The Burdekin Dry Tropics is an incredibly biodiverse region with
biodiversity assets of national and international significance (see
Appendix 3 ). Although dominated by tropical
savanna woodlands and grasslands, its natural ecosystems span
the full suite of tropical biodiversity and include mountainous
rainforests, large river systems and coral reefs. The Region forms
a biogeographic feature known as the 'dry corridor' which adjoins
wet tropical bioregions to the north and south and extends the
range of fauna and flora more typical of the drier interior to the
coast. The region also contains significant wetlandswith a large number listed in the
Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia .
The coastal areas are of exceptionally high conservation value.
They include the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Ramsar
Wetland sites, two Dugong Protection areas, seagrass beds in
Cleveland and Bowling Green Bays. Biodiversity values include
recognised centres of species richness and endemism for birds
(>300 species), mammals (>70 species), reptiles, amphibians,
eucalypts and acacias (NLWRA 2002). The many significant
biodiversity assets of the region also include parts of two
World
Heritage Areas (the
Great Barrier Reef and the
Wet Tropics ), and other coastal and terrestrial protected
areas including National
Parks and Conservation Parks, State and Commonwealth Marine
Parks , Fish Habitat
Areas and
Dugong Protection Areas . Voluntary
Conservation Agreements and
Covenants negotiated between private landholders and State
Government agencies also cover several sites of recognised
biodiversity value within the region.
Bioregions
The region is comprised of three main bioregions bioregions
(NLWRA 2002): the Einasleigh Uplands, the Desert Uplands and, the
Brigalow Belt North. The Brigalow Belt, Desert Uplands and the
Einasleigh Uplands bioregions are considered National Biodiversity 'hotspots'.
Portions of the Wet Tropics, Central Queensland Coast, Southern
Brigalow Belt and Gulf Plains Bioregions also fall within the
region (link to map 8.2 ).
A large number of non-reef and reef
marine bioregions also occur in the adjoining marine
environment (link to map
8.5 ).
Regional ecosystems
Within the terrestrial bioregions there is a high diversity of
vegetation types that in combination with particular landform
settings form
Regional Ecosystems (Sattler and Williams 1999). Open woodlands
and grasslands dominated by Eucalypts and Acacias predominate.
Other vegetation types include closed riparian forests,
rainforests, open forest, vine thickets, sedgelands and open
wetlands, mangrove and freshwater swamp forests, coastal dune
communities and seagrass meadows (link to map 8.3 ). To discover more about regional ecosystems,
see
Regional Ecosystem Description Database (REDD) .