Commonwealth of Australia
 
Inclusion of ecological communities in the list of threatened ecological communities under section 181 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
 
 
I, PETER ROBERT GARRETT, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, pursuant to section 184(1)(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, hereby amend the list referred to in section 181 of that Act by:
 
including in the list in the critically endangered category
Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia
as described in the Schedule to this instrument.
                                              
 
 
 
 
Dated this…......12th..............................day of…..........September........................2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PETER ROBERT GARRETT
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
 
SCHEDULE
Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia
 
The ecological community represents a complex of rainforest and coastal vine thickets, including some that are deciduous, on the east coast of Australia. Typically, the ecological community occurs within two kilometres of the coast, including offshore islands, or adjacent to a large salt water body, such as an estuary and, thus, is influenced by the sea. It is naturally distributed as a series of disjunct and localised stands occurring on a range of landforms derived from coastal processes that can include dunes, headlands, seacliffs, offshore islands or other places influenced by the sea. As a result, the ecological community is not associated with a particular soil type and can occur on a variety of geological substrata.
 
The ecological community occurs from Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape York Peninsula to the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria as well as on offshore islands on the east coast. The latitudinal range where the ecological community occurs encompasses warm temperate, sub-tropical and tropical climate zones.
 
The ecological community is defined by habitat expressed in terms of structure, floristic composition and ecology in response to coastal processes. Whilst the ecological community’s canopy species are well adapted to coastal exposure (e.g. strong and persistent salt-laden winds and storm events), the canopy protects less tolerant plants in the understorey.  The canopy height varies with the degree of exposure and can range from