A new vegetation classification for Western Australia’s Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve and its significance for fire management

A. J. M. Hopkins; A. A. E. Williams; J. M. Harvey; Stephen D. Hopper

doi:10.1071/PC24036

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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A new vegetation classification for Western Australia’s Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve and its significance for fire management

A. J. M. Hopkins ^A , A. A. E. Williams ^B , J. M. Harvey ^C and Stephen D. Hopper

^D ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Deceased. Formerly of Western Australian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 37 Wildlife Place, Woodvale, WA 6026, Australia.

^B Formerly Western Australian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, now honorary associate Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australian Wildlife Research Centre, 37 Wildlife Place, Woodvale, WA 6026, Australia.

^C Deceased. Formerly Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, Perth, WA 6983, Australia.

^D The University of Western Australia, Albany Campus, and School of Biological Sciences, 35 Stirling Terrace, Albany, WA 6330, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: steve.hopper@uwa.edu.au

Handling Editor: Mike Calver

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24036 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC24036

Submitted: 3 May 2024 Accepted: 14 May 2024 Published: 6 June 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Vegetation mapping is subject to a diversity of approaches and lack of coordination, leading to low repeatability and predictive power in the species-rich flora of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region. Yet it has potential as a tool of use in fire management.

Aims

This project, extending over five decades, aimed to develop an authoritative vegetation classification and map plant fire responses at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve.

Methods

Using Muir’s classification approach, field surveys were conducted with aerial photography in hand. Thirty-three vegetation units were identified, described, mapped, and photographed. Defining attributes and taxa were identified for each unit.

Key results

Map, descriptions, and photographs detail forest, woodlands, mallee, scrub thickets, heath, wetlands, and granite communities on the Reserve. The forest, woodland, and shrublands were adequately classified and mapped. However, granite complex and mallee were least satisfactory, oversimplifying a rich diversity of vegetation types and habitats.

Conclusions

The Reserve may be divided for management into the central third of heath, shrublands, and low woodlands largely across the isthmus, the dunes and wetlands of the west with a greater diversity of vegetation types, and the eastern granite inselberg attaining 408 m with the most diverse vegetation types. The latter inselberg needs continued protection from fire and other disturbances. Greatest change in vegetation is seen in lowland landscapes where fire activity has also been pronounced.

Implications

Vegetation mapping has been a valuable aid for managers and fire planning, and for active comanagement with appropriate Aboriginal families.

Keywords: fire management, granite outcrop flora, inselberg, Noongar, OCBIL, vegetation mapping, wetlands, YODFEL.

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