Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

Queensland’s Vegetation Management Act (1999), (VMA). The RE classification system
requires detailed knowledge and understanding of both landform and geology and these features
have been described and classified in this report.
3.5.1 Non-Rainforest Vegetation
Vegetation structure is classified according to the system of Neldner et al. (2005) modified from
Specht (1970) and this classification has been applied consistently to vegetation throughout the
field survey and broader flora study. Structural formation classes as qualified by Neldner et al.
(2005) are detailed in Table 6.
3.5.2 Classification of Rainforest Vegetation
The classification of rainforest vegetation is based on the classification of Walker and Hopkins
(1990) which is adapted from Webb (1959). This classification describes rainforest in terms of
several attributes including:
1. Complexity of life forms including species diversity in a number of structural layers. The
presence / absence of structural features including plank buttresses, banyans etc.
Complexity is recorded as either simple, simple-complex, and complex;
2. The leaf sizes of the dominant plants/strata. Leaf size options are macrophyll, mesophyll,
notophyll, microphyll and nanophyll;
3. The floristic composition of the dominant stratum including the tendency for one or more
species to dominate or otherwise;
4. Indicator growth forms including the presence of palms, moss etc.; and
5. Height and crown cover classes including the presence of emergents;
6. Thicket is used to described stunted rainforest vegetation in which the canopy closes at 3-
9 m (Webb, 1959);
7. ‘Deciduous’ in reference to a rainforest stand means that the species in question, or at
least certain individuals in the species population, completely lose their leaves for a time
and that this behaviour is obligatory and fixed for the species (Webb, 1959).
8. ‘Semi- deciduous’ indicates that most leafless species are truly deciduous, but that some
are facultative, i.e. leaf-fall is controlled by the severity of the dry season, rather than by
being obligate (Webb, 1959); and
9. ‘Semi-evergreen’ means that few or none the species are truly deciduous, and that most
of those that shed their leaves do so incompletely depending on the severity of the dry
season (Webb, 1959).
It should be noted that in accordance with the classification of Walker and Hopkins (1990),
emergents are classified as trees clearly above the dominant stratum whose crown cover is less
than 5% of the total canopy cover. This classification of an emergent stratum is not extended to
severely disturbed communities whose structural integrity has been compromised through human
intervention.
Table 6. Structural formation classes qualified by height for Non-Rainforest Vegetation: Neldner et al.
2005) modified from Specht (1970).
Projective Foliage
Cover
70-100% 30-70% 10-30% 30m tall closed-forest tall open-forest tall woodland tall open-
3 Growth form of the predominant layer (the ecologically dominant layer).
3d Environmental – Torres Strait Regional Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008
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