HOME
ENV510 Landscape Ecology and GIS
Kellerberrin
| New England
| Kidman
Springs
| Crocodile
Nests
Problem
| Project | Original
landscape | Landscape today | Change
| North Australia
| Implications
Grasses still dominate the New England landscape. There are 6 main land use types present:
In the New England tablelands remnant vegetation is surrounded by vegetation in various states of modification. This means that habitat tends to form a continuum across the landscape.
In spite of the differences in appearance, the configuration of the New England landscape shares some similarities to the wheatbelt in that it is divided into rectangular blocks of land which are traversed by roads (McIntyre, 1994).
In the rangelands, boundaries between remnant vegetation and vegetation at modified states are not clearly defined, making patches difficult to distinguish. Instead of clearly defined boundaries, gradients of land cover can exist. The pattern in some forested landscapes can also take this form.
The matrix in the rangelands of New England consists of vegetation in various states of modification. Boundaries between patches and the matrix are not clearly defined.
As with patches in these rangelands of New England, corridors are not easily distinguished. Since the matrix exists as vegetation at varying degrees of modification, species and nutrients will pass through elements within the matrix.
However, linear habitat does occur along road verges. These probably form important corridors across the landscape.
The predominant natural vegetation is grassy woodland, some areas of grassland and grassy forest. The native grassland flora of New England has a composition of grassland species that are representative of temperate and subtropical Australia.
Agricultural development has taken the form of pastoral development with some fertilisation and pasture improvement including the sowing of introduced grasses and legumes. Some areas have lost all their trees but natural pastures still exist in some places with eucalypts present to varying densities.
The most intact grassland is to be found in reserves or along roadsides. These areas are subject to varying degrees of modification from grazing, earthworks and loss of native herbivores.
For most species in this area the landscape is a constantly shifting mosaic of habitats of varying suitability. Some species of native plants grow successfully at a range of modifications while others have intolerance to any form of disturbance. Most however are somewhere in the middle.
The landscape of the New England Tablelands and the rangelands of the tropical north of Australia appears quite differently to the wheatbelt. In these landscapes there is gradation of land cover change across the landscape. Patches are not so clearly identified. This means that different measures are needed to examine and quantify landscape structure. Ones based on textural measures are probably more appropriate for use here.
Major fluxes affecting grassland vegetation in New England correspond to water, exotic species and nutrients.
In the New England tablelands of NSW, agriculture has modified most of native vegetation, leaving only small areas close to the original condition. The case is similar to the wheatbelt, except that grassy vegetation remains in the matrix at different states of modification.
This means that the intervening areas are modified versions of the original ecosystems and they may not be barriers to the movement of native species as in a fragmented landscape. This sort of landscape is described as being variegated (McIntyre and Barrett, 1992).
Over 70% of rural holdings are natural pastures (or rangelands). These have not been sown or cultivated with exotic species. However, the areas that are unaffected by grazing are largely limited to roadsides, reserves and some private land.
About 10% of New England is allocated to reserves, parks or state forests but many grassy ecosystems are not represented in the reserve system (McIntyre and Barrett, 1992). It is seen to be impractical to include grassy ecosystems in the reserve system because high production is possible from pastoralism.
Ungrazed reserves are small in extent but have high conservation significance. Roadsides contain fewer native species because of soil disturbances. Stock routes have high conservation significance because of lack of fertiliser and low levels of grazing but they are linear and parallel to roads.
Unlike other parts of Australia, urbanisation and arable cropping are restricted, so fragmentation of habitat is not a problem here and the landscape is more variegated.
The result of this sort of land management is that the bulk of native species are restricted to species rich sites of low disturbance, which have not been fertilised.
Site
map
| Glossary
| Downloads | References
| Resources | Graphics
Version
ENV510 Home
Updated July 2004 ©
Charles Darwin University
Copyright information
and disclaimer