Enhancing Biodiversity Hotspots Along Western Queensland Stock ...

Biodiversity hotspots
Site 1. Lake Dartmouth (Charleville – Adavale Road)
STOCK ROUTE NUMBER: M503
PRIORITY SPECIES: Plants:
native liquorice (Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa).
RATING: BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT
SHIRE COUNCIL: QUILPIE SHIRE
Lake Dartmouth (Plate 30) covers approximately 10,000 hectares and was made a
nature refuge during the time of this project. It is also listed under the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as a wetland of national
importance, and gives rise to Ambathalla Creek which is part of the Warrego River
catchment.
The lake only floods periodically (the last flood is believed to be in 1989, Neil Marks,
pers. comm.), but when it floods it transforms into a dynamic semi-arid wetland
teeming with birdlife, which retains water for many years. The yellowbelly fish
(Macquaria ambigua) found in Lake Dartmouth are extremely slow growing and some
work has been undertaken to determine if they are a unique sub-species. Bi-valve
mussels are also prolific in the system, and there is evidence of Aboriginal
occupation in the form of broken grind stones.
At the time of the project, the lake dried back to holes along Ambathalla creek.
However, this freshly exposed ground is suitable to the growth of native liquorice
(Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa) (Plate 31), which was both present and abundant in
January – February 2009.
Plate 30. Lake Dartmouth (with native liquorice in the foreground) (Photo: B. Walsh).
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