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Kakadu National Park Ramsar Site Ecological Character Description

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Kakadu National Park Ramsar Site Ecological Character Description Kakadu National Park Ramsar Site Ecological Character Description Image credits: M. McAulay & DEWHA; J. Baker; S. Stuart-Smith; M. McAulay & DEWHA; B. Furby CONTENTS CONTENTS Contents i List of Figures iv List of Tables vii Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xi Executive Summary xiii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Scope and Purpose of this Study 2 1.3 Relevant Treaties, Legislation and Regulations 5 1.3.1 Australian Government Legislation or Policy Instruments 5 1.3.2 Northern Territory Legislation or Policy Instruments 9 1.4 Key Terminology and Concepts 10 1.4.1 Wetland Processes 10 1.4.2 Wetland Components 10 1.4.3 Wetland Services/Benefits 11 1.4.4 Interaction of Wetland Elements 11 1.4.5 Bioregionalisation Scheme 12 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE 16 2.1 Details of the Site- Summary 16 2.2 Location and Brief Description 16 2.3 Land Use and Tenure 21 2.3.1 Tenure and Land Use within the Site 21 2.3.2 Tenure and Land Use Adjacent to the Site 22 2.4 Description of Wetland Types 23 2.4.1 Marine/Coastal Wetland Types Present 27 2.4.2 Inland Wetland Types Present 34 2.4.3 Discrepancies with the 1998 RISs 41 2.5 Nomination Criteria Met by the Site 42 2.5.1 Criteria Under which the Site was Designated 42 2.5.2 Assessment Based on Current Information and Ramsar Criteria 45 I CONTENTS 2.5.3 Criterion 1 46 2.5.4 Criterion 2 48 2.5.5 Criterion 3 51 2.5.6 Criterion 4 53 2.5.7 Criterion 5 55 2.5.8 Criterion 6 56 2.5.9 Criterion 7 57 2.5.10 Criterion 8 58 2.5.11 Criterion 9 59 3 CRITICAL COMPONENTS, PROCESSES AND SERVICES/BENEFITS 61 3.1 Study Approach 61 3.1.1 Background 61 3.1.2 Environmental Values Identified by the Fox Review 61 3.2 Overview of Critical Services, Components and Processes 63 3.3 Critical Components 66 3.3.1 C1 – Mangroves 66 3.3.2 C2 - Melaleuca Forests 69 3.3.3 C3 – Palustrine Wetlands and Billabongs 72 3.3.4 C4 – Waterfalls, Seeps and Waterholes 74 3.3.5 C5 - Populations of Migratory and Resident Waterbirds 74 3.3.6 C6 – Populations of Freshwater Fish 77 3.3.7 C7 – Populations of Freshwater and Saltwater Crocodiles 81 3.3.8 C8 – Populations of Threatened Sharks 85 3.3.9 C9 - Yellow Chat Populations 86 3.3.10 C10 - Pig-nosed Turtle Populations 89 3.3.11 C11 – Locally Endemic Invertebrate Species 91 3.4 Supporting Components 92 3.4.1 Seagrass 92 3.4.2 Monsoon Rainforests and Riparian Vegetation 92 3.4.3 Other Wetland Habitats 93 3.4.4 Terrestrial Habitats 93 3.4.5 Aquatic Invertebrates 94 3.4.6 Regionally Endemic Species 94 3.5 Critical Processes 95 3.5.1 P1 – Fluvial Hydrology 95 3.5.2 P2 - Fire Regimes 98 II CONTENTS 3.5.3 P3 – Breeding of Waterbirds 99 3.5.4 P4 – Flatback Turtle Nesting 101 3.6 Supporting Processes 103 3.6.1 Climate 103 3.6.1.1 Seasonal Cycles 103 3.6.1.2 Long-term Cycles 105 3.6.1.3 Extreme Climatic Events 106 3.6.2 Geology and Geomorphology 106 3.6.2.1 Geology 106 3.6.2.2 Geomorphology 107 3.6.3 Tidal Hydraulics 110 3.6.4 Water Quality 110 3.6.5 Groundwater 114 3.6.6 General Ecosystem/Biological Processes 117 3.6.6.1 Nutrient Cycling 117 3.6.6.2 Aquatic Foodwebs 117 3.7 Critical Services/Benefits 118 3.7.1 S1 – Maintenance of Global Biodiversity 118 3.7.2 S2 – Fisheries Resource Values 121 3.7.2.1 Habitats 121 3.7.2.2 Barramundi Abundance 123 3.7.3 S3 – Contemporary Living Culture 124 3.8 Supporting Services/Benefits 127 3.8.1 Recreation and Tourism 127 3.8.2 Scientific Research and Education 130 3.8.3 Historical Cultural Heritage 132 3.8.4 Biological Products 133 3.8.5 Sites and Items of Cultural Significance 134 3.9 Conceptual Models 136 4 LIMITS OF ACCEPTABLE CHANGE 145 4.1 Background 145 4.2 Derivation of Limits of Acceptable Change 146 4.2.1 Natural Variability and Probability Based LACs 146 4.3 Summary of Limits of Acceptable Change 149 5 OVERVIEW OF CURRENT AND FUTURE THREATS 158 5.1 Exotic Flora 159 III LIST OF FIGURES 5.2 Exotic Fauna 160 5.3 Climate Change 161 5.3.1 Saltwater Intrusion into Freshwater Areas 161 5.3.2 Mangrove Expansion 162 5.3.3 Changes to Fire Regimes 162 5.4 Tourism and Recreational Activities 162 5.5 Mining Activities 163 5.6 Public Safety and Crocodiles 163 5.7 Damage to Archaeological Resources and Rock Art 164 5.8 Living Resource Extraction 164 6 CHANGES TO ECOLOGICAL CHARACTER 165 6.1 Ecological Character Change Methods 165 6.1.1 Assessment of Listing Criteria 165 6.1.2 Potential Changes to Ecological Character Since Listing 165 6.1.3 Assessment of Ecological Character Changes Against LACs 172 7 INFORMATION GAPS, MONITORING AND EDUCATION 177 7.1 Information Gaps 177 7.2 Monitoring Needs 179 7.3 Communication, Education, Participation and Awareness 180 8 REFERENCES 182 9 GLOSSARY 203 APPENDIX A: PROJECT COMMITTEES 206 APPENDIX B: DETAILED METHODS 209 APPENDIX C: FAUNA SPECIES LISTS 215 APPENDIX D: ENDEMIC SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS 232 APPENDIX E: CURRICULUM VITAE OF PRIMARY AUTHORS 237 LIST OF FIGURES IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1 Key steps in preparing an Ecological Character Description (source: DEWHA 2008) 4 Figure 1-2 Generic conceptual model showing interactions between wetland ecosystem processes, components and services/benefits (source: DEWHA 2008) 13 Figure 1-3 Australian drainage divisions, indicating the Timor Sea Drainage Division (number VIII) (source: Bureau of Meteorology undated) 14 Figure 1-4 IMCRA provincial bioregions, indicating the Northern Provincial Bioregion (number 25) (source: Commonwealth of Australia 2006) 15 Figure 2-1 Location of the Kakadu National Park Ramsar site (denoted by red dashed l 18 Figure 2-2 Vegetation map for the Ramsar site (source: Tropical Savannas CRC undated) 26 Figure 2-3 Distribution of seagrass beds within and adjacent to the Ramsar site (source: Roelofs et al. 2005) 27 Figure 2-4 Seagrass species occurring within the Ramsar site (source: BMT WBM) 28 Figure 2-5 Smartline mapping of backshore habitats within the Ramsar site (source: GeoSciences Australia undated) 29 Figure 2-6 Estuarine waters of the South Alligator River (source: BMT WBM) 30 Figure 2-7 Intertidal marshes and saltpans along South Alligator River (source: BMT WBM) 31 Figure 2-8 Mangroves along the South Alligator River (source: BMT WBM) 32 Figure 2-9 Mangroves and Melaleuca forest extent within the Ramsar site (source: Parks Australia unpublished data) 33 Figure 2-10 Yellow Water – an example of a permanent lake and inland delta (source: BMT WBM) 34 Figure 2-11 Permanent river wetland type within South Alligator River (source: BMT WBM) 35 Figure 2-12 Seasonally inundated floodplain at Mamukala. (source: BMT WBM) 37 Figure 2-13 Melaleuca swamp forest at East Alligator River (source: BMT WBM) 38 Figure 2-14 Freshwater spring (source: Buck Salau, Parks Australia) 39 Figure 2-15 Billabongs within South Alligator River catchment (source: BMT WBM 2009) 40 Figure 2-16 Freshwater springs and monsoon forest within the Ramsar site (source: Parks Australia unpublished data) 40 Figure 2-17 (B) Catchment condition (C) estuary condition and (D) river condition at a bioregional scale. Red rectangle indicates location of the Kakadu Ramsar site. (source: NLWRA 2002) 47 Figure 3-1 Conceptual model showing interactions between critical and supporting components, processes and services/benefits within the Ramsar site 65 Figure 3-2 Area of mangroves mapped from 1950 to 1991 aerial photographs (source: Cobb et al. 2007) 68 Figure 3-3 Spatial extent of Melaleuca cover (green shading) on the Magela floodplain for four time periods (source: Staben 2008) 71 V LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3-4 Generalised vegetation class changes on the Magela floodplain between 1983 and 2003 (source: Boyden et al. 2008) 73 Figure 3-5 Changes in non-hatchling densities of saltwater crocodiles for all four major rivers surveyed in Kakadu National Park – combined data (source: Britton 2009) 83 Figure 3-6 Changes in non-hatchling densities of saltwater crocodiles for Wildman River (WLDM), West Alligator River (WAR), South Alligator River (SAR) and East Alligator River (EAR) (source: Britton 2009) 84 Figure 3-7 Total freshwater crocodile sightings over time at each location (source: Kakadu National Park, unpublished data) 85 Figure 3-8 Yellow chat records for Kakadu National Park (source: Parks Australia unpublished and Armstrong 2004) 88 Figure 3-9 Map of know dry season distribution of pig-nosed turtle in the Ramsar site (source: Georges and Kennett 1989) 90 Figure 3-10 Changes in area of monsoon rainforest within Kakadu National Park (source: Banfai and Bowman 2006) 93 Figure 3-11 Monthly flow at three representative gauging stations in KNP (source: Australian Natural Resources Atlas website, data from 1958 to 1999) 97 Figure 3-12 Areas burnt per year for Kakadu National Park (a) and various landscape types (b to d) (source: Gill et al. 2000) 99 Figure 3-13 Mean (error bars = SD) and maximum number of nesting attempts per night, and numbers of nesting individuals per survey night recorded at Field Island (1990-2001) (source: Schäuble et al. 2006) 102 Figure 3-14 Mean maximum and minimum temperature at Jabiru Airport between 1971 and 2009.
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