40736 Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 FINAL PROOF.Indd
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1616 SunshineSuSunshnnsshshiininenene CoastCCooasastastst BiodiversityBiBiododioddiivveeerrssisitittyyS StrategyStrttrararattegteeeggy 2010-202020100011010--22200200 Section 3 Values Everyone in the world depends completely on Earth’s ecosystems and the services they provide, such as food, water, disease management, climate regulation, spiritual fulfilment and aesthetic enjoyment. Ian Lowe Sunshine Coast Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 17 3 Values 3.1 Biodiversity at a glance The Landscape Our region is blessed with stunning natural landscapes The Sunshine Coast in Context that includes: world renowned beaches, waterways Australia is recognised as one of 17 ‘megadiverse’ and coastal ecosystems; unique lowland and hinterland countries and is home to many endemic and uniquely forests; with an idyllic sub-tropical climate. It comprises Australian species. Queensland has a rich biodiversity, ecological, biodiversity and natural history attributes with 47% of the nation’s plants and 66% of all native of national and international significance. bird, mammal, frog and reptile species found in the state (EPA 2004) while the South East Queensland bioregion The Sunshine Coast encompasses an area of 2,291 is one of the state’s richest areas in terms of the variety square kilometres containing a diverse range of of plant and animals. geological and geographic features extending from Emu Mountain in the north to the iconic National Heritage The Sunshine Coast lies within the Macleay-McPherson listed Glass House Mountains and Pumicestone Passage overlap, an ecological transition zone between the in the south, and west to the Conondale Ranges. Torresian and Bassian biological distributions. Many tropical species reach their southern limit and many The region has thousands of kilometres of waterways temperate species reach their northern limits within and approximately 130 kilometres of beaches and this zone. There are also many endemic species found other coastal foreshores, including lower estuaries. in the region that occur nowhere else in the world and, The Sunshine Coast Council boundary includes all or as a result, the region is considered to be an important part of the catchments of five major waterway systems: ‘biodiversity hub’ within South East Queensland. the Maroochy, Mooloolah, Mary and Stanley Rivers and the Pumicestone Passage. The area also includes a small section of the southern headwaters of the Noosa River. Geology: Prominent peaks Mount Coonowrin Mount Peregian 26-27 million years ago rhyolite and Mount Peregian (Emu Mountain) is another trachyte magma was forced up through laccolith. the older rocks, possibly fi lling old volcanic vents or sub surface bulges (called laccoliths). The southern group of these plugs form the iconic Glass House Mountains. 18 Sunshine Coast Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 Our Ecosystems The Sunshine Coast’s existing remnant vegetation patterns Of those 76 recorded ecosystems, 32 are considered reflect more than a century of land use for forestry, to be vulnerable in their remaining extent, particularly agriculture and urbanisation with less than 41% of the those that occur nearer the coast due to the on-going region’s remnant vegetation remaining. Of the region’s pressures from population growth and development. remaining remnant vegetation approximately 94% has The Commonwealth Government has declared eight been identified as core habitat areas while about 6% Wetlands of National Importance in the Sunshine has been identified as connecting habitat areas. Core Coast region: and Connecting Habitat Areas with prioritised habitat linkages are shown on Map 7.1. • Obi Obi Creek • Pumicestone Passage The Sunshine Coast has 76 different regional ecosystem • Bribie Island types, according to the Queensland Herbarium’s regional ecosystem classification system. Each ecosystem is • Lake Weyba categorised and described based on the geology type • Coolum Creek and Lower Maroochy River and vegetation associations. • Upper Pumicestone Coastal Plain The Sunshine Coast ecosystem types include but are • Conondale Range Aggregation which includes not limited to: the upper reaches of Bundaroo Creek and • coastal wallum Booloumba Creek • mangrove • Lower Mooloolah River. • paperbark and woodland forests The Pumicestone Passage, located at the southern extent • tall open and closed eucalypt forests of the region, is a wetland of international importance in accordance with the Ramsar Convention 1971. It offers • subtropical rainforests a protected haven for migratory shorebirds, dugongs, • montane heath. marine turtles and dolphins. Of concern 27 ecosystems Least concern 44 ecosystems Endangered 5 ecosystems Figure 1 The current conservation status of the different Regional Ecosystem types identified on the Sunshine Coast. Sunshine Coast Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 19 The National Estate registered Noosa-Maroochy Wallum The range of vegetation communities in the Sunshine Area covers approximately 8,000 hectares and extends Coast region provide a variety of ecological niches for from Mudjimba in the south to Noosa National Park in feeding, sheltering, breeding and resting resources for the north. This area includes a number of important native animals. The topography of the area also provides core habitat areas including the Mount Coolum National an altitudinal range of fauna habitats. Of particular Park, the Coolum section of the Noosa National Park, significance is Mapleton State Forest, on the Blackall lower reaches of the Maroochy River and the Doonan Range, which is also one of the largest habitat areas and Coolum Creek Conservation areas. Along with the within the Coast’s boundaries. Even further west the Noosa-Maroochy State Forest corridor, these two areas Conondale National Park and Kenilworth and Imbil Forest provide essential habitat for an array of threatened and Reserves contain the Sunshine Coast’s most extensive locally significant species. eucalypt forest associations and rainforest ecosystems. This area constitutes the largest habitat core within The Sunshine Coast retains the only substantial coastal the region and supports an extensive list of rare and eucalypt remnant vegetation areas between Byron threatened plants and animals. Bay and Bundaberg. Many large upland forests and smaller coastal lowland remnants are significant for biodiversity conservation, while most remnant vegetation is considered to have statewide significance. Coastal and dunes Heathland and paperbarks Mangroves and saltmarshes Seagrass communities Photo courtesy Chris Roelfsema Tall open forest Wet sclerophyll Rainforest Rocky/montane heath 20 Sunshine Coast Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 Our Flora and Fauna Over 1,600 individual flora species have been recorded within the region’s boundaries. The Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006 lists 91 flora species as Endangered, Vulnerable or Rare. Thirty-six species are listed as threatened under the Commonwealth Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (2000). Several species have global significance, being listed on the International Union for Nature Conservation’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The Sunshine Coast has many significant plant species. The highly endangered Buderim holly Graptophyllum reticulatum is a small distinctive shrub known only from two localities within the Sunshine Coast. It occurs nowhere else in the world. The swamp stringybark Eucalyptus conglomerata, listed as endangered, is considered to be one the rarest eucalypt species in Australia; while the Mount Beerwah mallee Eucalyptus kabiana, endemic to the region, is known from only a single dispersed population inhabiting the upper slopes of Mount Beerwah in the Glass House Mountains. Glossy black-cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus lathami Over 700 fauna species have been recorded in the region. State legislation lists 68 of these species as Endangered, Vulnerable or Rare, while the Commonwealth lists 37 threatened species in the Sunshine Coast area. Over 60 fauna species are listed on the IUCN Red List. Close to 350 bird species have been recorded here, representing more than one third of the nation’s bird species. A portion of these are considered internationally important and are listed by the JAMBA, CAMBA, ROKAMBA migratory bird agreements. The Sunshine Coast has a diverse and interesting range of animal species including marsupials, monotremes, rodents, bats, frogs, reptiles, butterflies, fishes, turtles, cetaceans and birds – many of which are the subjects of either State and/or Commonwealth recovery plans or similar conservation management tools. The Sunshine Coast is home to over a dozen threatened bird species including the glossy black-cockatoo Calyptorhynchus lathami and the Providence petrel Pterodroma solandri, both listed in Commonwealth Action Plans. The highly vulnerable ground parrot Pezoporus wallicus is a wallum specialist that has all but disappeared as a result of development in heath and wallum areas. Despite the array of flora and fauna that remains on the Coast, our biodiversity is in decline. Threatened acid frog species, the wallum sedge frog Litoria olongburensis and the wallum froglet Crinia tinnula now have severely Buderim holly - Graptophyllum reticulatum Sunshine Coast Biodiversity Strategy 2010-2020 21 restricted habitat. They have adapted to breeding in low pH water of the coastal heathlands, one of the most threatened vegetation communities of the region. Another habitat specialist, Fleay’s frog Mixophyes fleayi, survives