Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00346:reg:3:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00346
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 7/10)
Character Range: 43189–46429

populations may enhance their adaptive opportunities. For Spiny Rice-flower translocation and conservation purposes, seeds should be collected from a number of different plants from each source population. Mixing genetic material within, but not between, northern and southern populations may provide a benefit for its long-term viability. The proportion of genetic material should reflect the relative distances between source locations (Broadhurst et al. 2008; James & Jordan 2014). Therefore, consideration of habitat (source-recipient) matching should underpin the sourcing of planting material for translocations (James & Jordan 2014). Populations located in the Victorian Riverina bioregion, notably, have unique genotypes different to the other populations and may have different levels of ploidy, and therefore, it is recommended that translocation within the Victorian Riverina only use genetic materials from this bioregion. Genetic material from multiple populations (except for the Riverina bioregion) can be combined for reintroduction or for augmenting populations with a relatively low level of genetic variation. For populations not at risk of inbreeding, the recommendation is to source genetic materials from within 60 km of the recipient site. This recommendation may be subject to review under further consideration of potential climate change impacts.
Assessment of habitat matching and climate-provenancing, and well-designed experimental studies, should be undertaken to ascertain how the long-term persistence of the Spiny Rice-flower populations may be affected by changing environmental conditions. Evolutionary genetics is an important consideration in translocation strategies (Weeks et al. 2011), and therefore it is important quantify the genetic and phenotypic traits and their plasticity, including its intraspecific trait variation, such as seed and germination traits, in the assessment for the adaptive capacity of Spiny Rice-flower.

3.2                 Distribution

The Spiny Rice-flower is endemic to Victoria. It occurs on basalt-derived soils west of Melbourne across the central Victorian Volcanic Plains and on alluvial soils across west and central Victoria (Map 1; Walsh & Entwisle 1996; DSE 2008; DELWP 2021). The species' extent of occurrence (based on 2 x 2 km grids around reliable records) is estimated to be 1,152 km² based on post-1970 records in the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. Population size is estimated as 70,000 to 90,000 mature individuals, distributed in approximately 275 wild populations (DELWP 2021). The most recent population survey that is currently ongoing discovered that that there are about 325 known populations of Spiny Rice-flower (in Appendix 1).

The Spiny Rice-flower populations are predominantly located in the Victorian Volcanic Plains, Victorian Midlands and Victorian Riverina IBRA (Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia) Bioregions (DEH 2000). Other populations are also known to occur in the Wimmera Plains, Central Victorian Uplands, Goldfields, and Dundas Tableland bioregions. Based on the modelled distribution, Spiny Rice-flower is known to occur within the following Natural Resource Management regions: Corangamite, Glenelg Hopkins,