Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

are similarly sparse, dominated by Dapsilanthus spathaceus and a range of scattered herbs such
as Drosera spatulata, Eriocaulon sp. and Dianella sp. In the better developed deflationary sand
sheets on Badu Island, the community forms a sparse shrubland, verging on a sedgeland in areas
where deflation has scoured the overlying sand sheet to its erosional base level (on the capillary
fringe of the water table). Several examples of this community are also represented on Horn
Island in association with a low dune-swale complex, where the structural and floristic affinities
are similar to the examples on Badu Island.
In some locations on Badu Island the Melaleuca shrub layer becomes very sparse, and the
structural formation grades to a Dapsilanthus spathaceus dominant sedgeland generally with
scattered emergent shrubs. These areas are mapped as VC17i, although are retained within the
broader group of RE3.2.15.
Photograph 49. Low woodland of
Melaleuca viridiflora (VC13a)
occupying degraded sand dunes on
Badu Island (BAS20).
Vegetation Community 8c: A variant of the RE, represented as VC8c was mapped on the
tapering slope of an old dune system on Muralug Island. The canopy of this community was
dominated by Lophostemon suaveolens with Corymbia clarksoniana, Asteromyrtus
symphyocarpa, Melaleuca saligna and Melaleuca viridiflora scattered evenly throughout.
Melaleuca viridiflora, Pandanus sp., and Banksia dentata formed the dominant sub-canopy
component. Corymbia latifolia (shown in Photograph 50) was recorded in this community and
in adjoining woodlands of E. tetrodonta and C. nesophila on old beach ridges. The species is
known previously from a collection housed at the NSW Herbarium (T. Bean pers. comm. Jan 08).
Its occurrence on Muralug and on Zuna verifies a considerable extension of the geographical
extent being otherwise known only from the Northern Territory and West Kimberley Region
(Brooker et al. 1994) and south west Papua (Conn et al. 2006+). Due to the extremely limited
size of this community, it has been classified under RE3.2.15, in the absence of a more suitable
classification.
3d Environmental – Torres Strait Regional Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008
73