Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

Photograph 92. Tall closed
shrubland of Melaleuca acacioides
(VC13e) on the margins of a salt flat
(Site HI01, Horn Island).
Photograph 93. Open shrubland
with dominant Melaleuca
acacioides. Vegetation community
13j on Muralug Island (Site PW83).
Vegetation Community 17d: Vegetation Community 17d provides reference to a floristically
undifferentiated grassland classification with a range of species including Imperata cylindrica,
Themeda triandra, Heteropogon triticeus and Mnesithea rottboellioides. The community has
scattered occurrences throughout the study area with the best developed examples being located
on Moa Island and Gebar Island, generally on relatively well-drained, sandy loam soils. These
grasslands have developed in response to repetitive anthropogenic burning and the fire disclimax
vegetation types are often evident scattered throughout the community as discontinuous and
isolated remnants. The community is represented in Photograph 94 overleaf.
Vegetation Community 17g: Vegetation Community 17g has been mapped in a single location
on Muralug where the dominant Themeda triandra and Imperata cylindrica grassland community
mosaics with Melaleuca nervosa shrubland. The shrubland component represents shrubby
thickening in the absence of regular fire.
3d Environmental – Torres Strait Regional Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008
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