Communities for Communities Newsletter Issue 18

In this issue: • Ecological Communities Section update • Eucalyptus Woodlands of the Western • Five threatened ecological communities listed Australian Wheatbelt technical workshop under national environment law • Ministerial decision on the Long Lowland • River Murray–Darling to Sea and Macquarie Rivers ecological community Marshes disallowance • Two recovery plans adopted by the Minister • Alpine Sphagnum bogs and associated fens • Conferences and events in 2014 recovery planning

Ecological Communities The fact sheet and further information on the ecological community is available at: Section update www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ • Our new website went live in mid-2013. The site publicshowcommunity.pl?id=126&status=Endangered features a new map function that gives an overview • Conservation Advices have recently been approved for of ecological communities and their locations across four existing listed ecological communities: Australia and answers some common questions. You can –– Blue Gum High Forest of the Sydney visit the new website here: Basin Bioregion www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/threate –– Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla dominant and ned-species-ecological-communities/threatened-ecolo co-dominant) gical-communities –– Swamps of the Fleurieu Peninsula • A new fact sheet on the recently-listed Proteaceae –– Turpentine-Ironbark Forest in the Sydney Dominated Kwongkan Shrubland ecological community Basin Bioregion is now available on the Department’s website. The fact sheet outlines: The Conservation Advices are available at: –– what an ecological community is www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ –– why it is nationally protected publiclookupcommunities.pl –– what the listing aims to achieve –– what the listing means for people in the region. BIO263.0414 environment.gov.au Newly listed ecological communities

Since the last issue of this newsletter, five new ecological communities have been listed under national environment law, which are: • Scott River Ironstone Association • Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh • Eyre Peninsula Blue Gum Woodland • Proteaceae Dominated Kwongkan Shrubland • Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaved Mallee (Eucalyptus cneorifolia) Woodland

These additions bring the total number of nationally listed ecological communities to 66. Summaries of the five new listings can be found on the following pages.

Further information on all these ecological communities, including full conservation advice, detailed descriptions, threat analyses, distribution maps, priority research and conservation actions, can be found on the Department’s website at: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl.

Scott River Ironstone Association Key threats: • land clearing Date listed: May 2013 • fragmentation Category: Endangered • grazing by native and non-native species Phytophthora cinnamomi Location: Occurs on the Scott Coastal Plain in the • dieback due to south-west of Western Australia. • weed invasion

Descriptive features: Exists as low to tall seasonally-flooded Other features: Contains 54 orchid species. Provides habitat shrubland or heathland, occurring on shallow soils over to the three plant and four animal species below that are massive ironstone formations. The shallowness of the soils, listed as threatened nationally: the iron content, and seasonal flooding and waterlogging • Banksia nivea subsp. ulinginosa (swamp honeypot) are all thought to heavily influence the assemblage of • Darwinia ferricola (Scott River darwinia) plant species. Vegetation type is generally heathlands and • Lambertia orbifolia subsp. Scott River Plains (Scott River low to tall shrublands, with dominant species depending roundleaf honeysuckle) on the degree of waterlogging. Patches of the ecological community may be dominated by Melaleuca preissiana, • forest red-tailed black-cockatoo Hakea tuberculata, Kunzea micrantha or Melaleuca incana • Baudin’s black-cockatoo subsp. Gingilup while Loxocarya magna typically dominates • Carnaby’s black-cockatoo the understorey. • Chuditch.

Further information: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ publicshowcommunity.pl?id=123&status=Endangered

Vegetation of the Scott River Ironstone Association © Department of Parks and Wildlife Western Australia

environment.gov.au Subtropical and Temperate • invasion by exotic weeds Coastal Saltmarsh • rising sea levels • climate change Date listed: August 2013 • mangrove encroachment Category: Vulnerable • pollution

Location: From Curtis Island in south eastern Queensland, Other features: This ecological community provides along the coasts of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania extensive ecosystem services and supports a wide range of and South Australia to Shark Bay in south-western Western insects, fish, birds and insectivorous bats. It is particularly Australia. Also encompasses coastal saltmarsh occurring on important for fish and prawn species as it provides shelter islands within this geographic range. and a nursery habitat for juveniles. Additionally, coastal saltmarsh ecosystems are considered to be one of the most Descriptive features: Found on the sandy/muddy shores efficient at capturing carbon in the world. of coastal areas that are subject to regular or intermittent tidal influence. Vegetation found within the community Note: Ecological communities listed as vulnerable do not is salt-tolerant and dominated by low herbs, shrubs/ currently trigger the referral provisions of the EPBC Act. chenopods, sedges and grasses. Non-vascular plants However, listing this ecological community significantly including algae, diatoms and cyanobacterial mats are increases awareness and provides valuable information and also present. incentive to support its management and recovery.

Key threats: Further information: • land clearing www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ • fragmentation publicshowcommunity.pl?id=118&status=Vulnerable • infilling • tidal restriction

Hindmarsh Island Saltmarsh © Matt White

environment.gov.au Eyre Peninsula Blue Gum Woodland

Date listed: August 2013

Category: Endangered

Location: Endemic to the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The ecological community occurs in the Koppio Hills, Cleve Hills and west of the Marble Range. It is mainly restricted to well-drained, moderate to high fertility soils and is typically associated with sheltered valleys, lower hill slopes and watercourses.

Descriptive features: Typically woodland to open forest with a canopy dominated by Eucalyptus petiolaris (blue gum). Mid-layer varies from open to dense in response to soil moisture and management history and consists of native sclerophyllous shrubs and small trees. Ground layer is variable in development and composition, ranging from sparse to a thick layer of native grasses and other herbs. Ground layer flora typically is dominated by one or more of the graminoid genera.

Key threats: • land clearance and disturbance • invasive species Eyre Peninsula Blue Gum Woodland northern distribution, Cleve • salinisation © Anthony Hoffman • dieback due to Phytophthora cinnamomi • inappropriate fire regimes

Other features: Provides habitat for three threatened plant species that are listed nationally and numerous native plant and animal species, including: • Acacia pinguifolia (fat-leaved wattle) • Pultenaea trichophylla (tufted bush-pea) • Olearia pannosa subsp. pannosa (silver daisy-bush) • musk lorikeet • yellow-tailed black-cockatoo • diamond firetail • western pygmy-possum • numerous insectivorous bats.

Further information: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ publicshowcommunity.pl?id=124&status=Endangered

environment.gov.au Proteaceae Dominated Other features: Provides habitat for 45 plant and 15 animal Kwongkan Shrubland species that are listed as nationally threatened such as: • Daviesia glossosema (maroon-flowered daviesia) Date listed: February 2014 • Gastrolobium luteifolium (yellow-leafed gastrolobium)

Category: Endangered • Scaevola macrophylla (large-flowered scaevola) • the dibbler Location: Found on the south coast of Western Australia, • heath mouse from Albany in the east to Cape Arid in the west. • Carnaby’s black cockatoo Descriptive features: Kwongkan shrubland that ranges • western bristlebird from sparse to dense thickets, where Proteaceaeous species • western ground parrot form a significant component (e.g. plants from the genera Adenanthos, Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea, Isopogon • western whipbird and Lambertia). Proteaceae species present are variable Further information: across the region. The ecological community is typical of www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ vegetation within some of the reserves across the region, publicshowcommunity.pl?id=126&status=Endangered such as Stirling Range National Park, Fitzgerald River National Park and Cape Le Grand National Park.

Key threats: • land clearing • fragmentation • changing fire regimes • dieback due to Phytophthora cinnamomi • invasive species • climate change

Kwongkan shrublands at East Mount Barren, Fitzgerald River National Park © Department of the Environment

environment.gov.au Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaved Key threats: Mallee (Eucalyptus cneorifolia) • land clearing Woodland • fragmentation • changing fire regimes Date listed: May 2014 • invasive weeds

Category: Critically Endangered Other features: Provides habitat for at least 6 plant species that are listed as nationally threatened and several that are Location: Limited to the eastern half of Kangaroo Island, listed as threatened in South Australia or are considered South Australia. regionally significant, as endemic or near-endemic to Descriptive features: Mallee woodland with Eucalyptus Kangaroo Island. The ecological community also provides cnerorifolia as the most common tree in the canopy. Other occasional habitat or resources for three nationally eucalypt species, notably E. albopurpurea (purple-flowered threatened animals: mallee box), E. diversifolia (coastal white mallee) or • Kangaroo Island dunnart E. phenax (white mallee), may be present but are not • southern brown bandicoot dominant. In mature patches the canopy is often closed • glossy black cockatoo with a sparse or absent understorey of shrubs, groundstorey plants and considerable bare ground and plant litter. The Further information: ecological community can occur in a number of vegetation www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ states and appearance can vary depending on the nature of publicshowcommunity.pl?id=102&status=Critically+En and time since disturbance. A hot fire, in particular, may dangered transform the ecological community into a shrubland—it can kill off the mallee canopy but stimulates resprouting of A factsheet about this ecological community is being trees and considerable, dense regeneration of understorey developed and will be available through the weblink, above, plants from the soil seed bank. Over time, various in due course. understorey species die off in the absence of further fire, and re-establishes the open vegetation structure.

Roadside remnant of KI Mallee Woodland along Hog Bay road, near Penneshaw © Matt White

environment.gov.au River Murray–Darling to Sea and The Government will also use the Threatened Species Scientific Committee’s advice on the ecological Macquarie Marshes disallowance communities in the implementation of the Basin On 11 December 2013, the Parliament passed a Government Plan, environmental watering decisions and other motion to disallow listing the River Murray–Darling to Sea natural resource initiatives. Information on the River and Macquarie Marshes ecological communities as critically Murray–Darling to Sea and the Macquarie Marshes endangered. This means the listings no longer have an effect. ecological communities is available on the Department’s webpage at: In making this decision, the Australian Government • www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ concluded that any potential environmental benefits of publicshowcommunity.pl?id=92&status=Approval+ listing the communities at such a scale will not sufficiently Disallowed#listing_advice_loop outweigh the uncertainty and potential regulatory burden • www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ for business and landholders in the region. publicshowcommunity.pl?id=93&status=Approval+ The Government is committed to providing effective Disallowed environmental protection to the Murray-Darling Basin. It intends to deliver on this commitment by implementing the Basin Plan and by fully utilising the existing listings in these specific areas and throughout the Basin. This includes the existing listings for wetlands, threatened species, ecological communities and migratory birds.

Wetland at “Burrima” (a small wetland property in the North Macquarie marsh) © Bruce Gray and Department of the Environment

River Murray at Bunyip Reach, South Australia © John Baker and Department of the Environment

environment.gov.au Eucalyptus Woodland of the Western Australian Wheatbelt © John Vranjic

Technical workshop on the structure (e.g. grassy, shrubby, chenopod, etc). Instead, the woodland occurs as a mosaic of up to 30 eucalypt canopy Eucalypt Woodlands of the species over a variable understorey across the wheatbelt Western Australian Wheatbelt landscape. The most common canopy tree species include: ecological community salmon gum, york gum, gimlet, red morrel, wandoo and mallets. However, the woodland canopy is never dominated A public nomination for the Eucalypt Woodlands of by mallee species (typical of drier sites) or by jarrah or marri the Western Australian (WA) Wheatbelt was placed woodlands (that occupy the wetter woodlands around the on the 2011 Finalised Priority Assessment List (FPAL) Darling Range). to assess whether it should be listed as a threatened The Avon Wheatbelt is one of the most heavily cleared ecological community. bioregions of Australia—more than 85 per cent of The national list of threatened ecological communities native vegetation has been lost. The wheatbelt generally includes several communities endemic to WA, most of which occupies the cleared region that lies between the 300 and are fine-scale communities with a limited extent. The WA 600 millimetres per year average rainfall range. However, Wheatbelt assessment is one of the few broad-scale ecological similar cleared landscapes within this rainfall range extend communities in the state to be assessed for national listing, into adjacent regions. The degree to which Wheatbelt and follows the recent listing of the Proteaceae Dominated Woodlands extend into these regions is being investigated. Kwongkan Shrublands (see article on page 5). A draft description of the Eucalypt Woodlands of the WA The technical workshop for the Eucalypt Woodlands of Wheatbelt ecological community is being prepared, and the WA Wheatbelt was held in November 2013. Technical a draft assessment for this ecological community will be workshops are a vital early step in the process for assessing made available for public comment in the coming months. ecological communities. The workshops bring together The Minister has extended the deadline to complete this key experts and land managers familiar with the ecological assessment to 31 December 2014. community being assessed to clarify the community’s If you would like to see what other ecological communities description and distribution. Workshops also determine are currently being assessed, you can view the FPALs with condition thresholds for distinguishing good quality from expected completion dates on the Department’s website at: degraded sites. www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/threate The workshop acknowledged that the Eucalypt Woodlands ned-species-ecological-communities/listing-assessments/ of the WA Wheatbelt is a complex ecological community finalised-priority and it is not characterised by one or a few distinctive dominant canopy tree species, or a particular understorey

environment.gov.au Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens recovery planning

The Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens ecological community was listed as endangered in December 2008 and the decision was made for a recovery plan to be developed.

The ecological community occurs above 1000 metres in elevation on the Australian mainland—almost entirely within the Australian Alps Bioregion that spreads across the ACT, NSW and Victoria—and above 800 metres Fen pools paralyser © Kåren Watson in elevation in Tasmania. The community is made up of assemblages of high-altitude specialist and wetland flora species, and provides habitat for threatened fauna species—notably the southern and northern corroboree frogs, and the alpine water skink.

The Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens ecological community is an integral component of the catchments and hydrological processes of the Australian Alps and Tasmanian montane areas. Threats to the survival of the ecological community include: • climate change—particularly the long-term drying of the landscape and the increase in bushfire frequency and severity that it causes • invasive weeds • pathogens • grazing, trampling and pugging by feral horses, pigs, deer and domestic stock.

After a successful meeting of the Recovery Plan Steering Committee early in January 2014, a draft plan is intended to be released for public consultation in the first half of 2014.

environment.gov.au Ministerial decision on the Long However, these impacts can be improved by positive interventions such as conservation stocking of fish, recovering Lowland Rivers of South East fish passage and meeting environmental flow objectives. Queensland and North East New The Threatened Species Scientific Committee remains South Wales ecological community concerned about threats to the ecological community’s survival over the longer term, particularly if adequate In line with the advice of the Threatened Species Scientific management measures are not undertaken, or the drive for Committee, the Minister recently decided not to list the recovery actions and environmental protection is lost. Long Lowland Rivers of South East Queensland and North East New South Wales as a threatened ecological Priority conservation actions to manage threats and stop the community under national environment law as it does not ecological community from becoming threatened are needed currently meet the listing criteria. However, a decision not in the longer term and are outlined by the Committee to list this ecological community as nationally threatened in their conservation advice. The advice is published on should not detract from future efforts to conserve the the Department’s website to provide more guidance and biodiversity, ecological processes and services inherent options for environmental decision-making, including on within the river systems. rehabilitation and conservation initiatives in the region.

The Committee found that the uneven nature and degree The Department has been working closely with the of threats produce variable impacts in the individual river Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee to develop systems of the ecological community. The degradation across a multi-species recovery plan for aquatic threatened species much of the ecological community’s geographic distribution in the Mary River. This plan should contribute significantly is substantial, and there are signs this may continue to to conservation outcomes in the ecological community. happen in parts of the ecological community. Also, some migratory fish species are in decline, with a substantial The SPRAT profile for the ecological community can be disruption of migration, breeding and recruitment. accessed at: www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ publicshowcommunity.pl?id=95

Ecological community recovery The broader recognition of the ecological community has prompted a separate review process of the national listing of plans adopted by the Minister the Weeping Myall – Coobah – Scrub Wilga Shrubland of Two recovery plans for threatened ecological communities the Hunter Valley. Any revised definition of the nationally prepared by state governments were recently adopted by listed ecological community is likely to be similar in extent the Minister: to the NSW definition and therefore also covered by the recovery plan. • Peppermint Box (Eucalyptus odorata) Grassy Woodland of South Australia The full list of recovery plans adopted by the Minister can Prepared by the South Australian Government be found at: www.environment.gov.au/resource/national-recov www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/ ery-plan-peppermint-box-eucalyptus-odorata-gra publicshowallrps.pl ssy-woodland-south-australia • Weeping Myall – Coobah – Scrub Wilga Shrubland of the Hunter Valley Prepared by the New South Wales Government (see note below) www.environment.gov.au/resource/national-recovery-p lan-weeping-myall-coobah-scrub-wilga-shrubland-hunt er-valley

The current EPBC listing of the Weeping Myall – Coobah – Scrub Wilga Shrubland of the Hunter Valley is restricted to a single patch, whereas the more recent New South Wales listing recognises a broader extent of the ecological community. The recently adopted recovery plan is written to include the broader extent of weeping myall (Acacia Weeping Myall – Coobah – Scrub Wilga Shrubland pendula) in the Hunter Valley. © Trisha Hogbin and Office of Environment and Heritage

environment.gov.au Conferences and events in 2014 Who’s who in the Ecological

Atlas of Living Australia Science Symposium Communities Section? Canberra Director: 11–12 June Matt White www.ala.org.au/category/blogs-news/communications/ Assistant Directors: Australian Society for Fish Biology and Australian Society Ann Holden for Limnology Joint Congress John Vranjic Darwin Elizabeth Ferguson 30 June – 4 July www.asfbasl.org.au/ Project Officers: Paul Barraclough Australian Mammal Society Scientific Meeting Mark Bourne Melbourne Anthony Hoffman 7–10 July Kåren Watson australianmammals.org.au/conferences/conference_2014 Sharon Warne Sustainable Landscape Futures Conference Andrew Chalklen Canberra Jessica Miller 10–11 July Casey Harris www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/arts-design/sustainability If you have any questions or comments about the articles in The 17th International River Symposium this newsletter please contact: Canberra [email protected] 15–18 September riversymposium.com/ Media enquiries Ecological Society of Australia 2014 Annual Conference Alice Springs Please direct all media enquiries to 28 September – 3 October [email protected] www.esa2014.org.au/

Australasian Systematic Botany Society Inc. Conference Palmerston North, New Zealand 24–28 November www.anbg.gov.au/asbs/conferences.html

National Soil Conference Melbourne 23–27 November www.soilscienceaustralia.com.au/

This newsletter is licensed by Commonwealth of Australia under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment.

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