogue box.

• You can add words to the organism name such as: “description, New York, habitat, conservation, etc…”.

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Finding More Pictures• Go to: <http://www.google.com>

• Click on “Images”

• Type the scientific name of your organism into the search box.

• Click on the “Google Search” dialog box.

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Information for Your 3x3 Poster-Picture of Endangered Species

-Common Name

-Scientific Name

-Map(s) of Species Distribution

-General Description of Endangered Species

-Habitat Description

-Niche Description

-Interesting Information about the Endangered Species.

-List of Human Activities that have put the Species at Risk.

-Reasons Why the Species should be Saved

-Things that could be Done to Preserve the Species

-References: Website Addresses and Names where information was found.

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Poster Scoring Guide• Brainstorm the important Criteria that

should be addressed in the poster.– Identify those criteria that are required vs.

those that have different levels of performance

• Compact (or expand) to 4-6 major criteria. – This will create an Analytic Rubric.

• Create a descriptor for each scoring level (1-4) for each criteria.

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Remember …• Posters should be as visual as possible.• All pictures should have (clear, concise)

captions.• The poster should “tell a story” – which

means there needs to be ORGANIZATION.• All website materials should be

REWRITTEN (paraphrased) in your own words – NO PLAGURISM!

• You can also draw or create your own materials for your project board – be creative!!!

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GOOD

LUCK