Tropical Topics an Interpretive Newsletter for the Tourism Industry

Tropical Topics An interpretive newsletter for the tourism industry

Uplands of the Wet Tropics No. 74 June 2002 Possums keep cool Notes from the Perhaps it is understandable that an animal with a thick furry coat would prefer life in the upland rainforests of north Queensland to the humid heat of the coast. Editor Indeed, any of us who suffered the heat of last summer (2001-2002) on the coast To mark International Year of dreamed of a mountain hideout! Mountains, this issue of Tropical Topics looks at the uplands of the wet However, scientists don’t jump tropics roughly between about 400m to conclusions. When faced and 1622m – the top of Queensland’s with the question of why the highest mountain, Bartle Frere. majority of leaf-eating marsupials of the wet tropics These upland areas are home to a prefer elevated forests, they large proportion of endemic plants looked at a range of and animals. Found nowhere else in possibilities. the world, some of these are restricted to very small areas within the wet Four ringtail possums – the green, tropics. Their distribution is largely a Herbert River, Daintree River, and result of continental movements and lemuroid ringtail possums – along climate changes of past millennia with the coppery brushtail possum, are Lemuroid ringtail which have led to their survival in normally found above 300-450m and possum their present form in the wet tropics of are most abundant above 700m. today. The big question is how they Perhaps, after all, leaf-eating possums will survive the rapid climate change John Kanowski of Cooperative simply don’t like the heat, preferring predicted for just the next one hundred Rainforest Centre (CRC) Rainforest the high forests where abundant water years – and beyond. tested out a number of theories. He in the form of condensed mist and dew wondered if possums at lower – unavailable in lowland forests – I would like to thank Geoff Monteith, elevations were simply being picked helps to keep them cool. Some are Queensland Museum, David off by predators – but ascertained that more adaptable than others – green Westcott, David Hilbert, Paul rufous owls, their main predator, are possums are not uncommon at 350m Reddell and David McJannet, just as common at high altitudes. He (Kuranda) and sometimes venture CSIRO, Andrew Krokenberger and also failed to find any relationship below 200m but lemuroid possums Nigel Weston, James Cook between abundance of suitable den never do. University, Brad Pusey and John sites and possum distribution. Kanowski, Griffith University, and Following on from this research, Dr Mike Trenerry, QPWS, for their help John then studied food sources. He Andrew Krokenberger of James Cook with this issue. found that leaf quality is better, and University, carried out some tests on the animals correspondingly more green possums, demonstrating that Please note abundant, on soils derived from basalt they were very sensitive to air that you are welcome to photocopy rather than from granite or temperatures above 30deg. Indeed, Tropical Topics. However, if the metamorphic rock. Nonetheless, the their body temperatures rose to the text is reproduced separately it must possums are not found on lowland point where he calculated that they not be altered and must basalt. Each of these animals has a diet would have died within a few hours, acknowledge the Environmental of preferred plants. Botanical searches, had the stress continued. Not wanting Protection Agency as the source. however, found that while some of the to harm the animals, he obviously did Illustrations must not be reused plants on the menu were more not continue the experiments to their separately without permission. abundant in the highlands, many were logical conclusion. However, there is Please contact the editor (details on also found in places which the concern among scientists that global the back page) if in doubt. possums avoided. In other words, warming may push these animals there was no close correlation between beyond their limits. plants and possums. Climate change and the uplands Until 25 million years ago, rainforests covered much of Australia, but as continental plates Grey-headed shifted and ice ages came and went, this distribution fluctuated dramatically. robin

At the height of the last ice age, about and 5.8deg. by the end of this century. Global warming and upland 18 000 years ago, temperatures were, Dry seasons are likely to become animals on average, 3 to 5 deg. lower in the wet longer. Water availability is predicted While global warming is expected to tropics than today. Australia was also to decrease, particularly in upland eventually reduce the extent of upland a much drier place with our region forests, not only because of reduced forests, it is also likely to change the receiving about half the rainfall of winter rain, but also because clouds chemistry of the leaves. Plants grown today. Rainforest mostly contracted to will be higher (see Cloud-strippers, in an atmosphere with high levels of the misty mountain tops. Then, as the below). carbon dioxide (the main gas planet warmed and rainfall increased, associated with global warming) this rainforest expanded. About 7000 While remaining lowland forests may produce leaves with lower years ago, it even extended beyond not be greatly affected, upland forests concentrations of protein but with the area potentially occupied by it are likely to suffer a major decline. For more tannins and other toxins. They now. each degree of increased temperature, will therefore be much less nutritious the cool climate zone in the wet tropics for leaf-eating animals such as the So what impact will global warming is likely to be pushed about 200m ringtail possums and tree-kangaroos have? It is anticipated that higher. A 1-2deg increase may result in so these animals are going to have temperatures in coastal north-east the loss of three-quarters (70 000ha) of their habitat reduced not only in Queensland will rise by between 1.4 Queensland’s upland forests. quantity but also in quality. Cloud-strippers Not only leaf-eating animals will be How often we climb to the top of a mountain anticipating a spectacular view only affected. A longer dry season will to find ourselves looking at the inside of a cloud instead. Indeed, how often do we mean more sunshine and could look up and find the peaks – Mt Bartle Frere, Bellenden Ker, Thornton Peak improve flowering – a benefit for and so on – obscured by mist? nectar-eating animals such as birds, insects and bats (although species may vary as tolerance levels are Anyone who has stood inside one of not only the upland forests but also exceeded). However, fruit-eaters may those clouds, knows that it is a moist for forests at lower altitudes – and for miss out since the decrease in rainfall place; water condenses on hair, the people who inhabit the area. The may mean that good flowering doesn't clothes and vegetation. Recently, CRC upland forests use very little of the automatically result in more fruit. Also, Rainforest researchers decided to water they harvest. The leaves are the increase in carbon dioxide is likely measure the amount of water which is almost constantly wet and clouds to affect the nutritional value of the obtained by upland forests through block off sunlight which would fruit, though it is not certain whether ‘cloud-stripping’, as the process is otherwise drive the transpiration this will be for the better or not. known, compared with that obtained process. However, these forests act as directly from rainfall. a reservoir, storing huge volumes of Animals living in the lowlands will water which are released gradually, have the option of moving upwards By putting collars around the stems keeping our creeks and rivers flowing but those already dependent on and trunks of trees, and placing through the dry season. upland forests could find themselves troughs below the canopy, they were with nowhere to go – except able to measure the total amount of In countries where upland forests extinction. Those with small water reaching the ground. By have been cleared, the loss of this populations, especially if living in comparing that total with the amount water-harvesting and storage service fragmented habitat, are most at risk. collected in a rain gauge, they were has led to water shortages in the dry Preliminary work on some endemic able to calculate how much extra water season. In the wet tropics, the cloud birds suggests that an increase in had been stripped from the clouds. forests are largely protected from temperatures of just one degree will They also measured it directly with an clearing – but not from global considerably diminish their habitat, instrument composed of a mesh warming. It is predicted that increases while greater increases will lead to attached to a rain gauge which they in temperatures of just 1-2deg. will serious losses. set up under a roof to keep out the cause the cloud base to rise rain. Cloud moisture condensed on the in altitude, leading to Endemics in the uplands mesh and dripped into the rain gauge. extensive loss of upland It is a significant feature of the wet tropics that forests and thus depriving although the greatest density of species is found in Astonishingly, it was discovered that the whole area of a vital the lowlands, it is the higher elevations which are as much as 40 percent more water was source of water. home to the majority of endemic species (in other harvested from the clouds than was words, those found nowhere else in the world). measured, as rain, in the Rain The explanation for this is believed to lie in past standard rain Throughfall + climate changes. During the driest part of the last ice gauge (see Stemflow age, about 26 000 – 10 000 years ago, there was little graph). This warm lowland rainforest in Australia. Animals has important depending on it simply died out. Papua New Guinea, implications for by contrast, which became wetter as Australia dried up, retained many of its animals and now has, for example, approximately twice as many lowland bird species as the Australian wet tropics. It is in the uplands, where cool adapted rainforest species were able to cling on in the rainforest refuges, that the uniquely Australian species tended to survive.

2 Graph courtesy CSIRO Patterns in the uplands Over time, rainforest has expanded and contracted in Australia, affecting the animals which depend on it. Some have adapted and evolved to live in drier habitat, some have become extinct whilst others have confined themselves to whatever suitable habitat is available. Genetic studies have demonstrated interesting patterns The importance of song has been which reflect the effects of climate change. During drier, demonstrated in finches in the cooler times, rainforest contracted to two main areas – one Galapagos which had been isolated centred on the Atherton Tableland and the other in the on different islands and had Thornton Peak/Carbine Tableland area. Between them, to developed completely different the north of Cairns, lies a gap of drier forest, described by songs. When brought together they scientists as the Black Mountain Corridor. For hundreds of did not breed – until the nestlings from Golden bowerbird thousands of years this formed a barrier between the two one group were induced to learn the rainforest refuges. Populations of animals became isolated ‘wrong’ song. The result was successful cross-breeding, from each other and began to evolve separately. Usually which the birds would not have attempted if not singing the there is no difference in outward appearance, but genetic same ‘language’. analysis has demonstrated quite distinct differences in skinks, birds, frogs, geckos, insects and snails as well as in Researchers found a similar response among golden some mammals. bowerbirds – a species whose tendency to live at the highest altitudes (mostly above 900m) has caused different Birds in isolation populations to become particularly isolated on various Researchers studying endemic birds discovered that genetic mountain tops. When played recordings of the songs of differences were most pronounced in grey-headed robins golden bowerbirds from the neighbouring mountain tops, and chowchillas. It is thought that, as rainforest specialists, they tended to ignore them, but when they heard recordings these species would be particularly slow to move across a of songs in their own dialect they became aggressive. dry barrier, even when it became narrower as conditions improved and rainforest areas expanded again. Fourteen birds were studied altogether, including seven endemic birds which live mainly in the uplands and seven They also discovered that isolation not only led to genetic species with a more widespread distribution. Results differences, but differences in behaviour as well. This was showed that while there were local and regional variations in detectable in the birds’ songs. Isolated the dialects of all birds, they were much more pronounced in from each other, the different upland birds with restricted habitat and irregular populations of the same species had distribution. developed regional dialects. Song is a tremendously important The implications of this communication tool for birds. It study are that populations of allows them to recognise each birds, and perhaps other animals, other as members of the same which have been isolated for long species and also as enough may, technically, be able individuals. It is very to interbreed if brought together important for assessing but are unwilling to do so. Their and attracting mates and ‘cultural’ isolation, as expressed in The endemic for detecting and different ‘languages’ could lead them Victoria's riflebird challenging rivals for to continue to evolve separately even Bridled honeyeaters song was studied territory and mates. if they have an opportunity to mix. were also studied Bridging the canopy The wet tropics rainforest, although protected, is bisected by roads and powerlines. Twenty percent of roads (568km) cut through the 14 percent of rainforest which occurs above 800m – the main habitat of our tree-dwelling Herbert River mammals. ringtail possum Fragmentation of forests causes problems for these tree- dwellers, particularly the ringtail possums. Their ability to cope varies according to species. It has been shown that three local ringtails while green ringtails will come to the ground to cross gaps, (green, lemuroid and Herbert lemuroid ringtails rarely leave the trees. Herbert River and River) as well as melomys and long-tailed Daintree River ringtails, though reluctant, will come to the pygmy possums were traversing the bridge. ground if necessary. Those which will not come to the However, they seemed to be walking across ground, tend to disappear over time from small areas of the top rather than going through the tunnel. forest while those which venture to earth run the very real risk of becoming part of the road toll. Nigel then set up two more simple, rope-ladder type bridges, one near Millaa Millaa and the other across the In order to give the possums a helping hand across the Old Palmerston Highway. The former, erected in a well- road, a bridge was built over a disused logging track near forested area where there were plenty of natural Lake Tinaroo in 1995. A rope tunnel, it was designed to connections across the road, was used relatively little. protect the animals from aerial predators such as rufous However, the latter, a 15m bridge crossing a road with no owls. In early 2000, CRC Rainforest researcher, Nigel natural connections, was used regularly by lemuroid and Weston, decided to monitor the bridge to see how much it Herbert River ringtails as well as coppery brushtail was being used. Using scat nets, infrared cameras, possums. This sort of bridge should perhaps be an spotlighting and data loggers, he established that the essential part of all our upland rainforest roads.

3 Endemics of the uplands The wet tropics boasts a high number of endemic species – those found nowhere else in the world. The majority are confined to the cool, wet rainforest of the uplands and many of these are considered relicts from ancient times when temperate rainforest was more widespread. Now they inhabit upland areas which function as cool islands isolated from each other in a ‘sea’ of warm lowland forest. Thirteen bird species are endemic to the wet tropics. Eight of There is a high level of endemism among the invertebrates of them are generally found in the cool, moist, upland rainforests the wet tropics uplands with many species restricted to specific above 600m – although some of these may move to lower mountain tops. The closest relatives of a number of these are to altitudes in winter. This tends to happen where rainfall is high be found far away on other continents – strong evidence for and/or where mountains drop off steeply to the sea common origins on the ancient Gondwanan land mass, before it split into current land masses. The Atherton scrubwren is a small, inconspicuous, brown bird which Many species of bizarre-looking bark bugs live on flits around the forest floor feeding the forest floor of mountain rainforest in the wet on insects and small snails. It is tropics. Strange, knobbly beasts with hairy legs moderately common – but only in and stalked eyes, their good looks are wet tropics rainforests above concealed under a layer of dirt which 1 700m. Until 1964 it was thought to camouflages them well as they rest motionless be a race of the slightly smaller and slightly paler, more on the surface of dead wood, sucking juices communal large-billed scrubwren. from wood-rotting fungi. This species, Drakiessa glaebula, is found only above 500m in rainforests The chowchilla is more common in upland rainforests but is around the southern edge of the Atherton Tableland, found also in some lowland areas. Like related logrunners, in New from Bellenden Ker to near Ravenshoe. Its nearest relative South Wales, chowchillas have tails consisting of 10 feathers, lives 1500km further south, on the Queensland-New South Wales rather than the 12 feathers found in all other songbirds. These border. feathers form strong spines, used to support the birds which have the peculiar habit of leaning back on their tails as they This flightless leafhopper, Myerslopella scratch in the leaf litter with their spinata, occurs only on the mountains feet, looking for food. This immediately west of Mossman on the behaviour has led to the development eastern edge of the Carbine Tableland. Its of characteristic leg bones. Smaller closest relatives are on the ancient versions of these bones, found at the landmasses of New Caledonia and Riversleigh fossil site, date back 15-25 2 Madagascar, evidence that it has survived million years and show that these birds on the old mountains of the wet tropics for have an ancient Gondwanan heritage. more than 50 million years – since before the break up of Gondwana. It is one of six known species of flightless leafhoppers, each restricted to the summits of just a couple of There is a high level of biodiversity among freshwater fishes adjacent mountains where they probably feed on the sap of moss in the wet tropics and so far nine endemic species have been or fungi. identified with, no doubt, many more waiting to be discovered. Most of these live in upstream tributaries of eastern flowing A large number of endemic dung beetles live on wet rivers, preferring riffle habitats where shallow water flows tropics mountain summits, most of them belonging brokenly. However, few fish, apart from eels, purple spotted to a tribe with relatives in other southern gudgeons and rainbowfishes, are naturally present in the higher continents. Almost 2000km separates these catchments. tropical species from their nearest relatives in New South Wales. This one, Aptenocanthon kabura, is Using genetic sampling, researchers have discovered some known only from the 1100m summit plateau of Mt interesting patterns among fishes in wet tropics rivers. Huge Finnigan, the highest point in the Bloomfield genetic variations were found within the same species in the wilderness. Named within the last two years, only two 3 same rivers, those in the upland sections, on the Atherton specimens have been found so far. Tableland, proving to be quite different from those in the lowland sections. Presumably the development of waterfalls in these rivers in the distant past prevented the fishes from mixing for a very long time. On the other hand, fishes living in different lowland rivers are quite similar, showing more recent mixing. Fifteen species of spiny mountain crayfish have been Differences between the same species in upland streams on the identified in Queensland, living in cold fast-flowing streams. In Atherton Tableland showed two distinct populations with south-east Queensland, suitably cold habitat is found as low as connections to fish in the Barron River and Herbert River 250m but the further north they are found, the higher their lower catchments respectively, indicating a long-standing separation. limits, until they are found only above 900m in north Queensland.

Insect illustrations 1 Sybil Monteith, 2 Andrew Hamilton and 3 Geoff Thompson, courtesy Queensland Museum Queensland courtesy Thompson, Geoff 3 and Hamilton Andrew 2 Monteith, Sybil 1 illustrations Insect Each mountain range has its own species of spiny crayfish. Genetic samples have confirmed that they all have a common By contrast, genetic testing has ancestor. It is believed that this ancestral crayfish expanded its shown that the Lake Eacham range into Queensland over 5 million years ago, when rainbowfish, far from being extinct temperatures were cooler and rainforest more extensive. As in the wild following its disappearance climate changes caused a contraction and fragmentation of from the lake, is alive and well and living in disguise in many suitable cool forest habitat, different streams and rivers. Despite looking different, DNA tests showed populations, separated from that the fishes were in fact all the same species. each other on various mountain tops, evolved into Guyu wujalwujalensis is an interesting fish. It is found only in a different species. Crayfish do small section of the Bloomfield River, not move far from their own above 200m, and is thought to be streams and it is thought that even very ancient, possibly having those in different streams on the been around at the time of the same mountaintop might be in the dinosaurs. process of evolving away from each other as they fail to mix.

4 Illustration of Guyu wujalwujalensis courtesy Brad Pusey from his forthcoming book on Queensland fishes. The wet tropics has the highest number of endemic rainforest mammals (11) of any region in Australia, most of them living entirely or largely in the uplands.

Two mammals have particularly restricted ranges within the wet sides of the tropics uplands. The masked white-tailed rat (formerly known as body. Forward- the Thornton Peak melomys) is the only wet tropics endemic rat. facing eyes, which It is found above 550m on Thornton Peak, Mt Carbine, Mt Lewis give it the necessary and Lamins Hill. The Atherton antechinus lives in cool wet stereoscopic vision rainforests above 600m between the Lamb and Cardwell Ranges. for such leaps, earned It forages on the forest floor feeding on insects and other these animals their vertebrates, as large as itself. It is thought to rely on hearing and common name, since they smell rather than vision. reminded early naturalists of the lemurs in Madagascar. The lemuroid ringtail possum (right) is the most strictly upland- Most of these possums are a charcoal grey to brown colour with dwelling of the ringtail possums and is particularly abundant a yellowish tinge below. Within the northern population, above between 900m and 1200m. It is also the most reluctant to come to 1100m on the Carbine Tableland, however, 30 percent of the the ground, preferring to leap between branches. Whereas the animals have white coats. These beautiful animals are not a other ringtails might use their tails to swing, the lemuroid possum different species, but the equivalent of the blondes among the jumps like a glider and, indeed, has a rudimentary skin flap on the brunettes.

About 53 species of frogs are found in the wet tropics – the highest diversity in Australia – of which 21 are endemic. All but one of these are rainforest-dependent. The northern barred frog is a common frog, However, the number of endemic frogs is falling, as species found throughout the wet tropics at both high and disappear. Part of a worldwide phenomenon, six of the wet low altitudes. However, its tadpoles come in several tropics endemic species have either vanished completely or forms, those in the uplands growing to gigantic sizes. Measuring have disappeared from their upland habitat, above 450m. A up to 16cm in length – longer than the average ball point pen – fungal disease, chytrid fungus, has been widely blamed for the largest live in the streams of the Mt Windsor Tablelands. In frog losses around the world and has been found in the wet the cold water, they take over a year, and possibly two, to tropics. Scientists remain baffled though, because it is in the metamorphose into frogs. In spite of developing from probably pristine upland streams, largely unaffected by pollution or the largest tadpoles in Australia, the adults, at an average 9cm in habitat loss, that the frog declines have been most marked. length, are not particularly big. These large upland tadpoles are How is it that populations of the three species which have steel-grey in colour with a translucent tail but those found disappeared from the uplands are living happily in the elsewhere are not only smaller but also brown and mottled. lowlands? No longer than 2.9cm, the small, dark Bellenden Ker frog is The sharp-snouted torrent frog was once found only at the summits of Bartle Frere and Bellenden Ker. commonly found along rainforest streams above 300m from the Herbert Valley to the Big Tableland, south of Cooktown. It Over 60 percent of rainforest reptiles in the wet tropics are hopped about during the day, foraging in endemic. Sixteen of the 22 endemic reptiles are skinks, most of creeks and forest vegetation and sometimes them rainforest dwellers. basking on riverside rocks. In wet weather, individuals might venture quite far from water. Tadpoles had Discovered in 1981, the Bartle Frere skink is found only above sucker-like mouths to help them hold on in fast-flowing 1400m among the granite boulders on the cloud-draped summit of streams. This frog went into a sudden decline between Mt Bartle Frere. Living in a cool climate zone within the tropics, it 1988 and 1993 and was feared extinct. For three years is considered a temperate rainforest relict – its closest relatives none were seen following the ‘last’ sighting in early 1994 are in temperate zones, such as Tasmania, southern – until a Griffith University researcher stumbled on one Australia and New Zealand. This medium-sized skink calling in the South Johnstone River in November 1996. (up to 7cm in length) is an energetic and agile animal This sighting has raised hope, but none have been seen which is out and about during the day but retreats to cracks since. in the rocks at night. Light brown, with numerous dark and pale flecks and streaks, it has a smooth body and a rainbow sheen.

A large number of plants are endemic. As altitude increases, both tree and leaf sizes decrease. Towards the mountain tops the forest canopy tends to be low and dense, moulded by strong winds.

The mountain teatree (Leptospermum wooroonooran), forms The surprising sight of what appears to much of the forest canopy on wet tropics peaks above 1100m. A be a coconut palm growing in the sturdy tree, it sometimes grows with its trunk almost parallel to rainforest usually turns out to be the orania the ground where winds are strong. Some individual trees are palm, (Oraniopsis appendiculata). Endemic to the thought to be at least a thousand years old. In summer it is wet tropics, it is found in the wetter, higher altitude covered with white flowers. rainforests, spreading its long fronds below the canopy. The dense mass of debris in the Of about 600 species of rhododendron crown of this palm is sometimes targeted by found throughout the world, just one is the surface roots of another upland tree, the native to Australia, growing only above feathertop tree (Caldcluvia australiensis), 1000m in the wet tropics. Rhododendron otherwise known as rose alder. The roots lochae is a tough plant, thriving in exposed intrude into the crown of an orania, while it positions on mountain tops where dense is still close to the ground, feeding on the mist is the norm and rainfall can exceed 4m a year. decomposing debris. As the palm grows It grows as a straggly shrub, scrambling over upwards, so too do the roots, forming a rocks or as an epiphyte. Its thick leaves are network around the trunk with the arranged in whorls and in spring and summer the feeding tips buried deep in the top plant is covered with bright red, bell-shaped flowers. of the palm.

5 Questions & Answers Facts and stats Q We have heard why the scientists adverse conditions and moving them The seven species of leaf-eating think coral bleaches but why does some back into position when conditions marsupials which are endemic to the go the brilliant colours and why improve. Perhaps part of the colony Wet Tropics (four species of ringtail different colours? Around Great has died and is being covered with possums, one brush-tailed possum and Keppel Island, what used to look like a algae, or perhaps the change in colour two tree-kangaroos) represent nearly single plate now has two colour zones. has nothing to do with bleaching at all! Is this two different species of coral half of the leaf-eating marsupials in all of Australia. They have close butting against each other without the Recent alarming media reports of coral usually visible ‘war zone’? bleaching indicated that two-thirds of relatives in the mountain rainforests the Great Barrier Reef has been of Papua New Guinea. A Certainly the coral bleaching episode damaged. In actual fact, the report earlier this year resulted in some released by scientists (from GBRMPA, The wet tropics region has the highest spectacular underwater scenes with CRC Reef and AIMS) stated that they reptile and frog species endemism coral colonies glowing not just white, had found bleaching on 60 percent of known for any part of Australia. Of but also blue, purple, pink and yellow. the reefs covered by their aerial about 162 reptiles recorded in the wet (Bleached anemones were also quite surveys. In some of these reefs the tropics, 22 are endemic. Thirty of the spectacular.) Scientists studying coral bleaching amounted to just 5 percent. reptiles are rainforest species, of which bleaching refer to this as the coral Underwater surveys by the team 20 are endemic. Fifty are snakes, but ‘fluorescing’. We are in fact seeing the indicated that most bleached coral on true colours of the corals, which are most reefs will recover (although the only one, the northern dwarf crowned normally hidden by the brown-green stress can continue to have negative snake, is endemic. It is found from algal cells (zooxanthellae). When effects on the corals, particularly their Thornton Peak to Mt Spec. About 10 conditions become too hot, the algal reproduction, for some time). percent of all Australian frogs are cells begin to poison the corals instead found only in the wet tropics. of feeding them and the corals respond However, some reefs have been by spitting them out. In most species devastated by the bleaching event. Bartle Frere, at 1622m, is the highest this allows us to see right through the Between 50 and 90 percent of the corals mountain in Queensland. Bellenden transparent tissue to the white skeleton on some inshore reefs between Bowen Ker is a close second at 1592m. below. However, some corals have and Mackay – the worst affected area colours in their tissues (not the skeleton) found – have died. This comes as yet Rainfall intensities recorded at the which become apparent when the another warning of the likely effects of zooxanthellae leave. global warming as bleaching events weather station at the top of Bellenden become more frequent and severe in Ker are among the highest in the Corals in inshore areas tend to have the future. world. This mountain top receives an larger numbers of zooxanthellae, needed average of over 8000mm (eight metres) to photosynthesise in the darker, Q Can you tell me the name of the of rain a year with a total of 11 850mm murkier waters. They thus appear fairly yellow flowering plant, like a falling in 1999. In just 24 hours it dark brown under normal sunflower, growing along the slopes received 1140mm. circumstances. Corals in the clear waters above Redlynch, next to the Kuranda of the outer reef, however, do not need train track? Endemic birds found only above 600m as many, so tend, under normal are the mountain thornbill, golden conditions, to be more brightly coloured. A It is Japanese sunflower (Tithonia bowerbird and Atherton scrubwren. When they bleach, however, the colours diversifolia ), also known as Mexican become brilliantly apparent. sunflower and tree marigold. A native The fernwren, tooth-billed bowerbird, of Central America, it has become a Bower’s shrike-thrush, bridled It’s hard to tell what the plate coral is up common weed of roadsides and honeyeater and grey-headed robin are to. It is not unusual for the upper side embankments in coastal Queensland much more abundant in the uplands of a coral, in direct sunlight, to bleach and northern New South Wales. It is but do stray lower. The chowchilla, and die, while other parts are okay. It also a weed in Hawaii and other tropical although more common in the has also become apparent to researchers areas. Farmers in Kenya have uplands, is present at some lowland that some corals are able to move their discovered that a solution made from areas at all times of year, while zooxanthellae around, putting them out this plant, combined with others, is an Victoria’s riflebird, the lesser sooty of danger in a shady underside during effective termite control. owl, Macleay’s honeyeater and pied monarch are found at all altitudes, the Tourist talk last of these preferring the lowlands. ENGLISH GERMAN JAPANESE Changes in bird behaviour in the endemic einheimisch koyu no northern hemisphere has been attributed to the effects of global uplands Hochland kouchi warming. Certain species have been summit Gipfel chojou shifting north and some are breeding to retreat sich zurückziehen taikyaku suru earlier in the year. Instead of all cloud wolke kumo migratory birds leaving each winter, a to harvest ernten shukaku suru proportion has been staying put. to store speichern, einlagern takuwa eru Those which do migrate and rely on daylight lengths to trigger their return global Erwärmung der chikyu ondanka genshou are in danger of arriving at breeding warming Erdatmosphäre grounds too late for food resource populations Bevölkerung kotaisu peaks as flowers and insects respond temperate gemäßigtes Klima ondan to temperature, not daylight.

6 Out and about The dusky The native June and honeyeater mulberry July are peak times for dwarf minke has a call which (Pipturus whales to visit our region. These it uses at dawn argenteus) has whales are particularly curious and are and at no other a long fruiting attracted to boats and people, time of the day. This period from about June to January. especially in the vicinity of the Ribbon has been described Male and female plants are separate, Reefs, north of Port Douglas. Vessels as ‘four whistled the small white flowers developing are forbidden from approaching closer chirps tip-tip-eee-chip, into white, slightly spiky, fleshy than 100m to any whale but if the third note longer and descending, fruits arranged along the thin whale is the one to make the approach, repeated from perches’ (Reader’s stems of the female tree. motors must be put into neutral Digest Complete Book of Australian Sweet and edible, like tiny, immediately or the engines cut, where Birds) but dialects vary. Birds in pale mulberries, they attract a number safe to do so. Cairns have been heard repeating of birds, including mistletoe birds ch-ch-cheee, ch-ch-cheee loudly and which seem to enjoy them as a change An encounter with these whales, in persistently with an emphasis on the to their staple diet of mistletoe berries. the water, is a rewarding experience as cheee, punctuated irregularly with a The leaves are the main food plant for long as it is managed well. People must snigger. Starting up at first light, the caterpillars of the white nymph not enter the water if a whale is within bird continues energetically for five to butterfly and are also popular with at 30m. When it is safe to enter, this 10 minutes before falling silent. For the least three large stick insects, should be done with minimal rest of the day, dusky honeyeaters including the giant spiny stick insect. disturbance. By far the best way of produce simple whistles, squeaks and getting a close look at the whales is to chattering as they flit around feeding A fast-growing shrub or small tree, don snorkel and mask and hang on to on nectar and catching insects. this plant is related to nettles and a rope attached to the back of an stinging trees. However, although it is anchored or drifting vessel. If you also known as white nettle, it has no swim towards or try to touch the Thank you to the many readers who sting. It grows in highland and animals, they will almost certainly take have taken the trouble to fill in and lowland rainforest, south to Lismore fright and disappear. If you are in a send back survey sheets and for the and also throughout the Pacific and fixed and predictable position, overwhelmingly positive and useful south-east Asia. It is a useful tree for however, they will come to look at feedback provided. revegetation because it attracts birds you. carrying other seeds. Clearance Offer!! As a result of a move to new premises (address on p.8), archived copies of back issues of Tropical Topics are being made available to readers. If you would like to receive back issues, please send a stamped, self-addressed A4 envelope to the editor, address on p.8, stating clearly which issues (by number – see below) you would like to receive. Postage will depend on weight: for 1 – 4 newsletters you will need a 98ct stamp, 5 – 8 copies = $1.47, 9 – 17 copies = $2.45 and for 18 or more copies, please send a 3kg Prepaid Parcel Post Satchel, available from post offices. Offer applies to Australia only. Please note that some copies may be ‘returned as undeliverable’ ones. Also please note that the theme-based material from the first 24 issues has been updated and presented in two compilation booklets, available for sale. Numbers of many issues are limited, so first come first served. All must go by 17 July. Topics covered over the 10 years are: 1. The Gondwana connection 28. Where land meets sea – islands, 49. Sex and parenting in reef fishes 2. Coral growth (unavailable) cays and seabirds 50. Dasyurid marsupial carnivores of 3. Frogs 29. Crocodiles the Wet Tropics 4. Crown-of-thorns starfish 30. Intriguing invertebrates II – 51. Humans and the Reef, part I 5. Light in the rainforest marine molluscs 52. Birds breeding 6. Spawning 31. Hazards in the Wet Tropics 53. Humans and the Reef, part II 7. Rainforest possums 32. Intriguing invertebrates III – the 54. Butterflies and moths 8. Cyclones cnidarians 55. Monitoring the Reef 9. Cassowaries 33. Wet Tropics lizards 56. Bird call and songs 10. Fish colours and patterns 34. Fishy forms and functions 57. Beetles 11. Bats 35. Forest fruit dispersal 58. Identifying corals 12. Sharks 36. Intriguing invertebrates IV – 59. Plants before flowers: focus on 13. Wet Tropic webs marine crustaceans cycads 14. Reef relationships 37. Rainforest invertebrates 60. Fish behaving fishily 15. Fire 38. Migratory waders and other 61. Plants without flowers: lichens, 16. Seagrasses, dugongs and turtles shorebirds mosses, ferns and conifers 17. Wet Tropic webs II 39. Plants on the Reef 62. In the lagoon 18. Intriguing invertebrates I – 40. Intriguing invertebrates V – 63. Wet Tropics geology echinoderms sponges, ascidians & bryozoans 64. Termites 19. Mangroves I – the plants 41. The geological framework of the 65. Bird body language 20. Whales and dolphins Reef 66. Biodiversity in the GBR 21. Mangroves II – the animals 42. Macropods of the Wet Tropics 67. Spiders 22. Water quality 43. Night on the Reef 68. Wetlands in the Dry 23. Caring for country 44. Freshwater 69. Wet Sclerophyll forests 24. Marine hazards 45. Intriguing invertebrates VI – 70. Challenges facing the GBR 25. Feral and introduced animals marine worms 71. Woodlands of the savanna lands 26. Where land meets sea – on the 46. Rodents of the Wet Tropics 72. Fungi beach 47. The ocean 73. Birds of the savannas 27. Weeds in the Wet Tropics 48. Night in the forest 74. Uplands of the Wet Tropics 7 Bookshelf Wet Tropics in Profile Gerard Industries Proprietary Limited August 1999 A reference guide to the Wet Tropics (1996) The new and the known: describing of Queensland World Heritage Area freshwater fish species Cassowary Publication This book is good for pinpointing September 2001 distribution on the local scale. It also has Fishes in the forest: high biodiversity Rainforest animals a unique format for identification, based and endemism Atlas of vertebrates endemic to on main features. September 2001 Australia’s wet tropics Spiny mountain crayfish, an Kowari 1 Using Rainforest Research evolutionary tale H.A. Nix and M.A. Switzer CRC Rainforest leaflets August 1999 Australian National Parks and Wildlife Marsupials in the mist, a home with a Checking out frog declines with NASA Service Publication (1991) view, or declining mountain-top refuge? October 1998 February 1999 Getting the jump on frog disease! Although a bit out of date now since Where earth meets sky: cloud forests of May 2001 more endemic species have been the Wet Tropics discovered, this book is very useful April 2002 For information on climate change see guide to patterns of distributions. Why did the ringtail cross the road? the Climate Action Network Australia April 2002 website: www.climateaustralia.org Birds of Queensland’s Wet Tropics Birds sing the history of the rainforest and Great Barrier Reef, Australia September 2001 Lloyd Nielsen Fishy genes tell us about the past

This newsletter was produced by the Environmental Protection Agency with funding from the Wet Tropics Management Authority. For further information contact... Opinions expressed in Tropical Stella Martin Wet Tropics Management Authority Topics are not necessarily those of The Editor (For general information on the Wet the Environmental Protection Tropical Topics Tropics World Heritage Area only.) Agency. PO Box 2050 Environmental Protection Agency CAIRNS QLD 4870 PO Box 2066 While all efforts have been made to Ph: (07) 4052 0555 verify facts, the Environmental (5B Sheridan St) Protection Agency takes no CAIRNS QLD 4870 responsibility for the accuracy of information supplied in Tropical Ph: (07) 4046 6674 Topics. Fax: (07) 4046 6751 © The State of Queensland. e-mail: [email protected] Environmental Protection Agency 2002.

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