BURDEKIN DRY TROPICS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN 2016-2026
70 and marine assets, include pollutants( sediment, nutrients and pesticides), altered hydrology and loss of seasonality, coastal development, marine traffic and climate change( Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2013).
4. Flora and fauna species diversity
In our region, the Brigalow Belt, Desert Uplands and Einasleigh Uplands bioregions contain National Biodiversity Hotspot areas, which are strongholds for large populations of native plants and animals as well as endemic species that are under threat from impacts such as unsustainable grazing pressure, vegetation clearing, inappropriate fire regimes, weeds, feral animals and salinity( Australian Government, 2015a). In hotspot areas, timely intervention may prevent long-term and irreversible loss of values, and provide a high return on the conservation dollar.
The Brigalow Belt hotspot includes the only remaining wild population of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, listed populations of Bridled Nail-tailed Wallaby as well as King Blue Grass grasslands and Brigalow vegetation communities. The Desert Uplands biodiversity hotspot has 11 near threatened or threatened animals, including the Masked Owl( northern subspecies) and Julia Creek Dunnart, and eight near threatened or threatened plants. The Einasleigh Uplands hotspot has several specialised ecological habitats and climatic regimes, and supports important centres of biological diversity due to the microhabitats created by our region’ s extensive basalt flows. The Toomba and Undara basalt flows of the Nulla and McBride sub-provinces harbour cave-adapted biota providing refuge for specialised cave faunas and relict rainforest faunas.
Threatened species in Queensland are identified under the Commonwealth Environment Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999( EPBC Act)( Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable and Conservation Dependent) and the State Nature Conservation Act 1992( NCA)( Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened( EVNT)). NQ Dry Tropics’ online information hub provides further detailed information on each of the listed species identified for our region.
Recovery plans have been prepared for 21 of the 46 listed threatened native wildlife species in our region( Refer to Appendix D, p 90). These plans are more targeted to individual species, their biogeographic region and the specific threats they face. Actions within these plans include surveying species and undertaking education and conservation programmes with landholders to implement actions, such as pest control, that focus on maintaining or rehabilitating habitat and listed native species populations.
Main threats to biodiversity
Biodiversity loss affects most areas of our region to varying levels. Overall, inappropriate land management practices, weeds and pests, and climate change are the biggest threats to biodiversity in our region( Department of Environment and Resource Management, 2010). This includes vegetation clearing in inappropriate areas, overgrazing, lack of weed and pest control, changes to hydrology and inappropriate fire regimes. These practices result in:
• species extinction;
• reduced landscape resilience( ability of country to absorb disturbance and recover quickly without dramatically changing) resulting in a change in thresholds( the point where there is no recovery and the country changes);
• the loss and fragmentation of habitat and movement corridors;
• changes to ecosystem functions( soil generation, water cycles, native fauna and flora compositions);
• loss of seasonality;
• competition for food and predation
Summary of the functional role of vegetation for biodiversity and indicators of those functions
Vegetation functions Attributes that act as indicators of the functions
Structural aspects
Provision of reliable foraging resources for wildlife( nectar, leaves, seeds)
Provision of reliable sheltering resources and / or breeding sites for wildlife
Functional aspects
Nutrient and water cycling
Maintenance of soil condition
Retention of plant propagules
Retention of plant propagules
Compositional aspects
Maintenance of plant species diversity
( Eyre, 2015)
Large trees Shrub cover Tree canopy cover Native perennial grass Coarse woody debris Organic leaf litter Ground cover
Large trees and / or hollow-bearing trees Coarse woody debris Tree canopy cover Shrub cover Organic litter Perennial grass cover
Tree canopy cover Organic litter cover Coarse woody debris
Organic litter cover Native perennial‘ decreaser’ grass species basal area Native perennial non-grass cover Coarse woody debris
Organic litter Coarse woody debris
Organic litter Coarse woody debris
Native plant species richness Recruitment of canopy species Native perennial‘ decreaser’ grass species basal area Non-native plant species cover( lack of)
BIODIVERSITY