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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 30(3)

Plant diversity on the edge: floristics, phytogeography, fire responses, and plant conservation of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in the context of OCBIL theory

Stephen D. Hopper https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0364-2856 A * , J. M. Harvey B , A. J. M. Hopkins C , L. A. Moore D and G. T. Smith E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

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

B Formerly of Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management, 62 Daglish Street, Wembley, WA 6014, Australia.

C Deceased. Formerly of Western Australian Wildlife Research Centre, Western Australian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, P.O. Box 51, Wanneroo, WA 6065, Australia.

D Uncontactable. Formerly of CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, L M B No. 4, P.O. Midland, WA 6056, Australia.

E Deceased. Formerly of CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, L M B No. 4, P.O. Midland, WA 6056, Australia.

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

Handling Editor: Mike Calver

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24024 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC24024
Submitted: 27 March 2024  Accepted: 16 April 2024  Published: 20 May 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

There have been few long-term studies of the flora, phenology, and ecology of specific reserves in the species-rich flora of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region.

Aims

This project, extending over five decades, aimed to develop an authoritative flora list and acquire data on phenology, threatened species, endemism, old and young landscapes, phytogeography, old lineages, and fire responses at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve.

Methods

The study used botanical collection on repeat surveys, herbarium studies, granite outcrop surveys and comparative phytogeographic analyses from maps on the Western Australian Herbarium’s Florabase.

Key results

Floristic survey recovered 853 taxa, 26% of those known in the Albany local government area. Possibly as many as 950–1000 taxa will be found in the future. The herbarium collections are the second largest of any conservation reserve in the Albany area. Flowering was most evident in spring and least in autumn. Three declared rare species and 20 conservation priority species were identified, as were short-range endemics, old clades, and natural hybrids.

Conclusions

The flora is dominated by species predominantly from wetter forest regions. Consequently, Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve is correctly placed within the Bibbulmun Botanical Province. Several hypotheses of OCBIL theory (which addresses old, climatically-buffered, infertile landscapes) were supported, with increased local endemism, ancient clades, and reduced rates of natural hybridisation identified for the granite inselberg OCBIL Maardjitup Gurlin/Mt Gardner.

Implications

Long term studies are invaluable for plant inventory. Continuing the minimal use of prescribed burning is advocated from plant data, in support of approaches to help conserve threatened animals.

Keywords: ancient lineages, flowering phenology, granite outcrop flora, herbarium studies, natural hybridisation, OCBIL, phytogeography, YODFEL.

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