Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems
Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems
Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems
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5.2.65 <strong>Regional</strong> Ecosystem 3.12.18<br />
Description: Eucalyptus leptophleba, Corymbia clarksoniana woodl<strong>and</strong> to open woodl<strong>and</strong> on<br />
coastal hills.<br />
Status: Not of Concern<br />
<strong>Vegetation</strong> <strong>Communities</strong>: 5f<br />
Reference Sites: 4 Quaternary.<br />
<strong>Vegetation</strong> Community 5f: <strong>Vegetation</strong> Community 5f is restricted to Naghir Isl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong><br />
provides the only representation of the RE in the study area. The community occupies welldrained<br />
granitic soils of the footslope <strong>and</strong> colluvial apron on the isl<strong>and</strong>s western side. Eucalyptus<br />
leptophleba forms the dominant canopy component of this open forest community which<br />
possesses a relatively even canopy at 20 to 25m height with Acacia polystachya an occasional<br />
associated species. The sub-canopy is relatively sparse featuring Dodonaea poly<strong>and</strong>ra <strong>and</strong><br />
Pleomele angustifolia, although the community hosts a well-developed shrub layer at 3m to 8m<br />
<strong>and</strong> 50% cover composed of Dodonaea poly<strong>and</strong>ra, Polyscias elegans, Micromelum minutum,<br />
Canarium australianum, Grewia oxyphylla, Psychotria poliostemma, Diospyros compacta <strong>and</strong><br />
Dalbergia densa var. australis. This community is highly disjunct, forming Australia’s most<br />
northerly occurrence of Eucalyptus leptophleba. The only other recognised occurrence of the<br />
species in the Torres Strait Isl<strong>and</strong>s is confined to scattered populations located on Thursday<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>. Macgillivray (1852, 11, p. 39) (in Haddon 1888) in his account of a visit to Torres Strait<br />
<strong>and</strong> Naghir makes reference to E. leptophleba as follows…. “the small Eucalypti growing<br />
between the hill <strong>and</strong> the brushes is the most northern limit of that Australian genus known to me”.<br />
5.2.66 <strong>Regional</strong> Ecosystem 3.12.20<br />
Photograph 139. Eucalyptus<br />
leptophleba open forest on a granite<br />
colluvial Apron. Naghir Isl<strong>and</strong> Site<br />
NA05.<br />
Description: Evergreen notophyll vine forest dominated by Welchiodendron longivalve on<br />
headl<strong>and</strong>s.<br />
Status: Of Concern<br />
<strong>Vegetation</strong> <strong>Communities</strong>: 14c, 14d, 14h, 18c(co)<br />
Reference Sites: 22 Quaternary<br />
<strong>Regional</strong> Ecosystem 3.12.20 representing Welchiodendron longivalve dominant shrubl<strong>and</strong> is<br />
formed by VC14c <strong>and</strong> VC14f. These shrubl<strong>and</strong> communities occupy coastal escarpments<br />
3d Environmental – Torres Strait <strong>Regional</strong> Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008<br />
138
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