Biological Survey of Southern Mount Lofty Ranges
Southern Mount Lofty Ranges Biological Survey CONCLUSIONS AND CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS S. Croft1 THE STUDY REGION AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC The 152 described groups were defined using a VALUES combination of Biological Survey data, interpretation of The Mt Lofty Ranges, of which the SMLR study area aerial photography, ground truthing and literature is a major component, is an island of forest and survey. woodland surrounded by drier habitats to the north and east, and the ocean to the west and south. The In contrast, the floristic analysis presented in this report SMLR, in particular, is in effect an outlier of the was based only on survey data, and did not include Bassian Zoogeographic region of temperate southern major ecosystems such as grasslands, mangroves and and eastern Australia. Within the SMLR many plant samphire communities. Forty-one vegetation groups and vertebrate species exist as isolated populations were defined, based on similarity of their floristic from the greater areas of their natural distribution in composition (all perennial species at a quadrat were the south-east of the continent. included in the analysis). The SMLR study region, covering an area of 6,282 The majority of remnant vegetation within the study square kilometres, represents just 0.6% of South region occurs on soils least suitable for agriculture Australia. Despite the relatively small size of the and/or urban development, and is dominated by SMLR and extensive vegetation clearance, the region Stringybarks (Eucalypts obliqua and E. baxteri), Long- is highly biologically diverse, currently conserving: leaved Box (E. goniocalyx) and Pink Gum (E. • An estimated minimum of 1,100 native plant fasciculosa) forest and woodland formations.
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