Tulipa korolkowii

The primary threats to this species are livestock overgrazing, mining, and urbanisation. The quality of habitat across parts of this species range, particularly in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, is decreasing due to overgrazing from livestock, with increasing livestock populations likely to make the impact of this threat greater in the near future (Borchardt and Dorre 2012). Mining activities, primarily in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, are leading to both habitat loss and destruction of some subpopulations. Whilst, urbanisation is causing habitat of this species to be lost as new infrastructure and housing is developed on areas where subpopulations grow. This species is also threatened by the construction of roads, including the CASA-1000 project underway in Kyrgyzstan, and the expansion of agricultural land into habitat areas of this species. Although only some subpopulations are threatened in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, all those known from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan are under threat. Climate change is also projected to be a serious threat to this species with large areas of suitable habitat expected to disappear in the near future, especially the already arid areas where this species occurs with increased aridification and likely (Wilson et al. 2021). However, accurately modelling the impact of climate change is difficult so this threat will need to be monitored carefully.

This species is nationally Red Listed in Kyrgyzstan where it is Vulnerable (Davletkeldiev 2006), Tajikistan where it is Endangered (Hisoriev et al. 2016), and Uzbekistan where it is Near Threatened (Tojibaev and Beshko 2015). The synonym Tulipa rosea is also recorded as Vulnerable in Kyrgyzstan, although this should be treated as the same species as Tulipa korolkowii (Christenhusz et al. 2013). This species is also reported as Threatened in Kazakhstan (Baitulin 2014). This species occurs in the Nuratau Nature Reserve, Zaamin National Park, Gissar State Nature Reserve, and Kitab National Reserve all in Uzbekistan. It is not known to be in any protected areas in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, or Turkmenistan. This species is known from four ex situ collections (BGCI 2022) including the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. This species may require translocation efforts due to rapid shifts in habitat caused by climate change (Wilson et al. 2021).