OCTOBER2012 WOODSIDEENERGYLTD JAMESPRICEPOINT:LIGHTINDUSTRIALAREA,WORKERS’ ACCOMMODATIONCAMPANDSOUTHERNPIPELINE SHORTRANGEENDEMICINVERTEBRATEFAUNAASSESSMENT Thispagehasbeenleftblankintentionally WOODSIDE ENERGY LTD JAMES PRICE POINT: LIGHT INDUSTRIAL AREA, WORKERS’ ACCOMMODATION CAMP AND SOUTHERN PIPELINE SHORT RANGE ENDEMIC INVERTEBRATE FAUNA ASSESSMENT REV D OCTOBER 2012 Woodside Energy Ltd James Price Point: Light Industrial Area, Workers’ Accommodation and Southern Pipeline Short Range Endemic Invertebrate Fauna Assessment ecologia Environment (2012). Reproduction of this report in whole or in part by electronic, mechanical or chemical means including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, in any language, is strictly prohibited without the express approval of Woodside Energy Ltd and/or ecologia Environment. Restrictions on Use This report has been prepared specifically for Woodside Energy Ltd. Neither the report nor its contents may be referred to or quoted in any statement, study, report, application, prospectus, loan, or other agreement document (with the exception of when this document is required to be publicly released as part of a statutory approval process), without the express approval of Woodside Energy Ltd and/or ecologia Environment. ecologia Environment 1025 Wellington Street WEST PERTH WA 6005 Phone: 08 9322 1944 Fax: 08 9322 1599 Email: [email protected] November 2012 i WoodsideEnergyLtd JamesPricePoint:LightIndustrialArea,Workers’AccommodationandSouthernPipeline ShortRangeEndemicInvertebrateFaunaAssessment TABLEOFCONTENTS EXECUTIVESUMMARY...................................................................................................................VII 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 PROJECTOVERVIEW..................................................................................................................1 1.2 SHORTRANGEENDEMICFAUNA:AREVIEW ............................................................................1 1.3 LEGISLATIVEFRAMEWORK .......................................................................................................2 1.4 SURVEYOBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................3 2 BIOPHYSICALENVIRONMENT............................................................................................ 7 2.1 CLIMATE ....................................................................................................................................7 2.2 VEGETATION .............................................................................................................................9 2.3 LANDSYSTEMS........................................................................................................................14 2.4 BIOGEOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................16 3 METHODS....................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 DETERMINATIONOFSURVEYDESIGNANDINTENSITY...........................................................19 3.2 LITERATUREREVIEWANDDATABASESEARCHES ...................................................................19 3.3 SURVEYTIMING ......................................................................................................................20 3.4 SITESELECTION .......................................................................................................................20 3.5 SAMPLINGMETHODS..............................................................................................................24 3.6 SRESTATUS .............................................................................................................................26 3.7 CONSERVATIONSIGNIFICANTFAUNA ....................................................................................26 3.8 SURVEYEFFORT.......................................................................................................................27 3.9 DATAANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................28 3.10 SURVEYTEAM .........................................................................................................................29 4 RESULTS.......................................................................................................................... 31 4.1 LITERATUREREVIEW ...............................................................................................................31 4.2 SURVEYRESULTS.....................................................................................................................33 4.3 HABITATASSESSMENTANALYSIS............................................................................................47 4.4 SREFAUNAHABITATS .............................................................................................................48 October2012 ii WoodsideEnergyLtd JamesPricePoint:LightIndustrialArea,Workers’AccommodationandSouthernPipeline ShortRangeEndemicInvertebrateFaunaAssessment 4.5 SURVEYADEQUACY.................................................................................................................50 4.6 SURVEYLIMITATIONS..............................................................................................................51 5 DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................... 53 6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 55 7 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................... 57 TABLES Table2.1ͲRainfallPrecedingtheSurvey(BroomeAirportRecords)(BoM2011)....................................8 Table2.2–VegetationAssociationsintheSurveyAreas.........................................................................9 Table2.3–VegetationCommunitiesinthevicinityoftheProjectArea(Biota,2010)..........................13 Table2.4–LandSystemsintheSurveyAreas. ......................................................................................14 Table3.1–FactorsInfluencingSurveyDesign. ......................................................................................19 Table3.2ͲFaunaDatabasesSearchedtoDeterminethePotentialInvertebrateFaunaAssemblagesof theProjectArea.................................................................................................................20 Table3.3ͲPreviousBiologicalSurveyReportswithin150kmoftheProjectArea. ..............................20 Table3.4–DurationandPersonDaysforeachSurvey .........................................................................20 Table3.5–LocationofEcologiaSRESurveySites..................................................................................21 Table3.6–ExperienceandQualificationsofTaxonomicExpertsandFieldStaffInvolvedDuringthe Survey ................................................................................................................................26 Table3.7ͲSurveyEffort .........................................................................................................................27 Table3.8ͲSurveyPersonnel ..................................................................................................................29 Table4.1–SummaryofInvertebrateFaunaSpecimensCollectedDuringEcologiaSurvey2011..........35 Table4.2–SummaryofSpecimensCollectedDuringPreviousSurveyBiota2011...............................36 Table4.3–SummaryofPotentialSRESpeciesCollectedduringtheSurvey ........................................46 Table4.4–AmountOfFaunaHabitatInSurveyAreas. ........................................................................49 Table 4.5 – Mean estimates of total species richness of the SRE assemblage at James Price Point basedon50randomisations..............................................................................................51 Table4.6–LimitationsfortheSRESurveyatJamesPricePoint............................................................52 FIGURES Figure1.1–LocationoftheSurveyArea .................................................................................................5 Figure2.1–ClimaticSummaryDataatBroomeAirportfrom1939Ͳ2011(BoM2011)...........................7 October2012 iii WoodsideEnergyLtd JamesPricePoint:LightIndustrialArea,Workers’AccommodationandSouthernPipeline ShortRangeEndemicInvertebrateFaunaAssessment Figure2.2ͲRainfallDuringtheSixMonthsPriortothe31stMay2011,(BoM2011).............................8 Figure2.3–VegetationAssociationsoftheSurveyAreas. ....................................................................11 Figure2.4–VegetationUnitsMappedByBiota(2010).........................................................................12 Figure2.5–LandSystemsoftheSurveyAreas......................................................................................15 Figure2.6–BiogeographicRegionsoftheProjectArea. .......................................................................17 Figure3.1–LocationofSRESurveySites...............................................................................................22 Figure3.2–PreviousSRESurveySites(Biota2011) ..............................................................................23