Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00045:body:0:p11
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00045
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 28297–31349

Condition thresholds have not been adopted for the ecological community. Furthermore, a method for assessing baseline condition for Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens is yet to be developed and is a recommended action in this plan (Actions 8.1b.).

Peat

The presence of a peat substratum is a defining component of the ecological community. Peat is an organic soil that develops when plant material does not decompose completely because of acidic and/or anaerobic conditions. These conditions are typically promoted by permanent waterlogging. Australia's alpine and subalpine areas also have extensive peatland areas where peat accumulation is no longer active and the peat is drying. Drying peats are indicative of changes in either natural or anthropologic hydrological conditions (Costin, 1954). Such shifts can be caused by major disturbance, where processes of compaction, trenching and redirection of flow (for example from hard-hooves animals), can cause peat to dry and erode to form areas that are often termed degraded mire (Costin, 1954; Ashton and Williams, 1989).

  3.           Distribution

The Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens ecological community occurs primarily within the Australian Alps, the Tasmanian Central Highlands and the Tasmanian Southern Ranges Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregions. It is also found in a small area of the Bondo subregion of the South Eastern Highlands IBRA bioregion on mainland Australia, and may be present within the Ben Lomond and Tasmanian South East IBRA bioregions in Tasmania. The ecological community occurs in small pockets in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (see Map 1 below), Victoria (see Map 2 below) and Tasmania (see Map 3 below). The ecological community consists mostly of scattered, isolated patches, and its geographic extent is restricted. Most examples of the ecological community are situated within national parks and other conservation-related land tenure.

The ecological community is typically found in alpine, sub-alpine and montane (mountainous, or of higher elevation) environments, on gentle to moderate slopes amongst trees, in frost-prone valleys and plains, and sometimes above the climatic treeline.

From a geographical perspective, alpine and subalpine regions generally occur above 1,400 metres above sea level (ASL) on the mainland and above 800 metres ASL in Tasmania (Kirkpatrick, 1997; Slattery, 1998). However, the ecological community may occur in isolated pockets as low as 800 to 1,000 metres ASL in parts of the mainland, and 650 metres ASL in Tasmania.

3.1 Important occurrences

It is difficult to identify particular habitats critical to the survival of the ecological community. The ecological community is dependent on the maintenance of local hydrological conditions, particularly ground water. The limited distribution and scattered nature of the ecological community, together with the importance of each occurrence to the catchment they occur within, mean that all occurrences