Sage & Pigott: Conservation status of Goodenia 
Collections from the South-West Botanical Province may 
give a more accurate picture of conservation status than 
collections from either the Eremaean or Northern 
Botanical Provinces (Fig 4). An assessment scale in 
relation to collector effort for each Botanical Province 
may help determine the conservation status for 
respective taxa. However even in the 'better' collected 
South-West Botanical Province there are large collecting 
"gaps" due to various factors such as accessibility (P 
Gioia, CALM, personal communication). This may be 
taken into account when making a conservation 
assessment of a species from the Eremaean or Northern 
Botanical Provinces, though difficult to assess. The 
CALM Priority rankings are used to indicate areas where 
further surveying is currently required for poorly known 
species and this is relevant for a species regardless of its 
region (or that region's collector effort). In the Eremaean 
and Northern Botanical Provinces Goodenia species are 
more likely to be associated with water bodies but roads 
(concentrations of collector effort) are built to follow 
ridges and avoid drainage lines (Burgman & 
Lindenmayer 1998). 
Management and research considerations 
A clear understanding of plant taxonomic and genetic 
resources is required for effective and successful 
biological conservation (Hopper 1994). This is highly 
relevant to Goodenia and the Goodeniaceae in general, 
which are currently poorly known in both areas. This 
may be a consequence of resources and interest being 
directed towards previously listed conservation taxa as 
currently only Goodenia integerima is legislatively 
protected as threatened or declared rare flora. This work 
aims to direct attention to species of Goodenia and 
Goodeniaceae recommended for conservation listing. We 
are working towards delineating the taxa in Goodenia that 
require further conservation efforts (Hopper 1994). 
Determining (genetic) conservation units in threatened 
taxa that allows a delineation of suitable units for 
conservation also provides the appropriate geographical 
scale for management (Coates 2000). This is relevant to 
the highly fragmented Goodenia-' rich' South-West 
Botanical Province. 
We recommend the following procedures for 
managing threatened, rare and poorly known Goodenia; 
1. Fire Regimes. Fire regimes for reserves that contain 
threatened, rare or poorly known Goodenia should 
take into account the fire response of the individual 
species involved and the habitat type. Research into 
the longevity of the seed soil bank and the 
reproductive biology of species is a priority. Non- 
invasive practices such as smoke-induced seed 
germination (Roche el al 1998) should be considered 
in any managment program. Most Goodenia species 
respond favourably after a fire event, often 
demonstrating the true abundance of a species (Table 
2). Some species of Scaevola may "disappear" if fire is 
excluded from a management regime (GJ Howell, 
NSW Agriculture, personal communication) and this 
may be the case for Goodenia as well. 
2. Reserve Design. Reserve design should take into 
account the habitat preference of Goodenia species for 
the margins of water bodies and water gaining sites. 
Goodenia are often found associated with water 
features (temporary lakes and watercourses) in 
central Australia, although this is not indicative of an 
aquatic phase (Table 1). Their habitat is often not 
covered by arbitrary reserve boundaries or may be 
affected by upstream water flow (salinity, silt or 
nutrients). Reserve design should also ideally 
support pollinators. Population management should 
include the genetic resources of species and plant 
numbers as well as the availability and abundance of 
pollinators (Coates & Atkins 2001). 
3. Flora Surveys. Urgent surveys are required for 
nearly all conservation-listed Goodenia taxa in 
Western Australia. Only G. neogoodenia, G. stellata 
and G. integerrima have been adequately searched for 
in the wild. Survey efforts in the Eremaean and 
Northern Botanical Provinces should be directed to 
those conservation-listed taxa that are threatened by 
mining unless the taxon is highly restricted or 
otherwise requires immediate attention ( e.g . Goodenia 
salmoniana, which is known only from the holotype 
collection, made in 1889). Collected material should 
be identified by specialist botanists, as some Western 
Australia Goodenia are problematic (e.g. Goodenia aff 
pascna, currently being examined by LWS). 
4. Threats. Measures to protect conservation-listed 
Goodenia in the South-West botanical province, 
specifically the Avon Wheatbelt IBRA, are essential 
to the future survival of species such as G. 
intergerrima and Goodenia sp Lake King (M Gustafsson 
et K Bremer 132) which are under direct threat from 
rising salinity and hydrological changes. 
5. Ex situ conservation. Once a better understanding of 
the true conservation status of many Goodenia 
conservation taxa is gained, cryogenic storage and 
long term seed banking should be undertaken for 
those species requiring it. 
Conclusion 
Goodenia in Western Australia is unsatisfactorily 
known and requires further surveying and monitoring, 
and biological research. Many taxa have never been 
surveyed or are known from a few historical collections 
or only a holotype collection and little is known of their 
biology. Over 40% of Western Australian Goodenia species 
are now on CALM Conservation Codes for Western 
Australian Flora Priority lists. Many species may prove 
to be more common than currently thought due to factors 
such as poor collector effort, taxonomic bias and 
difficulty in identification. Life history strategy may 
affect the abundance of Goodenia species at any given 
point in time. Relatively similar numbers of annuals and 
perennials occur among poorly known and abundant 
species. Though quite well conserved on the conservation 
estate in the South-West Botanical Province, Goodenia 
species are under direct threats from land clearing, rising 
salinity, invasive weeds and habitat degradation, 
including the margins of water points in the Eremaean 
and Northern Botanical Provinces, a major Goodenia 
habitat in these regions. We would encourage 
professional and amateur botanists with the relevant 
licenses to lodge good material of Goodenia species with 
accurate site and plant details with the Western 
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