Ecological Assessment Report

Biodiversity and Conservation Values (3SP246584)                                                               30/03/2016 16:41:54




        • It forms significant macrophyte beds (in shallow or deep water).
        • It is an important food source.
        • It is important/critical habitat.
        • It is implicated in spawning or reproduction for other fauna and/or flora species.
        • It is at its distributional limit or is a disjunct population.
        • It provides stream bank or bed stabilisation or has soil binding properties.
        • It is a small population and subject to threatening processes.


Fauna species are included if they meet at least one of the following traits:
        • It is endemic to the study area (>75 per cent of its distribution is in the study area/catchment).
        • It has experienced, or is suspected of experiencing, a serious population decline.
        • It has experienced a significant reduction in its distribution and has a naturally restricted distribution in the study
        area/catchment.
        • It is currently a small population and threatened by loss of habitat.
        • It is a significant disjunct population.
        • It is a migratory species (other than birds).
        • A significant proportion of the breeding population (>one per cent for waterbirds, >75 per cent other species) occurs
        in the waterbody (see Ramsar criterion 6 for waterbirds).
        • Limit of species range.


See the individual expert panel reports for the priority species traits specific to an ACA.

Criteria 6. Special Features: Special features are areas identified by flora, fauna and ecology expert panels which exhibit
characteristics beyond those identified in other criteria and which the expert panels consider to be of the highest ecological
importance. Special feature traits can relate to, but are not solely restricted to geomorphic features, unique ecological
processes, presence of unique or distinct habitat, presence of unique or special hydrological regimes e.g. spring-fed streams.
Special features are rated on a 1 - 4 scale (4 being the highest).

Criteria 7. Connectivity: This criterion is based on the concept that appropriately connected aquatic ecosystems are healthy
and resilient, with maximum potential biodiversity and delivery of ecosystem services.

Criteria 8. Representativeness: This criterion applies primarily to non-riverine assessments, evaluates the rarity and
uniqueness of a wetland type in relation to specific geographic areas. Rarity is determined by the degree of wetland
protection within "protected Areas" estate or within an area subject to the Fisheries Act 1994, Coastal Protection and
Management Act 1995, or Marine Parks Act 2004. Wetland uniqueness evaluates the relative abundance and size of a
wetland or wetland management group within geographic areas such as catchment and subcatchment.

Riverine Wetlands
Riverine wetlands are all wetlands and deepwater habitats within a channel. The channels are naturally or artificially created,
periodically or continuously contain moving water, or connecting two bodies of standing water. AquaBAMM, when applied to
riverine wetlands uses a discrete spatial unit termed subsections. A subsection can be considered as an area which
encompasses discrete homogeneous stream sections in terms of their natural attributes (i.e. physical, chemical, biological
and utilitarian values) and natural resources. Thus in an ACA, an aquatic conservation significance score is calculated for
each subsection and applies to all streams within a subsection, rather than individual streams as such.
Please note, the area figures provided in Tables 16 and 17, are derived using the extent of riverine subsections within the
AOI. Refer to Map 5 for further information. A summary of the conservation significance of riverine wetlands within the AOI is
provided in the following table.

Table 16: Overall level/s of riverine aquatic conservation significance


 Aquatic conservation significance (riverine wetlands)                     Area (Ha)            % of AOI
 Very High                                                                                0.0                   0.0%
 High                                                                                    31.7                  99.9%

Page 14