Refugia for biological diversity in arid and semi-arid Australia
Biodiversity Series, Paper No. 4
S.R. Morton, J. Short and R.D. Barker, with an Appendix by G.F. Griffin and G. Pearce
Biodiversity Unit
Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, 1995
10. Refugia in Western Australia (continued)
10.24. Reference number WA24
Refuge area: Lake Barlee
Biogeographic region: Murchison
Type of refuge: Wetlands
Lat./Long. 29°10’S / 119°30’E
Quality of refuge: Significant (2)
Area (km²): <10,000
Chief refuge value
Habitat for waterbird, particularly stilts.
General description
An intermittent salt lake south of Sandstone which fills about once every 10 years, after which the water persists for a little less than a year. There is samphire (Halosarcia spp.) around the Lake, and low open woodland (Eucalyptus striaticalyx) around the margins1.
ANZECC-listed species
None identified.
Regional endemics
None identified.
Relict species
None identified.
Other significant species
The Lake is a major breeding area for banded stilts Cladorhynchus leucocephalus, perhaps the most important2. Numbers of nests approach 200,000, and breeding probably takes place once a decade on average. Other species also breed at the Lake1, 2.
Key threats
Posssibly overgrazing in catchment1.
Land tenure
Crown land.
Key references
1. Jaensch and Lane (1993)
2. Burbidge and Fuller (1982)