Brunswick Valley is in a biodiversity hotspot

The Brunswick Valley falls within one of thirteen Australian Government listed national biodiversity hotpsots, the Border Ranges North and South (Queensland and New South Wales), a sub-tropical and temperate hotspot that is one of Australia's most diverse areas, and the most biologically diverse area in New South Wales and southern Queensland. It has a variety of significant habitats: subtropical rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest, mountain headlands, rocky outcrops and transition zones between forests.

These habitats support a huge variety of bird and macropod species. Many are rare or threatened: the Richmond Bird-wing Butterfly, Fleay's Frog, Hastings River Mouse, Long-nosed Potoroo, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Eastern Bristle Bird, Rufous Scrub-bird and the critically endangered Coxen's Fig parrot. Notable birds such as Albert's Lyrebird and the Paradise Riflebird make their home here, and in the south-east Queensland rainforests live a rich variety of primitive plant species, many of them similar to fossils from Gondwana.

This region's high population growth, with associated urban and tourist developments along the coast, is a major cause of habitat loss and fragmentation. Although most remaining natural areas are protected, they are under considerable threat from weeds, fire and recreational use.

For more information about biodiversity hotspots, visit: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/hotspots/facts.html#3

Threatened species of the Brunswick Valley

Definitions for ‘endangered/threatened’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘rare’ are those of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1978 quoted from Mangroves to Mountains by the Logan River Branch of the Society for Growing Australian Plants (Qld): 

Endangered species are at risk of disappearing from the wild state within 10 or 20 years if present land use and other causal factors continue. 

Vulnerable species aren’t presently endangered but are at risk over a longer period through continued depletion.

Rare species are not at present considered endangered or vulnerable. They may be represented by a relatively large population in a relatively restricted area or by smaller populations spread over a wider range. 

The North Coast of NSW (from the Hunter up to the Queensland border) contains the highest number of rare and threatened species in NSW at 28 endangered, 55 vulnerable and 122 rare.

Within the Brunswick many are familiar with some of our special trees, but may be unaware that although many plant species are locally common, they have a restricted distribution even on the North Coast. 

Examples include the Coolamon (Syzigium moorei)-Vulnerable; the original Macadamia (Macadamia tetraphylla)-Vulnerable; Davidson’s Plum (Davidsonia pruriens var.jerseyana)-Vulnerable; Smooth-leaf Davidsons Plum (Davidsonia johnsonii)-Endangered; Boppel Nut (Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia)-Vulnerable; Black Walnut (Endiandra globosa)-Rare, and the Long-leaved Tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis newmanii)-Rare.

Some still existing local species have been declared ecologically extinct as they have lost their ability to produce viable seed, it is thought because they have lost their pollinators. For example, in small pockets in the Brunswick Catchment, only limited stems and populations of the Smooth-leaved Davidson Plum and the Hairy Quandong (Eleaocarpus williamsianus)-Endangered, are left in the world.

After preliminary determinations by the NSW Scientific Committee under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, the following additional Endangered Ecological Communities in the NSW North Coast Bioregion are listed as threatened:

• swamp oak floodplain forest
• freshwater wetlands in coastal floodplain
• river-flat eucalypt forest on coastal floodplains
• subtropical coastal floodplain forest
• swamp sclerophyll forest on coastal floodplains.
• littoral rainforest

More information on these determinations is available at http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Threatened+Species

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