Cunninghamia Date of Publication: 17/6/2013 A journal of plant ecology for eastern Australia ISSN 0727- 9620 (print) • ISSN 2200 - 405X (Online) Plant communities of the upper Murrumbidgee catchment in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory R.C. Armstrong1,4, K.D. Turner2, K.L. McDougall1, R. Rehwinkel1 & J.I. Crooks3,5 1 Regional Operations Group, Office of Environment and Heritage, Queanbeyan NSW 2620, AUSTRALIA. 2 Scientific Services Division, Office of Environment and Heritage, Wollongong NSW 2500, AUSTRALIA. 3 Scientific Services Division, Office of Environment and Heritage, Queanbeyan NSW 2620, AUSTRALIA. 4 Current address: Umwelt (Australia) Pty. Limited, P.O. Box 6135, O’Connor ACT 2602, AUSTRALIA. 5 Current address: Department of Primary Industries, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450, AUSTRALIA. Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract: Native vegetation of the upper Murrumbidgee catchment in southeast NSW and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was classified into 75 plant communities across 18 NSW Vegetation Classes within nine Structural Formations. Plant communities were derived through numerical analysis of 4,106 field survey plots including 3,787 plots from 58 existing survey datasets and 319 new plots, which were sampled in under surveyed ecosystems. All plant communities are described at a level appropriate for discrimination of threatened ecological communities and distinct vegetation mapping units. The classification describes plant communities in the context of the upper Murrumbidgee catchment and surrounding landscapes of similar ecological character. It incorporates and, in some instances, refines identification of plant communities described in previous classifications of alpine vegetation, forest ecosystems, woodlands and grasslands across the Australian Alps and South Eastern Highlands within the upper Murrumbidgee catchment.