A transect study of the sand dune vegetation at Bakers Beach, Tasmania

Abstract

Vegetation zonation on coastal sand dunes at Bakers Beach consists of Spinifex hirsutus grassland, Helichrysum paralium-Acacia sophorae heath and a complex of Acacia sophorae heath with Lomandra longifolia herbland, the latter community being concentrated in the swales. Melaleuca ericifolia swamp forest occupies the drainage line to the rear of the sand dunes. Although the two seaward zones and the swamp forest may be in equilibrium with the environmental complex, the vegetation on the main body of the dunes has been degraded from its original state by clearing and stock grazing and shows evidence of shifting from its present condition towards communities dominated by Leucopogon parviflorus and Banksia marginata. Eucalyptus viminalis open-forest may have occupied much of this dune system in the past. Floristic variation along a transect through the dunes is closely related to edaphic and topographic conditions, supporting models of soil-vegetation relationships on sand dune systems that have been developed elsewhere in southeastern Australia