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Plant communities of the ironstone ranges of South Western Australia: hotspots for plant diversity and mineral deposits

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Abstract

Plant communities of ancient banded iron formation ranges of South Western Australia occur as islands in a matrix of the largest remaining area of Mediterranean woodlands and shrub lands on the planet. These xeric shrub lands are structurally and compositionally different from the surrounding matrix and exhibit high levels of endemism and species turnover that cannot be ascribed to geology or current climatic gradients. The pattern of the vegetation and flora on these ranges appears to be related to local topographical factors and the long period of time these landscapes have remained unglaciated and above sea level. Similar patterns have recently been described for iron outcrop communities in Brazil. In both regions these communities are being significantly impacted by mining. The high correlation between local endemism and restricted plant communities and high grade mineral deposits presents difficult challenges for achieving a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system in South Western Australia.

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Abbreviations

BIF:

Band iron formation

Nmds:

Nonmetric multidimensional scaling

PCNM:

Principal coordinates of neighbor matrices

Prda:

Partial redundancy analysis

R 2a :

Adjusted R 2

SWAFR:

South West Australian Floristic Region

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Vanessa Clarke for assistance in the field. This work was partially funded by Portman Iron Ore Ltd. We thank Piers Goodman (Portman Ltd) for supporting this research and James Hesford (Portman Ltd) for managing our visits to Windarling Ridge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Bentley Delivery Centre, Locked Bag 104, Bentley, WA, 6983, Australia

    Neil Gibson, Colin J. Yates & Rebecca Dillon

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  1. Neil Gibson
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  2. Colin J. Yates
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  3. Rebecca Dillon
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Correspondence to Neil Gibson.

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Gibson, N., Yates, C.J. & Dillon, R. Plant communities of the ironstone ranges of South Western Australia: hotspots for plant diversity and mineral deposits. Biodivers Conserv 19, 3951–3962 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9939-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9939-1

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