RECOVERY PLAN FOR - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The percentage of total taxa that is native ranges from 32 at Site
#1 to 47 at Site #4 (Cuddihy ~ al. 1983).
REASONS FOR DECLINE AND CURRENT THREATS
Overview
The principal threats to these two species include habitat
destruction by domestic cattle and feral herbivores, fire, cinder
mining, and competition by introduced plant species, particularly
fountain grass.
The course of decline of these species was not documented.
Neither species was ever’ documented to be more widely distributed
than it is today. Destruction of the native vegetation of the
Waimea region was well-advanced by the middle of the 19th century
(Anon 1856 in Nagata 1982). Today, the ranchland surrounding
these species is nearly treeless pasture for many miles. Hardy
native shrubs and trees survive in topographic sites that reduce
access to cattle, such as gullies, rough a’a lava flows, and the
steep slopes of cinder cones. Communities with many native
plants, such as the habitats of these endangered species, are very
small and widely scattered.
Cattle and other Herbivores
Conclusive evidence that domestic or feral herbivores actually eat
either of these endangered species is lacking (Nagata 1982;
Cuddihy et al. 1983). Plants of Lioochaeta subcordata, however,
are reportedly browsed by goats during seasonal drought (Herbst
1979), and it is likely that L. venosa is also palatable. The
presumed decline of Isodendrion hosakae and Livochaeta venosa is
undoubtedly the result of the severe habitat loss described above.
Today, on the Parker Ranch, trampling and browsing damage results
when cattle are concentrated in the area of the plants. Such
damage to I. hosakae and other native shrubs was noted at Site #3
in 1988 after intensive grazing management had been used in the
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