Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00153:body:0:p20
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00153
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 54420–57370

spread of weeds, in addition to the physical removal of vegetation to free up land for stock (DoEE 2016b). These impacts can affect the biodiversity of forest and woodland ecosystems through reductions to the quality of mid-storey and understorey vegetation. As the ecosystems are simplified subsequent declines in the number of species, or their genetic variability, can occur causing ecosystem resilience to decrease (DoEE 2016b).

2.2.7      Feral animals
Across its' distribution Littoral Rainforest is impacted by the grazing, browsing, trampling and digging activities of a number of feral herbivores, including deer, rabbits and pigs. The impacts of these feral species can prevent the establishment of seedlings, open up the understorey and create gaps in vegetation that may facilitate weed invasion, all of which can alter community composition and vegetation structure (Taylor et al. 2011).
Grazing and browsing by feral Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), hog deer (Axis porcinus) and Rusa deer (C. timorensis) has been shown to detrimentally impact the ecological community on both a local and landscape level. These activities can result in structural modification, erosion and altered species composition within Littoral Rainforest. Rubbing causes direct physical damage to established trees, while browsing prevents regeneration of Littoral Rainforest canopy and understorey species and creates gaps in the vegetation which allows colonisation by weeds. This has occurred in the area near Genoa River, in Victoria, where the vegetation gaps have been colonised by cape ivy (Delairea odorata) and dense thickets of Madeira Winter-cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum). When infestations are severe these weeds contribute significantly to the collapse of existing Littoral Rainforest patches through the smothering of shrubs and young trees (Peel et al. 2005). Severe damage to Littoral Rainforest by feral deer has also been observed from Twofold Bay in New South Wales to the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria. Persistent deer infestations are documented as causing the local loss of rainforest species and whole sections of mature rainforest in Victoria (Peel et al. 2005). The coastal expansion of feral deer has reached at least as far north as Bermagui. Within the range of the deer patches of littoral rainforest (e.g. Marl Island) have been destroyed (Peel 2010). In the Royal National Park in New South Wales, herbivory by Rusa deer has led to a 54 percent reduction in understorey plant species richness in sites where deer densities are high (Moriarty 2009) and caused a 75 percent reduction in cover of the threatened plant magenta lilly pilly (Syzygium paniculatum) (Keith & Pellow 2005). In the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Sambar deer are the most damaging feral species impacting upon Littoral Rainforest (Peel et al. 2005). 'Herbivory and habitat degradation caused by feral deer' is a listed Key Threatening Process under the New