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)
10.20. Reference number WA20
Refuge area: Aneen Lake
Biogeographic region: Murchison
Type of refuge: Wetlands
Lat./Long. 26°48’ - 27°00’S / 118°10’ - 118°25’E
Quality of refuge: Significant (2)
Area (km²): <1,000
Chief refuge value
Breeding areas for terns.
General description
A large (12,000 ha) salt lake south south-west of Meekatharra with numerous islands and peninsulas, comprising a seasonal, intermittent saline or brackish lake and marsh. Some parts of the Lake are likely to hold shallow water in most years; the whole system fills every 5-10 years from summer-autumn rain3.
ANZECC-listed species
None identified.
Regional endemics
None identified.
Relict species
None identified.
Other significant species
Of 18 species of waterbird recorded, 3 are listed under treaties3. The Lake is a regular and major breeding area for gull-billed tern Gelochelidon nilotica and whiskered tern Chlidonias hybrida. The former species uses islets that remain just above high-water when the Lake fills; the latter breed on islets and on the tops of flooded samphire (Halosarcia sp.)3. The Lake supports several thousand waterbirds when full (mostly black swan Cygnus atratus, banded stilt Cladorhynchus leucocephalus, Australian shelduck Tadorna tadornoides, gull-billed tern and whiskered tern)3.
Key threats
Grazing of sheep and gold mining within catchment.3
Land tenure
Pastoral and mining leases3.
Key references
1. Fuller (1963)
2. Storr (1985)
3. Jaensch and Lane (1993)
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