Why is the Service listing the showy stickseed as endangered? What are the primary threats to its survival?
A. The Service uses five factors to determine if any species qualifies as endangered or threatened. Four of the five factors apply to this species. They are: 1) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the species habitat or range; 2) overutilization for commercial, scientific, or educational purposes; 3) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; and 4) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. This plant is being listed because it is known from one location that occurs on less than one hectare (2.5 acres). Surveys conducted in 2001 observed approximately 500 plants. The major threats to the species are collection, physical disturbance to the habitat, intense wildfire, and changes to the composition of the plant community brought on by fire suppression. In addition, highway maintenance activities, low seed production, poor germination, competition from native trees and shrubs, and nonnative noxious weeds that encroach upon
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