Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

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• Top Western Group - Saibai, Boigu, and Dauan Islands. Saibai and Boigu are comprised dominantly of alluvial muds overlying old coral platforms. These islands are low, swampy, and dominated by mangroves and saltpans with difficult access to interior areas. Dauan is on granite basement forming low hills with steep rocky interior areas which are topographically accessible; • Near Western –Moa, Badu and Mabuiag Islands comprised predominantly of old volcanic and granite rocks. Also includes a number of small uninhabited islands and islets; and • Inner – Waibene (Thursday), Kirriri (Hammond), Ngurapai (Horn), Paliliug (Goods), Zuna (Entrance), Tuesday, Maiwai (Wednesday), Giralug (Friday), Muralug (Prince of Wales), Morilug (Mt Adolphus-Little Adolphus), Possession and Albany Islands. These are topographically elevated cluster of continental islands comprising basement igneous and volcanic rock. Whilst geographical classification places these islands in a spatial context, geological typing of the islands has been undertaken in Section 1.1.3 for descriptive purposes. 1.1.2 Climate The climate of the island group on a whole is tropical monsoonal with 90% of annual rainfall (1 750-2 000 mm) occurring in the summer (December – April) period where winds are predominantly from the north-west and coinciding with highest astronomical spring tides. Strong south-easterly trade winds blow during the winter months (May – September) with moisture generated from ocean fetch falling in sporadic showers which tend to clear rapidly. The islands in general receive more than 1 600 mm of rainfall annually (Sattler and Williams 1999). Mean temperatures recorded over a 12-year period from the Horn Island meteorological station (1995-2007) record mean maximum temperatures of 28.6º for July, and 31.8º for November. For the same weather station and same period, the driest month on average is September with 2.8 mm of rainfall, and wettest is February with 499.5mm on average, and an average annual rainfall of 1804.6 mm (BOM 2008). Records for historical weather stations are not readily available. 1.1.3 Geology and Geomorphology The geology of the islands is presented in a number of regional reports on the island group, of which the major findings are summarised here in a broad regional overview. A more detailed analysis of the geology, geomorphology and landform evolution of the island group is presented in Section 5.1 where land zones (according to legislative definition) are described. The islands can be placed in five broad geological groupings described below. Islands Formed on Acidic Volcanic and Plutonic Basement: This is the most extensive geological grouping extending from the inner island group in the south; through the near western islands of Moa and Badu and Mabuiag; the central group with Iama and Gebar; and the top western group where Dauan forms the sole representative. This grouping represents the continuation of the Australian continental basement northwards to New Guinea, having its most northerly expression at Mabaduan Hill on the southern PNG coast (Loffler 1977). 3d Environmental – Torres Strait Regional Ecosystem Mapping Project – August 2008 2
Waral Kawa (Deliverance) Is. ARAFURA SEA 0 15 30 45 60 N O T E S: Kilometres (i) This figure has been produced for exclusive use of the client TSRA Land & Sea Management Unit and 3D Environmental TORRES Wassi Kussa R. Mai Kussa R. Giralag (Friday) Is. Papua New Guinea (Western Province) CORAL SEA Mabuiag Is. Badu Is. Kirriri (Hammond) Is. Palilag (Goods) Is. Boigu Is. Muralug (Prince of Wales) Is. Buru (Turnagain) Is. Moa Is. Zurath (Phipps) Is. Dauan Is. Warral (Hawksberry) Is. Cape York Peninsula Naghir (Mt Ernest) Is. Maiwaii (Wednesday) Is. Waibene (Thursday Is.) Zuna Is. Ngurapai (Horn) Is. Bamaga Saibai Is. Gebar Is. Mabaduan Iama (Yam) Is. Zagai (Dungeness) Is. Sassie Is. SOUTH Morilag (Mt Adolphus) Is. Somerset Tudu (Warrior) Is. Warraber (Sue) Islet STRAIT Poruma (Coconut) Is. PACIFIC Aureed Is. OCEAN Masig (Yorke) Is. Ugar (Stephens) Is. Figure 1. Study Area Location Client Scale 1:900,000 Erub (Darnley Is.) Torres Strait Regional Authority Dawar Is. Waier Is. Mer (Murray) Is. 3D Environmental Vegetation Assessment & Mapping Specialists P. O. Box 959 Kenmore, Qld 4069 Phone: (07) 3411 9072; (07) 3878 4344 Mobile: 0404 577 285; 0409 426 916 www.3denvironmental.com.au File Path C:\3D Environmental\ Drawn By DG Checked DF Torres\3d_TS_Maps_A3L.mxd Date 25/03/08 A3
Page 1 and 2: Vegetation Communities and Regional
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgments This project was fu
Page 5 and 6: 5.2.6 Regional Ecosystem 3.1.7 (New
Page 7: 1. Introduction Three (3)d Environm
Page 11 and 12: Photograph 1. A deflation scar in t
Page 13 and 14: 3. Methods 3.1 Desktop Literature R
Page 15 and 16: Plant taxonomy and distributional d
Page 17 and 18: Table 5. Site survey effort in Stag
Page 19 and 20: Legend Quaternary Ugar (Stephens) I
Page 21 and 22: TORRES 0 5 10 15 20 N O T E : S Kil
Page 23 and 24: 3.4 Field Survey Procedure The exec
Page 25 and 26: Queensland’s Vegetation Managemen
Page 27 and 28: 3.6 Scale of Survey In vegetation s
Page 29 and 30: cover on both satellite formats cre
Page 31 and 32: structural variations have been dif
Page 33 and 34: Vegetation Community Description se
Page 35 and 36: Vegetation Community Description Ge
Page 41 and 42: Regional Ecosystem Component Vegeta
Page 43 and 44: Regional Ecosystem 3.3.14b 7fs 3.3.
Page 45 and 46: Regional Ecosystem 3.12.20 3.12.21a
Page 47 and 48: 5.1.3 Land Zone 3 Difficulties with
Page 49 and 50: corestones above the surface of wha
Page 51 and 52: Zone classification more robust. Th
Page 53 and 54: The mapping of VC24a as a complex r
Page 55 and 56: Photograph 11. Mangrove woodland do
Page 57 and 58: also forms a component of VC26b, ma
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Eleocharis dulcis often with an eva
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Photograph 20. The broken canopy ty
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of Heritiera littoralis, Xylocarpus
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Acacia crassicarpa woodland (RE3.2.
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Photograph 29. Open forest with dom
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5.2.11 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.5 Des
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Vegetation Community 14t/16c: This
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Photograph 39. Maximum development
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5.2.14 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.8 Pho
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5.2.15 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.10c D
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are similarly sparse, dominated by
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are also mapped on Badu Island wher
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community where it is mapped as com
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5.2.23 Regional Ecosystem 3.2.27 De
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5.2.26 Regional Ecosystem 3.3.5c De
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Photograph 61. Tall notophyll fores
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5.2.29 Regional Ecosystem 3.3.9 Des
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glauca, Rhodamnia macrocarpa, Sterc
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occurs on drainage swamps, it has b
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5.2.35 Regional Ecosystem 3.3.20c P
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5.2.37 Regional Ecosystem 3.3.27 Ph
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Photograph 85. Shrubland dominated
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Photograph 88. Low woodland/shrubla
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RE is supported, which provides som
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Photograph 99. Maximum development
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5.2.47 Regional Ecosystem 3.3.70 (N
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not differentiated from the broader
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Photograph 106. Vegetation Communit
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5.2.52 Regional Ecosystem 3.5.19a D
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That this community is marginal to
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Photograph 117. Grassland community
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Vegetation Community 2j: Vegetation
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Pandanus sp, contribute roughly equ
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distinctive structural components.
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canopy species in most locations, a
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Photograph 131. Lighter coloured cr
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5.2.63 Regional Ecosystem 3.12.13 P
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Photograph 137. Low rise in acid vo
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exposed to prevailing trade winds a
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Photograph 142. Vine Thicket Commun
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Vegetation Community 2x: A represen
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5.2.69 Regional Ecosystem 3.12.29 P
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The extensive mosaic of grassland a
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Photograph 155. Shrubland community
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extent of this community greatly re
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Photograph 161. Bare pavements with
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Vegetation Community 2h: This commu
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idgelines, Acacia polystachya may f
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It is envisaged, as is the general
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Photograph 170. Evergreen notophyll
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This habitat is unique in the natio
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canopy forms a poorly defined strat
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Vegetation Community 5u: Similar to
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5.3 Retrospective Classifications L
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RE: Native Regrowth Communities: Na
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5.5 Other Classifications Areas Rep
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Regional Ecosystem Pre-clearing Are
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clarksoniana, Eucalyptus brassiana
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This includes 196 (15%) naturalised
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Species Island Ipomoea hederifolia
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Table 16. Summary of survey records
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Species Known Distribution Survey R
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Photograph 187. Regrowth mangrove s
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Saibai Island grasslands and other
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10. Bibliography Abrahams, H., Mulv
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Galloway, R. W. and E. Löffler (19
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University, Darwin, Australia. 13-1
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Client Scale Legend Evergreen vine
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Melaleuca dominant open forests Cli
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Legend Successional vine forest com
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Legend - Land Zones of the Torres S
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Family_Name Botanical_Name BRI C’
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Appendix 2 - Vegetation Communities and Regional Ecosystems

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