Biodiversity & Vegetation - Queensland

Proportion of native vegetation remaining in this IBRA region Queensland
Methods
Applications
Limitations
What major vegetation groups have been cleared in Queensland since European settlement?
Methods
Applications
Limitations
Link to cleared native vegetation information for Queensland's bioregions
What sources of information were used?
References
Partnerships
Further information

Queensland

Proportion of native vegetation remaining in Queensland

Eighteen percent (30.4 million hectares) of Queensland's native vegetation has been cleared, mainly in the coastal lowlands and floodplains from Cairns south to the New South Wales border and in the inland Brigalow Belt. Queensland has one of the largest areas of cleared land in Australia.

Major vegetation groups most affected are:

rainforest and vine thickets;
eucalypt open forests communities in far north Queensland and south-east Queensland; and
eucalypt woodland, eucalypt open woodland, acacia forests and woodlands, casuarina forests and woodlands in the Brigalow Belt.

The rate of clearing in Queensland has increased from 289,000 ha/yr from 1991 to 1995 to 340,000 ha/yr from 1995 to 1997.

The State-wide average annual remnant vegetation clearing rate for the 1997 to 1999 period was 446,000 ha/yr. The regional ecosystem remnant clearing from 1997 to 1999 occurred on freehold tenures (70%), leasehold tenures (29%) and other tenures (1%).

The areas with the highest remnant vegetation clearing rates from 1997 to 1999 are largely within the central and southern areas of the Brigalow Belt and the adjacent eastern area of the Mulga Lands bioregions. In the four bioregions where the vegetation survey and mapping is completed, 58% of the State's remnant vegetation cleared from 1997 to 1999 occurred in the Brigalow Belt bioregion, 12% in the Desert Uplands bioregion, 2% in the Southeast Queensland bioregion, and 0.4% in the New England Tableland bioregion (Accad et al. 2001).

The majority of remnant vegetation cleared during this time was of eucalypt open woodlands and woodlands dominated by poplar box (Eucalyptus populnea), coolibah (E. coolabah) or silver-leaved ironbark (E. melanophloia).

The Queensland Herbarium is continually updating vegetation information and holds the most current vegetation mapping for Queensland.

Grazing by stock is also a significant factor in changes to the species composition and structure of the native vegetation. The extent and impacts of these changes is not fully understood or mapped (Boulter et al. 2000).

An assessment of landscape health in Queensland which includes factors of clearing, grazing, feral animals and weeds provides a summary on a subregional basis of the landscape stresses (NLWRA 2001c).

Table: Area (km²) of pre-European major vegetation groups and major vegetation groups (circa 1997) in Queensland
Major Vegetation Group	Pre-European Area (km²)	Circa 1997 Area (km²)	% remaining relative to pre-European area
Rainforest and vine thickets	30,055	19,558	65
Eucalyptus tall open forests	3,976	429	11
Eucalyptus open forest	62,646	35,150	56
Eucalyptus low open forest	111	111	100
Eucalyptus woodlands	473,272	367,293	78
Acacia forest and woodlands	182,089	91,534	50
Callitris forest and woodlands	5,601	4,134	74
Casuarina forest and woodlands	11,951	1,545	13
Melaleuca forest and woodlands	72,173	70,014	97
Other forests and woodlands	49,692	49,266	99
Eucalyptus open woodlands	165,065	134,421	81
Tropical Eucalyptus woodland/grasslands	20,684	20,653	100
Acacia open woodlands	39,861	36,734	92
Mallee woodlands and shrublands	14	14	100
Low closed forest and closed shrublands	449	445	99
Acacia shrublands	104,368	100,660	96
Other Shrublands	16,780	16,419	98
Heath	633	470	74
Tussock grasslands	294,662	282,547	96
Hummock grasslands	92,009	91,809	100
Other grasslands, herblands, sedgelands and rushlands	4,963	4,771	96
Chenopod shrub, samphire shrub and forblands	82,070	81,944	100
Mangroves, tidal mudflat, samphire and bare areas, claypan, sand, rock, salt lakes, lagoons, lakes	15,442	15,143	98

Methods

This analysis is based on a comparison of the present extent of major vegetation groups (circa 1997) and pre-European mapping.

Applications

Analysis at the Australia-wide, State and Territory and regional scales provides information on which to base broad assessments of change in extent and type of vegetation. This is a key input to assessing:

the representativeness or otherwise of Australia's nature conservation estate and for related interpretations (e.g. setting priorities for retention of native vegetation types);
opportunities for catchment rehabilitation, whether the issue is catchment hydrology or dryland salinity control;
the types of vegetation suitable for rehabilitation, restoration and/or revegetation activities in an area; and
priorities for protection of biodiversity in landscapes under stress.

Limitations

Pre-European vegetation and present native vegetation for many States and Territories do not match in mapping method or scale. Development of pre-European vegetation maps in cleared areas of Australia is usually dependent upon coarse or generalised data on landforms and soils sometimes at 1:250 000 or even 1:1 000 000 scale. Reconstructing the natural complexity of vegetation patterns from such broad interpretations is difficult. Earlier vegetation mapping for areas now cleared may similarly be coarse in scale and/or generalised, with little data from systematic field sampling to support the derivation of mapping units and the allocation of individual patches of native vegetation to mapping units.

Pre-European data is more reliable where:

impacts of European land use is minimal;
there is good physical and floristic information (e.g. in Victoria) which can be used for detailed interpolation; and
the scale of the pre-European mapping and method is similar to that of the current extent mapping (e.g. in Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory and Western Australia).

Data variability is greatest in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia, where the pre-European data does not meet the requirements of the National Vegetation Information System. In Tasmania the pre-European data is not finalised. In these States it is assumed that the present vegetation mapped is an approximate representation of the pre-European vegetation. The Australia wide pre-European major vegetation groups data set is an interim product.

What major vegetation groups have been cleared in Queensland since European settlement?

Table: Major vegetation groups cleared in Queensland
Major Vegetation Group	Cleared Area (km²)	% cleared across QLD as total of clearing
Rainforest and vine thickets	10,496	3.5
Eucalyptus tall open forests	3,547	1.2
Eucalyptus open forest	27,496	9
Eucalyptus woodlands	105,979	34.9
Acacia forest and woodlands	90,555	29.8
Callitris forest and woodlands	1,467	.5
Casuarina forest and woodlands	10,406	3.4
Melaleuca forest and woodlands	2,158	.7
Other forests and woodlands	426	.1
Eucalyptus open woodlands	30,644	10.1
Tropical Eucalyptus woodland/grasslands	31	0
Acacia open woodlands	3,128	1
Low closed forest and closed shrublands	3	0
Acacia shrublands	3,708	1.2
Other Shrublands	361	.1
Heath	164	.1
Tussock grasslands	12,115	4
Hummock grasslands	200	.1
Other grasslands, herblands, sedgelands and rushlands	192	.1
Chenopod shrub, samphire shrub and forblands	126	0
Mangroves, tidal mudflat, samphire and bare areas, claypan, sand, rock, salt lakes, lagoons, lakes	299	.1

Note: The clearing referred to in table 2 does not include grazing, thinning or other activities. In particular, parts of the rangelands may be heavily disturbed.

Map: Cleared Major Vegetation Groups (circa 1997) in Queensland

Cleared Major Vegetaion Groups in Australia

Source:

Major vegetation groups V1.0 (1km), National Land and Water Resources Audit 2001. Data used are assumed to be correct from suppliers.

The summary maps provide information on Australia's native vegetation collated within the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) at July 2001 and with additional mapped information. The NVIS will be updated as vegetation mapping becomes available.

The map is a compilation of data collected at different scales by different organisations. Major Vegetation Groups were compiled by Environment Australia based on data collated by the Bureau of Rural Sciences and provided by Environment ACT, Department of Urban Services; NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service; NSW Royal Botanic Gardens; NSW State Forests; NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment; Queensland Herbarium, Environmental Protection Agency; SA Department for Environment and Heritage; Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment; Flora Section, Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Agriculture Western Australia; Western Australia Department of Conservation and Land Management and Geoscience Australia, National Mapping Division.

Methods

This analysis is based on the present extent of native vegetation and data on the type and area of these groups cleared in Australia from the pre-European mapping. All summary findings are based on the data sets compiled for the National Vegetation Information System and development of the major vegetation groups.

Applications

This analysis at the Australia-wide, State and Territory and regional scales provides information on which to base assessment of change in land cover and type of vegetation, a key input to vegetation management activities. Loss of particular vegetation types across regions impacts on biodiversity values and landscape function and this analysis highlights those major vegetation groups.

At the regional scale, the National Vegetation Information System compilation provides an excellent basis for regional planning groups to understand the changes in vegetation extent that have occurred and set their regional priorities for vegetation management in the context of this information. The assessment of major vegetation groups across Australia provides a broader context.

Limitations

As detailed previously, issues of attributes, scale and currency of available mapping limits the precision of this analysis. The broad nature of the major vegetation groups masks the distinct vegetation types and regional clearing patterns that would emerge at a finer scale of analysis.

Link to cleared native vegetation information for Queensland's bioregions

Map of cleared native vegetation information for Australia's bioregions

What sources of information were used?

View the guidelines for the interpretation of vegetation mapping products.

References

View the references used in the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001.

Partnerships

Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 was facilitated and coordinated by the National Land and Water Resources Audit and prepared in partnership with State, Territory and Commonwealth agencies: