Over the last year or so quite a number of ecological communities have been listed under the Federal Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Previous listings for Victorian communities included:
Silurian Limestone Pomaderris Shrubland of the South East Corner and Australian Alps Bioregions
This is comparable to the community listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG), “Silurian Limestone Pomaderris Shrubland”.

Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions.
Recognised names for other component communities include Semi-arid Pine-Buloke Grassy Woodland and Grey Box-Buloke Grassy Woodland (NSW and Victoria), Semi-arid Shrubby Pine-Buloke Woodland and Semi-arid Herbaceous Pine-Buloke Woodland (Victoria). These communities are FFG-listed as threatened communities in Victoria.

Natural Temperate Grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plain (see Indigenotes 19-4 September 2008)

Several new listings have come in over the last few months. Those of interest to Victoria are as follows.

Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens
This ecological community can be found in small pockets across Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and the ACT. It occurs primarily within the Australian Alps, the Tasmanian Central Highlands and the Tasmanian Southern Ranges bioregions. It is also found in a small area of the Bondo subregion of the South Eastern Highlands bioregion on mainland Australia, and may be present within the Ben Lomond and Tasmanian South East bioregions in Tasmania.

Two components of the Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens ecological community have been FFG-listed as threatened in Victoria. These are the Alpine Bog Community and the Fen (Bog Pool) Community. The Caltha introloba Herbland Community, which is also listed under the FFG Act, may be found within Sphagnum bogs, particularly around areas of late-lying snow.
You can find more information about this community on the EPBC website at http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=29&status=Endangered.
This will include what has actually been listed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/29-listing-advice.pdf) and how it can be managed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/29-conservation-advice.pdf )

Gippsland Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis subsp. mediana) Grassy Woodland and Associated Native Grassland
Native grasslands and grassy woodlands are the most threatened communities in Victoria. The Gippsland grasslands complex is the second, and hopefully not the last of Victoria’s grassland communities to be listed.
Two components of the Gippsland Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Associated Native Grassland community have been FFG-listed as threatened in Victoria. These are the Central Gippsland Plains Grasslands and the Forest Red Gum Grassy Woodlands.
The Gippsland Plains grasslands/grassy woodlands typically occur on undulating to flat plains less than 100 metres above sea-level (asl) with some occurrences extending onto low hills that rise up to 220 metres asl. The ecological community occurs between the Strzelecki Ranges and the Tambo River valley.
Description
The key defining attributes for the community are:

• The ecological community occurs in two forms.
  • A grassland form in which the ground layer is the dominant vegetation layer. The tree canopy is absent or of scattered trees only (projective foliage cover of trees is 0 to 5%).
  • A woodland form in which the tree canopy layer is the dominant vegetation layer (projective foliage cover of trees is greater than 5%). The woodland form varies in appearance from a stable regrowth with mostly thin and closely spaced trees to an open, mature woodland with large and widely spaced trees. The geographic distribution is limited to the eastern Gippsland Plain, generally between the Strzelecki Ranges and the Tambo River valley
• More than 50% of the vegetation cover of the ground layer (i.e. excluding bare ground) is dominated by native graminoids (native grasses and grass-like plants such as lilies, rushes, sedges etc.).
• The tree canopy layer is typically dominated by Gippsland Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis subsp. mediana). Small, localised occurrences of Black Sheoak or Drooping Sheoak may occur within patches of the ecological community.

Condition Thresholds
The listed community is made up of patches that meet the Description above, and the Condition thresholds, below.
Grassland form

• Minimum patch size = 0.04 ha AND
• 50% or more of the perennial ground layer vegetation cover comprises native species AND
• 7 or more species of native plants are present, excluding trees and tall shrubs (over 5 metres).

Grassy woodland form

• Minimum patch size = 0.2 ha AND
• 50% or more of the perennial ground layer vegetation cover comprises native species.

Additional features that add value to a patch of the ecological community include:

• a high native species richness;
• large patch size or connectivity to a large native vegetation remnant;
• minimal weed invasion;
• presence of threatened plant and/or animal species; and
• diversity of habitat e.g. tree hollows, fallen logs, natural exposed rock outcrops.

For more information go to the EPBC website at http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=73&status=Critically%20Endangered
This will include what has actually been listed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/73-listing-advice.pdf) and how it can be managed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/73-conservation-advice.pdf )

Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia
The ecological community occurs on the east coast of Australia from Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape York Peninsulam to the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria as well as on offshore islands on the east coast.
The 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 or adjacent to a large salt water body, such as an estuary and, thus, is influenced by the sea.

Condition Thresholds
The listed community is made up of patches that meet the broad description in the EPBC listing advice, and meet the condition thresholds below.

• Small patches can be resilient and viable, but the minimum size of a patch needs to be 0.1 ha AND
• The cover of transformer weed species (identified in attachments to the listing advice) is 70% or less. Transformer weeds are highly invasive taxa with the potential to seriously alter the structure and function of the ecological community. This threshold recognises the relative resilience and recoverability of the ecological community to invasion by weed species AND
• The patch must have:
  • at least 25% of the native plant species diversity characteristic of this ecological community in that bioregion (species list attached to the listing advice) OR
  • at least 30% canopy cover of one rainforest canopy (either tree or shrub) species excluding Banksia and Eucalyptus species that may be part of the ecological community.

Condition Threshold Notes
Where gaps in the canopy exist, they should be in the process of regenerating with the usual suite of rainforest gap species for the site. Where weed invasion is significant, natural regeneration of native gap species may be limited.

As species diversity diminishes from northern to southern latitudes, it is important to take into account the natural diversity of a patch in a particular bioregion when examining specific sites. For example, it is possible to find littoral rainforest stands that are dominated by single tree species or a small number of species. If such patches are in good condition, they will also be representative of the ecological community and they may also contain rainforest dependent fauna species.

For more information go to the EPBC website at http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=76&status=Critically%20Endangered
This will include what has actually been listed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/76-listing-advice.pdf) and how it can be managed (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/76-conservation-advice.pdf )

Weeping Myall Woodlands.
The Weeping Myall Woodlands occurs on the inland alluvial plains west of the Great Dividing Range in NSW and Queensland, with one small outlying patch in northern Victoria. It occurs in the Riverina, NSW South Western Slopes, Darling Riverine Plains, Brigalow Belt South, Brigalow Belt North, Murray-Darling Depression, Nandewar and Cobar Peneplain IBRA Bioregions.

Acacia pendula is listed as a threatened species under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. Only three small natural stands remain. There is no information on the previous extent of the ecological community in Victoria, but it was likely not to have been extensive. The current extent covers only a few hectares with the main stand being represented by only three mature trees and a small number of regenerating trees. As the Victorian occurrences of Weeping Myall Woodlands were very limited in extent and are presently degraded, they have been excluded from further consideration.