Regional ecosystem details for 7.12.20
| Regional ecosystem | 7.12.20 |
|---|---|
| Vegetation Management Act class | Of concern |
| Wetlands | Not a Wetland |
| Biodiversity status | Of concern |
| Subregion | 9, 7, (6) |
| Estimated extent1 | Pre-clearing 6000 ha; Remnant 2021 6000 ha |
| Short description | Simple microphyll vine-fern thicket of windswept exposed peaks on granites |
| Structure code | Closed Forest |
| Description | Simple microphyll vine-fern thicket. Windswept exposed peaks on granite, of the cloudy wet and moist rainfall zones. Not a Wetland. (BVG1M: 6b). |
| Supplementary description | Stanton and Stanton G10; Tracey and Webb (1975), 10 |
| Protected areas | Daintree NP (CYPAL), Wooroonooran NP, Mount Lewis NP, Ngalba-bulal NP (CYPAL), Mount Spurgeon NP, Hinchinbrook Island NP, Mount Windsor NP |
| Special values | 7.12.20: Habitat for a relatively high number of threatened plant species including: Dracophyllum sayeri, Cinnamomum propinquum, Trachymene geraniifolia and Linospadix palmerianus. Also restricted and disjunct species of flora, including: Leptospermum wooroonooran, Alyxia orophila, Rhododendron lochiae, Trochocarpa bellendenkerensis, Acronychia chooreechillum, Paphia meiniana, Flindersia oppositifolia, Pleioluma singuliflora, Quintinia quatrefagesii and Palmeria hypotephra. |
| Fire management guidelines | INTERVAL: Fire return interval not relevant. INTERVAL_MIN: 100. INTERVAL_MAX: 100. STRATEGY: Do not burn deliberately. Mosaic burning in surrounding fire-adapted ecosystems will minimise spread and severity of wildfire during severe weather events. ISSUES: Occasional hot fires in adjoining communities may be required to prevent expansion of rainforest elements. Edges are generally self-protecting but back burning from rainforest edges may be desirable. The occurrence of high biomass grasses in or adjacent to rainforest may detrimentally affect rainforest during fire events associated with dry weather. |
| Comments | 7.12.20: This summit ecosystem is often the preferred site for telecommunication towers. Individual mountaintops may vary floristically. Floristically depauperate. A habitat usually restricted to above 1200 m altitude on the larger mountain massifs such as the Bellenden Ker Range and the Mount Carbine Tableland, but also at lower altitudes on exposed ridges of isolated mountains such as Thornton Peak, Mount Hemmant and Mount Finnigan. Human-induced global climate change could have a major impact on this naturally small and fragmented regional ecosystem. A fragile regional ecosystem that has a very slow recovery period from disturbances such as trampling. Moistly weed free. |
1 Estimated extent is from version 13 pre-clearing and 2021 remnant regional ecosystem mapping. Figures are rounded for simplicity. For more precise estimates, including breakdowns by tenure and other themes see remnant vegetation in Queensland.
