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Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania

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Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania A nationally threatened ecological community Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Policy Statement 3.18 This brochure is designed to assist land managers, owners and occupiers as well as environmental assessment officers and consultants to identify, assess and manage the Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania. The grasslands are a threatened ecological community listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) - Australia’s national environment law. The brochure is a companion document for the listing advice which can be found in the Australian Government’s species profile and threats database (SPRAT). The SPRAT Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania ecological community profile can be found at: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl At this website, click on the Details link to download the documents and map for the ecological community. Please cite this publication as: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2010). Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania — a nationally threatened ecological community. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Policy Statement 3.18. Australian Government, Canberra. Disclaimer The contents of this document have been compiled using a range of source materials and while reasonable care has been taken in its compilation, the Australian Government shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of or reliance on the contents of the document. Printed: January 2010 © Commonwealth of Australia 2010 This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at www.ag.gov.au/cca. Poa landscape WHAT IS A NATIONALLY THREATENED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY? An ecological community is a naturally As well as being important because of their occurring group of plants, animals and other unique biodiversity and place within the organisms that are interacting in a unique Australian landscape, threatened ecological habitat. Its structure, composition and communities provide a range of ecosystem distribution are determined by environmental services. These can include the natural factors such as soil type, position in the management of air, water and soil nutrients, landscape, altitude, climate, and water the reduction or control of erosion and availability. Species within such ecological salinity, and carbon storage. In addition, they communities interact and depend on each provide vital wildlife corridors and habitat other - for example, for food or shelter. Types refuge for many plant and animal species, of ecological communities listed under including some of which are threatened national environment law include woodlands, and listed under national environment grasslands, shrublands, forests, wetlands, law. Threatened ecological communities ground springs and cave communities. can also provide a focus for tourism and recreation and contribute to the productivity Together with threatened species, threatened of our farmlands. Benefits to farmers of ecological communities listed under protecting ecological communities can the EPBC Act are protected as one of include facilitating pollination of agricultural several matters of national environmental plants, maintaining healthy soils leading to significance. Threatened ecological improved crop yields, and supporting soil communities can be listed as vulnerable, born microbes that release minerals for plant endangered or critically endangered, uptake, as well as managing water tables and categories which represent their decline run-off. and potential for extinction across their national extent. Protection through the More information on nationally threatened EPBC Act is vital for some ecological ecological communities can be found at: communities because many patches occur www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/ outside conservation reserves. It can also threatened/index.html complement other conservation measures. 1 Native bee on Microseris lanceolata (yam daisy) WHAT ARE THE LOWLAND NATIVE GRASSLANDS OF TASMANIA? The Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania are usually absent to sparse. The grasslands is a critically endangered ecological typically occur in areas up to 600 metres community listed under the national above sea level, generally on soils underlain environment law. by basalt, dolerite, deep sands or alluvial Native grasslands are generally defined deposits. as areas of native vegetation dominated • The remnant Lowland Native by native grasses with few or no emergent Grasslands of Tasmania is regarded woody species. Herbaceous plants are the as one of Tasmania’s most threatened dominant life form in Tasmania’s lowland and fragmented ecosystems and the native grasslands with most of the biomass most depleted vegetation formation in consisting of a single dominant species Tasmania. e.g. kangaroo grass or silver tussock grass. • The Lowland Native Grasslands of Despite the dominance of grass species, Tasmania ecological community grasslands can be extremely rich in other generally exists as small fragmented plant species. Herbs such as lilies, daisies remnants within its range and by 2009 and orchids often occupy the spaces more than 83 per cent has been lost between native grass tussocks. since European settlement. There are various types of native grassland • The majority of patches are found in Tasmania but this ecological community on private land. Implementing or is comprised of two major sub-types continuing sustainable land use differentiated by the dominant native tussock- practices is encouraged at sites forming perennial grass species: Lowland containing this ecological community. Poa labillardierei (silver tussock grass) • The Lowland Native Grasslands of Themeda triandra Grassland and Lowland Tasmania provides vital support to a (kangaroo grass) Grassland. diverse range of plants and animals The vegetation of the Lowland Native that are important for maintaining and Grasslands of Tasmania ecological improving biodiversity. community is mostly limited to a ground layer of grasses and other herbs. Trees and shrubs 2 | Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania Wahlenbergia spp. (bluebell) WHERE IS THE ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY FOUND? The Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania The grasslands are generally concentrated ecological community typically occurs at where rainfall is low and the soils are heavy, elevations up to 600 metres above sea deep, mineral and fertile. The ecological level in the Tasmanian Midlands, Derwent community is typically absent from rocky or Valley, east coast and southeast Tasmania. highly infertile sites. The grasslands generally Localised areas of the ecological community occur on soils underlain by basalt, dolerite, also occur in northwest Tasmania and on deep sands or alluvial deposits. There may Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in Bass be considerable variation in the composition Strait. of individual patches of the listed community within any given bioregion due to influences The Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania of climate, topography, fire and land use. is a part of the lowland temperate grassland vegetation group that occurs in fragmented areas throughout southeastern Australia. This vegetation group is broadly associated with particular bioregions or subregions, as defined by the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA). The IBRA bioregions in which the ecological community most commonly occurs are the Northern Midlands and South East bioregions. It can also be found in small patches near the margins of the Ben Lomond, Northern Slopes, King, Flinders, Central Highlands and Southern Ranges IBRA bioregions. 3 Today, the majority of the ecological precise map which shows all remnants of the community is on private property, with some grasslands. Native grasslands are difficult small remnants along roadsides, in local to map using aerial photography or satellite reserves and in some cemeteries. The imagery. Grassland mapping is also difficult total area of the lowland native grasslands because many remnants are now limited to in conservation related land tenure is very small, disparate and fragmented patches approximately 1900 hectares (as at June that cannot be shown on a map at this scale. 2008). This represents only nine per cent of Mapping is also problematic because the the remaining ecological community. condition of the grassland can change over time. Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania is found in the South, North and North West On site assessment is required to determine Natural Resource Management Regions. if the ecological community is present at a particular site. The following section and Figure 1 shows the areas where the Lowland the flowcharts on pages 12 and 13 provide Native Grasslands of Tasmania ecological guidance when assessing a site. community is likely to occur. Any mapped vegetation units should only be used as a guide. It is not possible to prepare a 4 | Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania Figure 1 Map showing
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