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In this section you will find detailed information, including national overviews and state and regional level assessments, from the 2000-2002 National Land and Water Resources Audit theme assessments.
Biodiversity Assessment - Gulf Plains
Gulf Plains
Introduction
Natural values
Click here to link to a table of natural values within each subregion
Wetlands
Nationally important wetlands
Map: IBRA map showing DIWA locations, towns, subregions, major roads and reserves and most common threatening processes.
Click here to link to a table of Australia's Important Wetlands (Directory of Important Wetlands of Australia): their type, condition, trend and threatening processes within each subregion.
Regionally important wetlands
Click here to link to a table of provisional identification of wetlands of regional significance: their type and special values within each subregion. The reliability of the overall subregional assessment is indicated.
Click here to link to a table of provisional identification of wetlands of regional significance: their condition, trend and threatening processes within each subregion.
Riparian Zones
Map: Riparian threatening processes.
Click here to link to a table of riparian zones: their average condition, trend and threatening processes for each subregion. The reliability of this overall assessment is indicated.
Ecosystems at risk
Map: IBRA map showing frequency of threatening processes for ecosystems.
Click here to link to a table of provisional list of threatened ecosystems in Australia: their broad vegetation type (National Vegetation Information System - Major Vegetation Subgroup), recommended status, current legislative protection as a threatened ecosystem, trend and bioregional distribution. These ecosystems are arranged in the bioregion of their principal occurrence. The reliability of the recommended status is indicated.
Click here to link to a table of provisional list of threatened ecosystems in each subregion: their threatening processes.
Click here to link to a table of provisional list of threatened ecosystems in each subregion: their recommended recovery actions
Species at risk
There are 23 species listed as threatened in the bioregion, three are considered endangered and 20 vulnerable. The general trend of populations of the threatened species is declining. Recovery of the majority of the threatened species requires significant intervention. The key threatening processes are related to the removal or destruction of species and broad scale vegetation clearing. Significant impact is also exerted from grazing pressure. Many of the threatened birds are declining in the bioregion.
Table: Threatened species for each taxon within the bioregion
| Taxa | State Listing | Commonwealth Listing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endangered | Vulnerable | Extinct | Endangered | Vulnerable | Extinct | |
| Amphibians | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Birds | 1 | 9 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Insects | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Fish | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Mammals | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Plants | 1 | 7 | 0 | 9 | ||
| Reptiles | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 3 | 20 | 1 | 12 | ||
Map: IBRA map showing frequency of threatening processes for species.
Click here to link to a table of species at risk in each subregion: their status, trend and subregional distribution. The reliability of the assessment of trend is indicated and whether recovery plans have been prepared.
Click here to link to a table of species at risk in each subregion: their threatening processes.
Click here to link to a table of species at risk in each subregion: their status recommended recovery actions.
Birds
Given its size and increasing accessibility, the Gulf Plains bioregion is woefully under surveyed. It has a high level of avian diversity and, since it straddles the Gulf taxonomic barrier, internal variation. Many of the limited range taxa that occur in the bioregion are coastal species or have been recorded in the dune scrubs that extend down the western side of Cape York Peninsula. The bioregion is of major importance for three taxa: the Sarus Cranes that are particularly abundant on the coastal grassland, the Endangered white-bellied form of Crimson Finch from along Magnificent Creek near Kowanyama and the population of Endangered Golden-shouldered Parrots in the headwaters of the Staaten River. There are few introduced taxa. Given the paucity of surveys, local variation in guilds needs to be placed in a regional context. For most guilds there is a no detectable change, in keeping with nearby regions.
Status: Grassland and tropical woodland avifauna; also particularly important for migratory waders.
Rare and threatened: Sarus Cranes on coastal grasslands, Golden-shouldered Parrot on upper Staaten River, Crimson Finch on Magnificent Creek.
Increasers: Cattle Egret.
Indicators: Emu, Australian Bustard, Banded Lapwing, Flock Bronzewing, Varied Lorikeet, Black-tailed Treecreeper, Brown Treecreeper, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, Hooded Robin, Jacky Winter, Horsefield's Bushlark.
Trend: Increase in reporting rate of tropical woodland birds and declines in waders and grassland birds may reflect changes in birdwatcher behaviour.
Scenario: Probable declines in grassland birds as grazing intensifies.
Actions: No grazing in representative areas and the adoption of reduced, conservative grazing rates in key habitat across the bioregion, along with appropriate fire regime to maintain diversity.
Click hereto download a summary report including the physical characteristics of the bioregion, a species list, and summary statistics [Excel file]. The file may open on your screen. To save it to your system 'Save as' under the File menu.
Mammals
Number of species and status
There are 31 mammal species within this bioregion. (The maximum number of species recorded in a bioregion is 86 and the minimum is 25).
Click here to link to a table of number of species in each status class for this bioregion.
Click here to link to a list of mammal species and their status for this bioregion.
Critical weight range
The critical weight range (35 - 5500 g) of mammals is the size range of Australian mammals that have been most affected by environmental changes following European settlement. In this bioregion, the proportion of mammal fauna within the critical weight range is .323. (The maximum proportion of fauna within the critical weight range recorded in a bioregion is 0.632 and the minimum is 0.222).
Faunal Attrition Index
Faunal attrition is a measure of contraction or loss of species richness with a region. A high index value means many species have declined or are extinct in the bioregion. The index can be used to compare the status of mammal fauna to regional attributes such as changes since European settlement and average annual rainfall. The Faunal Attrition Index for mammals in this bioregion is .02. (The maximum faunal attrition index value recorded in a bioregion is 0.66 and the minimum is 0).
Click here to link to a table of Faunal Attrition Index for groups of mammals shows the contributions of each group to overall patterns of faunal decline.
Faunal Contraction Index
A range contraction index is a measure of the extent to which the range inhabited by a particular species has contracted. A high index value means that many of the species comprising the region's original mammal fauna have contracted from a high proportion of the regions they originally occurred in. The faunal contraction index for the mammal fauna in this bioregion is .07. (The maximum faunal contraction index value recorded in a bioregion is 0.51 and the minimum is 0.07).
Faunal Endemism Index
Endemic species are those restricted to certain regions. Regions containing endemic species are considered to have high biodiversity conservation values because opportunities to conserve those species do not exist elsewhere. A high index value means that the species comprising the original mammal fauna typically occurred in few bioregions. The faunal endemism index value for the mammal fauna in this bioregion is .61. (The maximum faunal endemism index value recorded in a bioregion is 0.79 and the minimum is 0.52).
New Endemism Index
Extant (still surviving) species that have undergone major range contractions can be considered 'new endemics'. Bioregions that contain new endemic species are often important refugia for threatened species. The new endemism index for the mammal fauna in this bioregion is unknown. (The maximum new endemism index value recorded in a bioregion is 0.93 and the minimum is 0.5).
Table: Translocated Species
There is no data available for this table within the bioregion.
Exotic Mammals
The number of introduced exotic mammal species that occur within this bioregion is 7. (The maximum number of introduced exotic mammal species in a bioregion is 16 and the minimum is 5).
Click here to link to a list of introduced exotic mammal species for this bioregion.
Extinct mammal species
The number of extinct mammal species that previously occurred within this bioregion is 0. (The maximum number of extinct mammal species in a bioregion is 29 and the minimum is 0).
Table: Extinct Species
There is no data available for this table within the bioregion.
Management responses
Reserve consolidation
Click here to link to a table of comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness (CAR) of the National Reserve System in terms of ecosystems and area sampled and a ranking of reserve management. The bioregional priority for consolidating the National Reserve System is based on this CAR analysis and threat.
Click here to link to a table of bioregional and subregional priorities and ecosystem priorities to consolidate the National Reserve System and associated ecosystem constraints.
Off-park conservation for species and ecosystem recovery
Integrated NRM
Map: IBRA map showing frequency of recovery actions (species).
Map: IBRA map showing frequency of recovery actions (ecosystems).
Map: IBRA map showing existing projects part of NRM.
Click here to link to a table of contribution of integrated Natural Resource Management to the protection of biodiversity in each subregion: existing measures and effectiveness.
Table: The contribution of integrated Natural Resource Management to the protection of biodiversity in each subregion: feasible opportunities and comments.
There is no data available for this table within the bioregion.
Further Information & Gaps
Click here to link to a table of some major data gaps in each subregion in terms of protecting biodiversity.
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