2000; Gaston 2003). Unfortunately, locally rare taxa are susceptible to the same threats that affect all rare and endangered ecological communities. Although there is current legislation in the United States designed to protect rare plants within large jurisdictions (e.g. CESA 1970; ESA 1973; CEQA 2005), learn more most Elafibranor ic50 conservation efforts and development decisions happen at local and regional scales (Reid 1998; Brooks et al. 2006; Leppig and White 2006). In addition to the rare taxa identified by global, national, and state or provincial agencies, locally rare taxa are important for the preservation of species

diversity, and therefore require Ivacaftor concentration effective and recognizable conservation status. Pärtel et al. (2005) conclude that in the case of vascular plants, an analysis of multiple conservation characteristics, including restricted global and local distributions, would provide a powerful and objective tool for conservation planning. They further highlight that “biogeographic reasons” may play an important role in determining local

abundance of a species, and that the area of a species distribution is the most common characteristic associated with conservation need. Furthermore, White (2004) demonstrated that area of occupancy, when used with an optimal methodology, significantly reduces experimental error for the estimation of range size, especially for rare taxa. Thus, analysis of area of occupancy criteria is important for plant conservation efforts. Although Magney (2004) directly applied the Natural Heritage Network Element Ranking System’s (NatureServe

2006) Loperamide criteria for the sub-national assessment scale to a county jurisdiction (Ventura, California), there are no specific local rarity ranks or criteria presently in use to systematically categorize taxa at the county level. Furthermore, when the absence of a standardized summary system is coupled with a frequent lack of accurate distribution data, locally rare taxa are not well integrated into conservation planning efforts. Regrettably due to such vagueness, repeatable studies are difficult and germane regulations are often not effectively applied to locally rare taxa (Leppig and White 2006). Nevertheless, several programs have been developed using various methods in attempts to identify and protect locally rare plants (see CNPS 2010). The purpose of this research was to develop and outline a set of criteria for systematically categorizing and assigning conservation ranks to locally rare taxa. The aim was to address the current gap in the available methods for classifying biodiversity at local assessment scales (e.g., counties) in order to catalog locally rare organisms and give them conservation status.