Baikal sedge (Carex sabulosa) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 11

Special Significance of the Species

Carex sabulosa occursin a sand dune ecosystem that is no longer common in the Yukon. The potential sites for the plant are restricted; thus the plant is rare.

In addition, the populations are of possible genetic interest since they are at the eastern edge of a range that extends from central Asia to the southwestern Yukon. Edge of range populations are sometimes genetically and morphologically divergent from central populations and may have an evolutionary and ecological significance out of proportion to the percentage of the species they represent (Mayr 1982; Lesica and Allendorf 1995). The protection of genetically distinct peripheral populations may be important for the long-term survival of the species as a whole (Lesica and Allendorf 1995).

This sedge occurs on lands under Aboriginal jurisdiction in the Yukon Territory. Although no information on this species was found in a major ethnobotany database (University of Michigan - Native American Ethnobotany website), other species of Carex are used extensively by Aboriginal peoples in North America.

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