Climbing prairie rose (Rosa setigera) COSEWIC assessment and status report addendum: chapter 3
Addendum to the
Update
COSEWIC status report
on the
Climbing Prairie Rose
Rosa setigera
Michael J. Oldham
Kelly Ramster
P. Allen Woodliffe
2003
In 1986, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera) as nationally Vulnerable (now Special Concern), based on the status report by Ambrose (1986). Based on an Update COSEWIC Status Report (Ambrose 2001a), this status was upgraded to nationally Threatened in May 2002. Ontario’s Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) recently recommended a status of Special Concern in Ontario. This addendum to the 2001 Update COSEWIC Status Report presents information relevant to the status of Climbing Prairie Rose which was either not included in the Update COSEWIC Status Report or gathered subsequent to it.
In the original COSEWIC status report Ambrose (1986) reported Climbing Prairie Rose from 33 extant and one historic site in Canada. All sites were in southwestern Ontario except for the historic site in Prince Edward County at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. In the Update COSEWIC Status Report Ambrose (2001a, 2001b) reported the species from 52 extant sites, 19 of which were confirmed during fieldwork. By extracting additional records from several reports on natural areas in Essex County (Johnson and Wannick 1977; Oldham 1983; Essex Region Conservation Authority 1992; Essex Region Conservation Authority 1994; Kamstra, Oldham and Woodliffe 1995; Prince, Silani and Associates 1996) in combination with recent survey data gathered by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (Woodliffe 2002), we now have information on 104 sites for Climbing Prairie Rose in Ontario.
Most of the core Climbing Prairie Rose populations are under protection (Ambrose 2001a) and the species occurs in the following protected areas: Wheatley Provincial Park, Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve, Fish Point Provincial Nature Reserve, Lighthouse Point Provincial Nature Reserve, Devonwood Conservation Area, Ruscom Shores Conservation Area, Maidstone Conservation Area, Hillman Marsh Conservation Area, Tilbury West Conservation Area, Wheatley Conservation Area, Point Pelee National Park, and Stone Road Alvar (jointly owned by Essex Region Conservation Authority, Nature Conservancy Canada, and Federation of Ontario Naturalists). The species also occurs in other sites with some degree of protection, such as Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (e.g. Cedar Creek, Springarden Road Prairie), Environmentally Significant Areas (e.g. Sandwich West Woodlot, Middle Point), Boy Scout Camp (e.g. Canard River Scout Camp), and First Nations Reserves (e.g. Walpole Island, St. Anne Island).
Of the 104 known Climbing Prairie Rose sites, 82 are presumed to be extant (verified within the past 20 years), 17 are considered historic (not seen in the past 20 years, but suitable habitat probably still present), and 5 sites are extirpated (extensive surveys have not revealed plants and/or suitable habitat is no longer present). Thirty-seven of the 104 Climbing Prairie Rose sites were contained in various natural area survey reports but not included in Ambrose (1986, 2001a, 2001b) and 16 were discovered in 2002 by P.A. Woodliffe, subsequent to the Update COSEWIC Status Report. Note that on the accompanying distribution map, one extant record from Middlesex County and one extirpated record from Prince Edward County are not mapped.
Based on the information presented above and in Woodliffe (2002), we believe that the abundance of Climbing Prairie Rose has been underestimated in the two COSEWIC status reports. Additional surveys and earlier information not included in the Update COSEWIC status report indicate that this species is known from between 82 and 99 extant Canadian sites and we are convinced that additional surveys would reveal even more populations. This species is quite inconspicuous when not in flower, is easily confused with other rose species, and some populations flower infrequently or not at all in dry years (such as 2001 when fieldwork was conducted for the COSEWIC update status report). Ambrose (2001a) estimated 125-150 mature individuals in Canada, however Woodliffe (2002) located 491 clumps (443 of which were flowering) during surveys in a portion of the species’ range in 2002. These results indicate that the true abundance of Climbing Prairie Rose has been grossly underestimated in the Update COSEWIC Status Report.
Climbing Prairie Rose is an opportunistic early successional species that colonizes roadsides, ditches, abandoned fields and other similar open areas. The suggested decline in Climbing Prairie Rose (Ambrose 2001a) was based on a resurvey in 2001 of sites visited in 1984. Because many of these sites have become more overgrown in the 17 years between surveys, it is to be expected that an early successional species such as this one would decline at some of these sites.
Acknowledgements
Kara Brodribb kindly prepared the accompanying map and Alan Dextrase, Irene Bowman, and Kara Brodribb reviewed a draft of this report and provided useful comments.
Literature Cited
Ambrose, J.D. 1986. Status report on the Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera). Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).
Ambrose, J.D. 2001a. Update COSEWIC Status Report on Climbing Rose (Rosa setigera). Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). 17 pp.
Ambrose, J.D. 2001b. Precise locations for all known extant (and recently extirpated) populations of Rosa setigera. Confidential appendix of "Update COSEWIC Status Report on Climbing Rose (Rosa setigera)", dated November 2, 2001. 6 pp.
Essex Region Conservation Authority. 1992. City of Windsor Candidate Natural Heritage Site Biological Inventory Evaluation Report December 1992. Essex Region Conservation Authority, City of Windsor (Department of Planning, Department of Parks and Recreation). 212 pp.
Essex Region Conservation Authority. 1994. Environmentally Significant Areas Status Update. Unpublished report. Essex Region Conservation Authority, Essex.
Johnson, J.W. and W. Wannick. 1977. A Study of Biologically Significant Natural Areas of the Essex Region. Essex Region Conservation Authority, Essex, Ontario. 563 pp.
Kamstra, J., M.J. Oldham, and P.A. Woodliffe. 1995. A Life Science Inventory and Evaluation of Six Natural Areas in the Erie Islands (Ontario). Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 140 pp. + appendices + maps.
Oldham, M.J. 1983. Environmentally Significant Areas of the Essex Region: A Background Report to the Essex Region Conservation Plan. Essex Region Conservation Authority, Essex, Ontario. viii + 426 pp.
Prince, Silani and Associates Ltd. 1996. Candidate Natural Heritage Area Biological Inventory and Land Use Planning Policy Direction. Discussion Paper No. 1. Town of Lasalle, Ontario. 102 pp.
Woodliffe, P.A.. 2002. A Survey of Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera) in parts of Essex and Chatham-Kent. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Alymer District, Chatham Area.. 5 pp. + figures, table and appendix.
Element occurrence records for Climbing Prairie Rose
