Vegetation Resources

EVC Groups | Vegetation Mapping

The Biodiversity Interactive Map on the DSE website (external link) allows users to display a number of vegetation themes for any area of Victoria - including Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs), 1750 EVCs, broad EVC Groups and Bioregional Conservation Status of EVCs. Users can then print out the maps they have created.

Glenelg Hopkins Bioregions

The Glenelg-Hopkins region mainly lies within the Glenelg Plain, Dundas Tablelands, Greater Grampians and Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregions. Other bioregions that have smaller areas represented include Bridgewater, Wimmera, Warrnambool Plain, Goldfields and Central Victorian Uplands.

About half of the Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment Management Region is part of the Victorian Volcanic Plain, which was characterised by vast open areas of grasslands and small patches of open woodland, while shrublands, riparian vegetation and wetlands were also significant. The grassland communities were floristically rich, usually dominated by Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) with a wide variety of perennial herbs. Sub-dominant grasses include wallaby grasses (Danthonia spp.) and spear grasses (Stipa spp.). Today, however, only a handful of small conservation reserves preserve small remnants of native grassland. The invasion of introduced grasses and other herbs has significantly altered the community, replacing a suite of perennial species with a high proportion of annuals (Stuwe, 1986).The Glenelg Plain, in the region’s far west, is floristically diverse with coastal communities composed of various beach and dune vegetation and saltmarshes. Wet heathlands occur on very infertile soils that are frequently waterlogged.

Grass Trees in the State Park West of Casterton.

These heath communities, up to 2 m high, are interspersed with tree-heaths, having scattered low trees. Woodlands also occur through much of this area of the region, especially in the northwest. Heathy woodlands make up a significant portion of this while Brown Stringybark Forests are more common in the southwest (north of Portland). The Glenelg Plain supports four Broad Vegetation Types (BVTs), including Heathy Woodland, dominated by Brown Stringybark and Lowland Forest in the south. Several areas of Plains Grassy Woodland, once dominated by Red Gum, have since been cleared and converted to pasture. Finally, Coastal Grassy Woodland, which once occurred between Casterton and Coleraine, was quickly settled by Europeans and replaced with exotic pasture species. Source: the former NRE (1997)

The Greater Grampians bioregion in the region’s north is dominated by the striking parallel ranges and valleys which comprise the Grampians National Park, and retains substantial areas of native vegetation (the former NRE, 1997). The Grampians is home to more than 800 vascular plant species - almost 1/3rd of Victoria’s entire indigenous flora - of which, about 20 occur nowhere else. For example, the shrubby banksia species on several rocky peaks, previously considered to be Coast Banksia (Banksia integrifolia), was described in 1981 as a distinct species Rock Banksia (Banksia saxicola). Flame Grevilia (Grevilia dimorpha) is only known elsewhere from Mt Cole, while the distinctive Shiny Tea-tree (Leptospermum nitidum) is common in the area but otherwise occurs only in Tasmania. Other endemic species include Grampians Gum (Eucalyptus alpina), Grampians Bauera (Bauera sessiliflora), Grampians Thryptomene (Thryptomene calycina), Grampians Bossiaea (Bossiaea rosmarinifolia), Grampians Parrot-pea (Dillwynia oreodoxa), Trymalium spp. and Mount Byron Bush-pea (Pultenaea patellifolia).

Vegetation near Victoria Mill Picnic Area, Mt Cole National Park (Photo: Angela Murphy)

Of the tree species, stringybarks (chiefly Brown stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri) and Messmate (Eucalyptus obliqua) are most common on the hills, but open-forests vary from box types on the flats to taller forests (including gums) with dense understoreys in deeper sheltered gullies. Wattles occur in most places throughout the Grampians - some 28 species.

Source: Costermans (1996)

References:

Costermans, L. (1996). Native trees and shrubs of southeastern Australia. Lansdowne Publishing Pty Ltd, Sydney.

The former Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) (1997). Victoria’s Biodiversity: Directions in Management. NRE, East Melbourne.

Stuwe, J. (1986). An assessment of the conservation status of native grasslands on the Western Plains, Victoria, and sites of significance. Arthur Rylah Institute, Technical Report Series No. 48. DCFL, Victoria.

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