Box-Ironbark forest
Encyclopedia
Box-Ironbark forest is a forest or woodland ecosystem
that is largely limited to central Victoria
in south-eastern Australia
. Because its component tree species produce abundant nectar and pollen throughout the year, it is important for the conservation of many species of birds and other animals.
, during the main years of the gold rush
(1851-1870) it underwent intensive digging and clearing in the goldfields, accompanied by extensive timber cutting for infrastructure and firewood in surrounding areas. After the gold rush subsided the forests were still heavily cut for firewood and cleared for pasture.
-bearing), soils, in flat and undulating landscapes at altitudes of 150-600 m above sea level, and with an average annual rainfall of 500-800 mm. About 40% of the area formerly supporting the ecosystem in Victoria is public land with less than 20% protected in conservation reserves. About 55% has been permanently cleared for agriculture
, mining
and urban development. Remaining forest has been fragmented.
and gum-barked eucalypt
s, growing to 25 m in height, over a sparse understorey of wattles
, small-leaved and prostrate shrub
s, herbs
and grass
es. The main trees are White Box
, Red Box
, Red Ironbark
, Mugga Ironbark
, Yellow Gum
and Red Stringybark
. In some areas they may grow with, or be replaced by, Yellow Box
, Long-leaf Box
or Silver Bundy. The mix of plants in the groundcover includes the largest concentrations of orchids of any Victorian ecosystem. Small herbs and shrubs most abundant in, or largely restricted to, Box-Ironbark forests include Cheiranthera cyanaea, Philotheca verrucosa
, Xerochrysum viscosum
, Pultenaea largiflorens, Acacia williamsonii and Stuartina muelleri.
and nectar producers, they are a major source of nectar and pollen
for honeyeater
s, lorikeet
s and many kinds of invertebrate
s. Flowering of the different species of eucalypts takes place at different times of year so there is always a nectar or pollen source available for migratory
, nomadic and resident birds. Consequently there are both more species, and greater numbers of individuals, of honeyeaters and lorikeets than in any other ecosystem. Nectar and pollen feeding birds such as the Black-chinned
, Regent
, Fuscous
and Brown-headed Honeyeater
s, Swift Parrot
s and Musk Lorikeet
s are all more abundant in Box-Ironbark forests than elsewhere. The ecosystem supports the largest numbers of Eastern Grey Kangaroo
s in Victoria and is a stronghold for Brush-tailed Phascogale
s, Yellow-footed Antechinus
es and Squirrel Glider
s.
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
that is largely limited to central Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in south-eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Because its component tree species produce abundant nectar and pollen throughout the year, it is important for the conservation of many species of birds and other animals.
History
Because Box-Ironbark forest lies mainly within the Goldfields region of VictoriaGoldfields region of Victoria
The Goldfields region of Victoria is a region commonly used but typically defined in both historical geography and tourism geography .-Description:...
, during the main years of the gold rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
(1851-1870) it underwent intensive digging and clearing in the goldfields, accompanied by extensive timber cutting for infrastructure and firewood in surrounding areas. After the gold rush subsided the forests were still heavily cut for firewood and cleared for pasture.
Description
Box-Ironbark forest is found on rocky, often auriferous (goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
-bearing), soils, in flat and undulating landscapes at altitudes of 150-600 m above sea level, and with an average annual rainfall of 500-800 mm. About 40% of the area formerly supporting the ecosystem in Victoria is public land with less than 20% protected in conservation reserves. About 55% has been permanently cleared for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and urban development. Remaining forest has been fragmented.
Vegetation
Box-Ironbark forest is characterised by a canopy of box, ironbarkIronbark
Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus Eucalyptus that have dark, deeply furrowed bark....
and gum-barked eucalypt
Eucalypt
Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
s, growing to 25 m in height, over a sparse understorey of wattles
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, small-leaved and prostrate shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s, herbs
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
and grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es. The main trees are White Box
Eucalyptus macrocarpa
Eucalyptus macocarpa, or Mottlecah, is a mallee Eucalyptus that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and noted for its large, spectacular flowers.-Description:...
, Red Box
Eucalyptus polyanthemos
Eucalyptus polyanthemos is a small to medium sized tree,native to New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia...
, Red Ironbark
Eucalyptus tricarpa
Eucalyptus tricarpa, or Red Ironbark, is a species of Eucalyptus which is endemic to Victoria and the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. It is a tall, straight trunked tree that usually grows to between 25 and 35 metres in height...
, Mugga Ironbark
Eucalyptus sideroxylon
Eucalyptus sideroxylon, or Mugga, Red Ironbark or Mugga Ironbark, is a small to medium-sized or occasionally tall tree. The bark is persistent on the trunk and large branches, hard and deeply furrowed, dark grey to black, with upper limbs smooth and whitish.Adult leaves are stalked, lanceolate to...
, Yellow Gum
Eucalyptus leucoxylon
Eucalyptus leucoxylon, commonly known as the Yellow Gum, Blue Gum or White Ironbark, is a small to medium-sized tree with rough bark on the lower 1-2 metres of the trunk, above this, the bark becomes smooth with a white, yellow or bluish-grey surface...
and Red Stringybark
Eucalyptus macrorhyncha
Eucalyptus macrorhyncha, commonly known as Red Gum, Red Stringybark, Cannons Stringybark or Capertee Stringybark, is a small to medium-sized tree with rough, thick fibrous and stringy, dark-brown bark....
. In some areas they may grow with, or be replaced by, Yellow Box
Eucalyptus melliodora
Eucalyptus melliodora, commonly known as Yellow Box, is a medium sized to occasionally tall eucalypt. The bark is variable ranging from smooth with an irregular, short stocking, to covering most of the trunk, fibrous, dense or loosely held, grey, yellow or red-brown, occasionally very coarse,...
, Long-leaf Box
Eucalyptus goniocalyx
Eucalyptus goniocalyx, Long-leaved box is a small to medium-sized tree with rough and persistent bark to the small branches. It is fibrous, greyish, becoming deeply fissured, thick and shaggy in larger trees...
or Silver Bundy. The mix of plants in the groundcover includes the largest concentrations of orchids of any Victorian ecosystem. Small herbs and shrubs most abundant in, or largely restricted to, Box-Ironbark forests include Cheiranthera cyanaea, Philotheca verrucosa
Philotheca verrucosa
Philotheca verrucosa , commonly known as Bendigo Waxflower or Fairy Waxflower, is a shrub in the family Rutaceae. The species is endemic to south-east Australia. It is usually up to 1.2 metres high, although heights up to 2 metres have been recorded in Gippsland...
, Xerochrysum viscosum
Xerochrysum viscosum
Xerochrysum viscosum is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Australia, growing in Victoria and New South Wales.It is a sticky everlasting erect viscid herb...
, Pultenaea largiflorens, Acacia williamsonii and Stuartina muelleri.
Animals
Because the trees of the Box-Ironbark forest are such prolific flowerersFlower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
and nectar producers, they are a major source of nectar and pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
for honeyeater
Honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea...
s, lorikeet
Lorikeet
Lories and lorikeets are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. The species form a monophyletic group within the parrot family Psittacidae...
s and many kinds of invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s. Flowering of the different species of eucalypts takes place at different times of year so there is always a nectar or pollen source available for migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, nomadic and resident birds. Consequently there are both more species, and greater numbers of individuals, of honeyeaters and lorikeets than in any other ecosystem. Nectar and pollen feeding birds such as the Black-chinned
Black-chinned Honeyeater
The Black-chinned Honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical dry forests.The Black-chinned Honeyeater was first described by John Gould in 1837...
, Regent
Regent Honeyeater
The Regent Honeyeater, Xanthomyza phrygia, is an endangered bird endemic to Australia. It feeds on nectar and insects within eucalyptus forests. Recent genetic research suggests it is closely related to the wattlebirds.-Distribution:...
, Fuscous
Fuscous Honeyeater
The Fuscous Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.-References:...
and Brown-headed Honeyeater
Brown-headed Honeyeater
The Brown-headed Honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation....
s, Swift Parrot
Swift Parrot
The Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
s and Musk Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
The Musk Lorikeet is a lorikeet, one of the three species of the Glossopsitta genus. It inhabits south-central/eastern Australia. The Musk Lorikeet was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790 as Psittacus concinnus, from a collection in the vicinity of Port Jackson in what is now...
s are all more abundant in Box-Ironbark forests than elsewhere. The ecosystem supports the largest numbers of Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
The Eastern Grey Kangaroo is a marsupial found in southern and eastern Australia, with a population of several million. It is also known as the Great Grey Kangaroo and the Forester Kangaroo...
s in Victoria and is a stronghold for Brush-tailed Phascogale
Brush-tailed Phascogale
The Brush-tailed Phascogale , also known as the Tuan, the Common Wambenger or the Black-tailed Phascogale, is a rat-sized arboreal carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, characterized by a tuft of black silky hairs on the terminal portion of its tail...
s, Yellow-footed Antechinus
Yellow-footed Antechinus
thumb|250pxThe Yellow-footed Antechinus , also known as the Mardo, is a shrew-like marsupial found in Australia. One notable feature of the species is its sexual behavior...
es and Squirrel Glider
Squirrel Glider
The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.-Habitat:...
s.
See also
- Bendigo Box-Ironbark RegionBendigo Box-Ironbark RegionThe Bendigo Box-Ironbark Region is a 505 km2 fragmented and irregularly-shaped tract of land that encompasses all the Box-Ironbark forest and woodland remnants used as winter feeding habitat by Swift Parrots in the Bendigo-Maldon region of central Victoria, south-eastern...
- Maryborough-Dunolly Box-Ironbark RegionMaryborough-Dunolly Box-Ironbark RegionThe Maryborough-Dunolly Box-Ironbark Region includes all the Box-Ironbark forest and woodland remnants used as winter feeding habitat by Swift Parrots in the Maryborough-Dunolly region of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia...
- Rushworth Box-Ironbark RegionRushworth Box-Ironbark RegionThe Rushworth Box-Ironbark Region is a 510 km2 fragmented and irregularly-shaped tract of land that encompasses all the Box-Ironbark forest and woodland remnants used as winter feeding habitat by endangered Swift Parrots in the Rushworth-Heathcote region of central Victoria, south-eastern...
- St Arnaud Box-Ironbark RegionSt Arnaud Box-Ironbark RegionThe St Arnaud Box-Ironbark Region is a 481 km2 fragmented and irregularly-shaped tract of land that encompasses all the Box-Ironbark forest and woodland remnants used as winter feeding habitat by Swift Parrots in the St Arnaud-Stawell region of central Victoria, south-eastern...
- Warby-Chiltern Box-Ironbark RegionWarby-Chiltern Box-Ironbark RegionThe Warby-Chiltern Box-Ironbark Region comprises a cluster of separate blocks of remnant Box-Ironbark forest habitat, with a collective area of 253 km2, in north eastern Victoria, south-eastern Australia.-Description:...
Further reading
- Tzaros, Chris. (2005). Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne. ISBN 9780643069671