page_title: Limeburners Creek National Park
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Limeburners Creek National Park / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Melaleuca quinquenervia, the paper-barked tea-tree, is common on the floodplains and wet areas of 7th Brigade Park. It is a small to medium sized tree with thick, papery persistent bark. Flowers are usually cream and though sometimes pink or red flowering individuals can be found. The tree is a favourite host for Ficus rubiginosa and Ficus virens hemi-epiphyes, which in time grow and envelope the host.
context_page_description: Limeburners Creek National Park is a protected national park on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The 91.2km national park is located 5 km to the north of Port Macquarie and exists across both the Kempsey Shire and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council local government areas, but is chiefly managed by National Parks and Wildlife Service. The area was originally erected as a nature reserve but this reservation was revoked when it became formally recognised as a national park in 2010 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. Many threatened ecological habitats and species of fauna and flora are found within this park, alongside several heritage sites of cultural significance, particularly to the local Birpai and Dunghutti people upon whose land the park exists. The protected status of this national park is largely owing to the ecological and cultural value of the area, in addition to the value of the ecosystems to further scientific research.
context_section_description: Limeburners Creek National Park is part of the North Coast Bioregion and sustains several ecological communities which, according to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999, are considered to be critically endangered. These include communities of coastal saltmarsh, swamp oak floodplain forest and littoral rainforests. The park also hosts a diverse array of threatened fauna and flora including the rare ground parrot, spotted quoll and koala, in addition to broad-leaved tea trees, swamp oaks and bangalow palms.
  
  These unique plant and animal species also face ecological competition in the park from several introduced and exotic species. Noxious exotic weeds such as bitou bush and lantana are prevalent within the park, responsible for outcompeting native flora and degrading the existing fragile and threatened native communities. Foxes, feral cats and feral dogs are problematic introduced animals which are found throughout the park. These species are known to predate on small mammal and bird species in particular, posing a serious threat to the viability of populations of native species in the park. Domestic cattle are also problematic and known to frequent the fringes of Limeburners Creek National Park after escaping adjacent properties. The biodiversity of Limeburners Creek National Park is also threatened by bushfires of increasing frequency and intensity.
caption: Flowers of the broad-leaved tea tree, which occurs throughout sclerophyll forests in Limeburners Creek National Park
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