Commonwealth of Australia
List of Threatened Ecological Communities Amendment (EC184) Instrument 2024
I, TANYA PLIBERSEK, Minister for the Environment and Water, pursuant to paragraph 184(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, amend the list referred to in section 181 of that Act by including in the list of threatened ecological communities in the endangered category:
King Island scrub complex
as described in the Schedule to this instrument.
This instrument commences the day after registration.
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Tanya Plibersek
Minister for the Environment and Water
Dated: 23-8-24......................................................................
SCHEDULE 1
King Island scrub complex
King Island scrub complex is the assemblage of plants, animals and other organisms associated with a type of scrub or tall shrubland that is found on King Island, Tasmania. Depending on its developmental state (e.g. time since disturbance such as fire) it may occur as a sedgeland or heathland.
The ecological community is limited to King Island and its offshore islands, Tasmania, and primarily occurs in the north-east, central east coast, central and far south-west areas of the island. King Island is within the King IBRA Bioregion. It typically occurs on acidic sandy soils on flats or undulating plains. Soils vary between loamy sand (on undulating plains, with high wind erosion potential) to sandy peat (on flatter plains, with high waterlogging potential).
The vegetation of the ecological community occurs as a complex of different structural and compositional forms, depending on site attributes (e.g. abiotic factors such as rainfall and soils) and disturbance frequency and history (e.g. fire, land clearing history and regrowth, livestock access and grazing regime). It is characterised into three main forms: sedgeland, heathland and scrub (or tall closed shrubland). Key plant species are present throughout the different forms of the ecological community, but different groups of these species attain dominance to produce different structural expressions of the ecological community.
The sedgeland form of this ecological community is characterised by a dense stratum of sclerophyllous graminoids (sedges, cord rushes (Restionaceae), lilies, grasses) often with emergent shrubs such as Allocasuarina monilifera, Leptospermum scoparium (manuka, tea-tree), Melaleuca species and Sprengelia incarnata (pink swamp heath) present.
The heathland form is typically dominated by A. monilifera, Banksia marginata (silver banksia), L. scoparium and S. incarnata generally to the height of 2–4 m, with heath species from the families Fabaceae (pea family) and Ericaceae (epacrids) being common.
The scrub form is dominated by tall shrubs of the myrtaceous species Leptospermum scoparium and/or Melaleuca squarrosa in addition to co- or sub-dominant species Acacia mucronata, A. verticillata (prickly moses), Allocasuarina monilifera, Banksia marginata, Melaleuca ericifolia (swamp paperbark) and Monotoca glauca (goldy wood, currant wood).
The ecological community includes a variety of fauna species, including several species that are listed as threatened at a national or state level.