Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

5.2.23 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.27
Description: Ephemeral and perennial lakes in coastal dunefields.
Status: Of Concern
Vegetation Communities: 20b
Survey Locations: No Representative Sites.
A number of small perennial swamps are mapped on Badu Island, occupying deflationary
hollows with a broad dune complex. The example represented in Photograph 57 occupies a
degraded sand sheet on the landward margins of a transgressional dunefield. An association with
fringing forests of Melaleuca quinquenervia is typical. Further survey is recommended to
provide for full characterisation of these communities.
Photograph 57. Shallow ephemeral
and occasional seasonal open
waterbodies are scattered across the
Badu Island sand dunes and sheets.
5.2.24 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.28
Description: Evergreen notophyll vine forest on beach ridges on coral atolls, shingle cays and
sand cays.
Status: Of Concern
Vegetation Communities: 2m
Survey Locations: 3 Secondary Sites (YO1, YO8, YO9)
Vegetation Community 2m: Vegetation Community 2m, is mapped exclusively on coral cays
of the central group of islands. Whilst floristically similar to VC2u (RE3.2.1x1), the community
has been differentiated largely on a geographical basis. Vegetation Community 2u is restricted to
parallel dune systems of continental islands while 2m dominates the calcareous sand of the coral
cays. Differentiated from the type are Casuarina equisetifolia dominant open forests with vine
forest sub-canopies previously mapped under this classification on Masig. The dominant canopy,
which forms heights of 18 to 25m is composed of a mix of deciduous and evergreen species and
it is suggested that an amendment to the RE type description from evergreen to semi-deciduous
should be considered. Dominant species include Milletia pinnata, Terminalia subacroptera,
Diospyros maritima, Manilkara kauki, Aglaia elaeagnoidea, Pouteria obovata, Drypetes
deplanchei with scattered Erythrina variegata. The latter species forms the dominant canopy on
Gaboy Island. Highly disturbed examples of the type, sampled on Tudu and Aureed Islands, are
generally dominated exclusively by Manilkara kauki, the likely result of selective indigenous
land management practice. Vegetation on these islands are reported to be heavily impacted by
3d Environmental – Torres Strait Regional Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008
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