Plant Communities of
the South Eastern Highlands
and Australian Alps within the
Murrumbidgee Catchment
of New South Wales
Version 1.1

 

Botanists working with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage have produced a plant community classification for the upper Murrumbidgee catchment by building on existing classifications including those completed by Rainer Rehwinkel (grasslands) and Keith McDougall and Neville Walsh (treeless alpine areas), and Nicholas Gellie (Southern Regional Forest Assessment revision). The classification uses statistical analysis coupled with expert botanical knowledge to describe 74 plant communities across the South Eastern Highlands and Australian Alps bioregions within the Murrumbidgee catchment. Additionally, six qualitative plant communities were described which were unable to be quantified due to a lack of field samples available for analysis.

Plant communities classified within alpine complexes, rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests, dry sclerophyll forests, forested wetlands, freshwater wetlands, grassy woodlands and grasslands have been described. For each plant community, vegetation descriptions are accompanied with information on environmental variables, diagnostic species information, threats, frequently occurring weeds, reservation status, equivalent plant communities (from existing classifications) and estimated clearing rates. Each description of woody and wetland plant communities is accompanied with a distribution map, with many also containing a photo.

The report will be a useful field guide to plant communities within the upper Murrumbidgee catchment.

The report is © Copyright State of NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage. The State of NSW and OEH allow the material to be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This version of the classification (Feb 2012) was a work-in-progress without formal status, so any communities identified within it cannot be used for any legal purpose. 

A published version of the report is R.C. Armstrong, K.D. Turner, K.L. McDougall, R. Rehwinkel and J.I. Crooks (2013) Plant communities of the upper Murrumbidgee catchment in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Cunninghamia 13(1): 125-265, at https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/RoyalBotanicGarden/media/RBG/Science/Cunninghamia/Volume 13 - 2013/Cun131arm125.pdf (4.6 MB).

Download the report - 239 pages, PDF file, 13.5 MB