Podocarpaceae

Dacrydium magnum de Laub.

 A poorly known species from Obi Island in Indonesia and islands to the east of Papua New Guinea. Although its currently known area of occupancy is within the threshold for Endangered, there is uncertainty about the extent of the decline and uncertainty about is distribution in other parts of the region.

Distribution

Recorded from Malesia: Maluku [Moluccas] (Obi Island); and Papuasia: Louisiades Archipelago (Tagula Island), D'Entrecasteaux Islands (Normanby Island).

This is one of the species of podocarpaceous conifers described by D.J. de Laubenfels for which only a few localities are known, with only one new herbarium collection known to have been made since his description of the taxon in 1969. Its known distribution is extremely disjunct or fragmentary, with one locality in the Moluccas and a few others on the other side of New Guinea on similarly small islands. It has not been found in New Guinea but whether it is really absent there is uncertain.

Habitat and Ecology

Dacrydium magnum is a canopy tree in tropical rainforest at altitudes between 60 m and 1,200 m a.s.l.; on ridges of mountains it can become the dominant forest tree.
On exposed sites it becomes more stunted, but not a low shrub.

Human Uses

No uses have been recorded for this species.

Conservation Status

Global Status

Near Threatened

Global Rationale

Dacrydium magnum's widely disjunct distribution makes it unrealistic to calculate the extent of occurrence on the basis of the few locality points as one area therefore they have been split in two for this reason. This gives an approximate extent of occurrence of 1,400 km² for the two areas together, the first mostly lying east of New Guinea in two island groups, and the second one disjunct on Obi Island in the Moluccas. An area of occupancy estimate is even more difficult to estimate on so few data points, but it is likely that both measures would fall within the thresholds for Endangered even if some additional localities were known. The Obi Island subpopulation is likely to be protected in a reserve, at least in part. Decline is suspected to have occurred on Tagula Island in the Louisiades Archipelago, where the species was collected as low as 300 m a.s.l. in 1956 and not far from settlements. In the absence of better information, it is therefore appropriate to list this species as Near Threatened (almost qualifies for a threatened listing under criteria B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)).

Conservation Actions

The subpopulation on Obi Island occurs at least in part and possibly entirely within Pulau Obi Nature Reserve, which consists largely ofprimary montane forest.

References and further reading

  1. Farjon, A. 2013. Dacrydium magnum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T34210A2851203. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34210A2851203.en. Downloaded on 27 July 2017.
  2. de Laubenfels, D.J. 1988. Coniferales. Flora Malesiana series I - spermatophyta, flowering plants 10(3)

External links