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Native Riparian Vegetation in Tasmania 409 Cunninghamia 8(4): 2004 Daley & Kirkpatrick, Native riparian vegetation in Tasmania 409 Native riparian vegetation in Tasmania E.A. Daley1 and J.B. Kirkpatrick2 School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78 GPO, Hobart 7001, AUSTRALIA. 1Email: [email protected], 2email: [email protected] Abstract: Twenty-one riparian vascular plant communities are defined, mapped and described using presence/absence data from 460 sites from relatively unmodified stretches of rivers and streams on mainland Tasmania. The process of classification involved selection of groups of floristically distinct sites from a sorted table produced by a polythetic divisive process. The communities have strong geographic patterns. Many communities have a wide range of structural expression and/or dominants. Nearly half of the native vascular flora of Tasmania is present in the sites, including a large number of conservation-significant species, some of which are concentrated in riparian vegetation. In the drier, lowland parts of the State there are large areas with little or no native riparian vegetation remaining. Several of the communities that occur in this environment appear to be totally unreserved, while most of the communities from colder and more humid areas are represented within secure reserves. 5 5 5 Cunninghamia (2004) 8(4): 409–430 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Introduction 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 Riparian vegetation is thought to be of critical importance 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 55 5 5 5 5 5 55 for the health of aquatic communities, and as a refugium for 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 threatened species in the landscape. As elements of 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 555 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 biodiversity, riparian vascular plant communities are also of 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 555 importance in themselves. Surprisingly, there are relatively 55 5 55 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 few studies of variation in riparian vegetation at even the large 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 catchment scale, with the studies of Merry et al. (1981) on 5 55 55 5 5 5 5 55 55 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 the River Wye in England, Curry and Slater (1986) on four 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Welsh catchments, and that of Wasklewicz (2001) on central 5 55 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 55 5 Arizonan rivers seeming to exhaust examples in international 5 5 5 55 5 5 5 5 journals. The grey literature is likely to be richer in examples 55 5 5 5 5 5 (e.g. Jarman & Crowden 1978, Kirkpatrick & Glasby, 1981, 5 5 x Kirkpatrick & Harwood 1983, North et al. 1998, Bridle & 5 Kirkpatrick 1998, Woolley 1999, Davidson & Gibbons 2001). H IHH km In Tasmania, most major vegetation types have been sampled on a statewide basis, communities differentiated, and Fig. 1. Riparian vegetation survey sites. their reservation status assessed (Kirkpatrick et al. 1995). Riparian vegetation has been the biggest gap; an unfortunate one given the extent of stream modification for energy Methods production and the exponential taming of Tasmanian streams Site selection under the Water Development Plan of the Tasmanian Government (DPIWE 2001). Kirkpatrick et al. (1995) in their Relatively intact riparian vegetation in each of the 10 × 10 km conspectus of the reservation status of Tasmanian plant national mapping grid squares in mainland Tasmania was communities attempted to use the geographically partial sampled (Daley 2003). Four hundred and sixty riparian sites information on riparian vegetation (Duncan 1983, Jarman et were surveyed. Vegetation was regarded as relatively intact al. 1984, Hughes 1987a, Harris & Kirkpatrick 1991, Askey- if exotic plants constituted less than 20% of the estimated Doran 1993) to provide a typology and reservation overlapping cover and the stream showed no obvious signs assessment, with an inevitably unsatisfactory outcome. of physical modification in the immediate vicinity. It proved not possible to gain access to many of the grid squares in the In the present paper we develop a classification of riparian wilderness areas of the west of the State (Fig. 1). However, plant communities for mainland Tasmania and deduce the sufficient samples were gained from these areas to be reservation status of these communities. We also provide confident that the variation in their riparian vegetation was information on the importance of Tasmanian riparian adequately covered. More significantly, no stands of native vegetation for the conservation of vascular plant species. riparian vegetation that met the selection criteria could be 410 Cunninghamia 8(4): 2004 Daley & Kirkpatrick, Native riparian vegetation in Tasmania found in 44 of the grids that were easily accessed. In 16 other Poorly-reserved is defined as presence within a secure reserve, grids that were easily accessed, it was possible that some but failure to satisfy the above criteria. Unreserved isolated stands of riparian vegetation were present, but constitutes absence from a secure reserve. Our analysis of access to potential sites was not possible. reservation status is largely based on the sample of releves. However, general observations of particular communities Data collection within reserves have also been used, as have records from Riparian vegetation was defined as that between the aquatic the literature, where the nature of the community is clear. zone of the stream and the cessation of evidence of flood scouring or deposition. A list of vascular plant taxa Results (nomenclature according to Buchanan 1999) was obtained The Tasmanian riparian vascular flora from this vegetation at each site, with searching for new taxa continuing along the stream on both sides until the nature of A total of 857 native taxa and 89 exotic taxa were recorded the orthogonal patterning, or type, of the vegetation changed, from the releves. The number of native taxa per site ranged or no new taxa were evident. This plotless procedure between 10 at Falls Rivulet in the Southern Ranges bioregion aggregated vegetation zones in the relatively few sites where to 85 along the middle reaches of the Little Swanport River they clearly existed. Following the schema of Specht (1974), in the South East bioregion. A large proportion of the native the structural types that occurred within this releve were riparian species are shrubs (31%) and herbs (27%). A high recorded, as were the dominant taxa in each stratum. Taxa proportion of the State’s species of native trees, shrubs and were regarded as codominant if they had about equal cover ferns were found in the releves (Table 1). The most common in the community. species are Pomaderris apetala and Leptospermum lanigerum. Only 8 species are found in more than half the Data analysis sites and only 84 species in at least 10% of sites (Table 2). Of all native Tasmanian vascular plant species, only two species, A gigantic sorted table was produced using the polythetic Gynatrix pulchella and Phebalium daviesii, both exceedingly divisive classificatory program, TWINSPAN (Hill 1979, rare, are known to occur only in riparian zones (Table 3). Minchin 1990), on the taxon presence/absence data. The There are, however, 76 vascular plant species that are found table was examined in detail to select groups of releves that: predominantly in riparian zones of Tasmania and therefore could be keyed out by combinations of the presences and could be categorized as ‘riparian’ plants (Table 3). Nearly absences of taxa; were relatively uniform within; and were 30% of these riparian plants are listed as threatened. While constituted of at least 5 releves. Twenty-one such groups were not all Tasmania’s riparian plants were detected during the selected from the table. Floristic similarities amongst groups survey, there were forty-six species listed under the were calculated using the Bray-Curtis measure on Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 (as of percentage frequency of species in groups. 2002). The structural/dominance description of each community was derived from the structural/dominance descriptions of all sites Table 1. The number and proportion of observed native taxa within a community.
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