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

4. Foci of biological diversity in Western Australia (continued)

4.13. Coolgardie

Area

125,398 km².

Primary land-use

Mining (gold and nickel), sheep-grazing.

National Parks and Nature Reserves

Mount Manmanning Nature Reserve, Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, Boorabin National Park, Jilbadji Nature Reserve (part), Kalgoorlie Nature Reserve.

Management problems

Land degradation due to over-grazing (Wilcox and Cunningham 1994).

ANZECC-listed species

Hall and McKenzie (1993) recorded the plants Adenanthos ileticos and Caladenia voigtii (both V).

Species that are regionally endemic

The skinks Lerista tridactyla and L. viduata (Cogger 1992).

Newbey et al. (1984) recorded four undescribed plant species, Lasiopetalum aff. ogilvieanum, Prostanthera sp., and undescribed genera in the Asteraceae and Caryophyllaceae; Dell et al. (1985) collected 15 undescribed species; and Hall and McKenzie (1993) recorded at least four undescribed species.

Relict populations

No information.

Other significant populations

The pergrine falcon Falco peregrinus occurs in the Region. An isolated population of the skink Hemiergis millewae occurs in the Region (Newbey et al. 1984; Cogger 1992).

The rare plants Eucalyptus kruseana and E. brachyphylla are recorded (Newbey et al. 1984). Leigh et al. (1984) recorded Trachymene croniniana (pp. 146-7), Lepidium merrallii (pp. 172-3), Phlegmatospermum drummondii (pp. 176-7), Banksia lullfitzii (p. 292), Persoonia leucopogon (p. 303), and Eriostemon falcatus (pp. 315-6).

The Region comprises a rich interzone between the arid and mesic biotas of south-western Australia, corresponding roughly to the "line" between the mulga/spinifex country and the eucalypt environments (Dell et al. 1985; Dell et al. 1988; McKenzie and Hall 1992; Hall and McKenzie 1993).

Wetland sites