Wet Tropics of Queensland

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site is an area of approximately Template:Cvt of very wet forests on parts of the coast and adjacent ranges of tropical Queensland, Australia. The area meets all four of the natural heritage selection criteria for a World Heritage site.<ref name="uwhcwhl"/> World Heritage status was declared in 1988,<ref name="rtr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and on 21 May 2007 the Wet Tropics was added to the Australian National Heritage List.<ref name=ANHL>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The tropical forests have the highest concentration of primitive flowering plant families in the world.<ref name="dermwt">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Only Madagascar and New Caledonia, due to their historical isolation, have humid, tropical regions with a comparable level of endemism.<ref name="rtr" />

The Wet Tropics rainforests are a biodiversity hotspot and are recognised internationally for their ancient ancestry and many unique plants and animals. The area covers 0.1% of the Australian landmass but contains 50 per cent of all the nation's species.<ref name="atcf">Template:Cite news</ref> Many plant and animal species in the Wet Tropics are found nowhere else in the world. The Wet Tropics has the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests on earth.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Indigenous peoples

On 9 November 2012, the Australian Government also acknowledged the Indigenous heritage of the area as being nationally significant. The Aboriginal Rainforest People of the Wet Tropics of Queensland have lived continuously in the rainforest environment for at least 5000 years, and this is the only place in Australia where Aboriginal people have permanently inhabited a tropical rainforest environment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Geography

The Wet Tropics of Queensland stretches in part from Townsville to Cooktown, running in close parallel to the Great Barrier Reef (another World Heritage Site).<ref name="explore">Template:Cite book</ref>

The terrain is rugged. The Great Dividing Range and a number of small coastal ranges, highlands, tablelands, foothills and an escarpment dominate the landscape.

The heritage site contains the northern section of the Queensland tropical rain forests including the Daintree Rainforest. Sixteen different structural types of rainforest have been identified.<ref name="eofe">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="swt">Template:Cite book</ref>

The World Heritage area includes Australia's highest waterfall, Wallaman Falls. In total it spans 13 major river systems including the Annan, Bloomfield, Daintree, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell, Johnstone, Tully, Herbert, Burdekin, Mitchell, Normanby and Palmer River.<ref name="swt"/> Copperlode Falls Dam, Koombooloomba Dam and Paluma Dam are found within the World Heritage Area.<ref name="swt"/>

Protected areas

15% of the area is protected as national park.<ref name="eofe"/> Among the national parks included within the Wet Tropics are:

• Barron Gorge National Park
• Kalkajaka National Park
• Cedar Bay National Park
• Daintree National Park
• Girramay National Park
• Girringun National Park
• Kirrama National Park
• Kuranda National Park
• Macalister Range National Park<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Wooroonooran National Park

and over 700 protected areas including privately owned land.

The Wet Tropics Management Authority was established in 1983; it is responsible for managing the site according to Australia's obligations under the World Heritage Convention.<ref name="wtma">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The agency employed 20 staff in 2012 as a unit within the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. It is headed by a board of directors responsible to the Wet Tropics Ministerial Council which contains both Queensland and Federal Government representatives.<ref name="wtma"/>

Flora

The site contains many unique features such as over 390 rare plant species, which includes 74 species that are threatened.<ref name="explore"/> There are at least 85 species that are endemic to the area, 13 different types of rainforest and 29 species of mangrove, which is more than anywhere else in the country.<ref name="explore"/> Of the 19 families of primitive flowering plants worldwide, 12 are found in the Wet Tropics including two families found nowhere else.<ref name="whf">Template:Cite book</ref> This includes at least 50 individual species which are endemic to the area.<ref name="rtr"/>

90 species of orchids have been noted.<ref name="natstr">Template:Cite book</ref> The large rare trees Stockwellia or Vic Stockwell's Puzzle Stockwellia quadrifida (Myrtaceae) grow only in restricted areas of "well developed upland rain forest" in the Wet Tropics.<ref name="RFK8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They continue living today as descendants of, and very similar to, the ancient Gondwanan ancestors of the Eucalypts, which diversified into so many different species forms of all the Eucalypt plants today.<ref name=BreedenS>Template:Cite book</ref> 65% of Australia's fern species are protected here, including all seven of the ancient fern species.<ref name="eofe"/>

Fauna

Animal type	Species	Endemic species	Monotypic genera
Bird	370	11	0
Mammal	107	11	2
Reptile	113	24	3
Amphibian	51	22	0
Butterfly	225	6	0
Sources:<ref name="uwhcwhl"/><ref name="ears">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation				CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name = Braby2000>Template:Cite book</ref>

370 species of bird have been recorded in the area.<ref name="natstr"/> 11 species of those are found nowhere else.<ref name="uwhcwhl">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The southern cassowary and rare spotted-tailed quoll are some of the many threatened species, while the musky rat-kangaroo is one of 50 animal species that are unique to this area.<ref name="dermwt"/> The musky rat-kangaroo is significant because it represents an early stage in the evolution of kangaroos.<ref name="rtr"/> Other rare animals include the yellow-bellied gliders and brush-tailed bettong.<ref name="natstr"/> 107 mammal species have been identified.<ref name="uwhcwhl"/> Australia's rarest mammal{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}, the insectivorous Flores tube-nosed bat (Murina florium), is also found here.<ref name="natstr"/> One quarter of Australia's rodent species are found within the Wet Tropics.<ref name="eofe"/>

113 species of reptiles including 24 endemic species are found in the area and there are 51 amphibian species, of which 22 are endemic.<ref name="uwhcwhl"/> One reason for the very high level of endemism is that the geomorphology is diverse, resulting in habitat islands where distinct subspecies have evolved.<ref name="rtr"/> Some species are endemic to a specific mountain or groups of mountains.<ref name="trra"/>

Around 225 species of butterflies have been discovered in the area, with six endemic species and 14 endemic subspecies. It constitutes approximately 57% of the entire Australian butterfly fauna.<ref name =Braby2000/>

Climate

Rainfall in the area varies considerably, with elevation and orientation of the coastline being the major influences.<ref name="swt"/> Rainfall averages from 1,200 millimetres (mm) to over 8,000 mm annually.<ref name="eofe"/> The highest mountains along the escarpment between Cairns and Tully receive the highest rainfall, mainly owing to orographic factors. Mount Bellenden Ker is the wettest recording station in the area with other high peaks and eastern slopes favouring high rainfall.<ref name="eofe"/> Most of the rainfall occurs from November to April. Tropical cyclones may impact the area.

Environmental threats

The expansion of the sugarcane industry in lowland plains poses a significant threat to some endangered ecosystems. Some are fragmented and their natural vegetation is degraded.<ref name="eofe"/> Invasive pest species are another concern along with internal fragmentation by road and power lines.<ref name="eofe"/><ref name="trra"/> Insect and mite species are of particular concern because some of them are hard to detect.<ref name="trra">Template:Cite book</ref> Some areas are off-limits to the general public to prevent the introduction of Phytophthora.<ref name="trra"/> The southern cassowary is often killed by motor vehicles.<ref name="trra"/> Feral cats prey on native species. The cats compete with spotted-tailed quolls for food and habitat.<ref name="rta">Template:Cite news</ref>

Gallery

• Barron Gorge in Barron Gorge National Park
  Barron Gorge in Barron Gorge National Park
• Josephine Falls, 2008
  Josephine Falls, 2008
• Daintree Rainforest, 2011
  Daintree Rainforest, 2011
• The musky rat-kangaroo is a marsupial species only found in the Wet Tropics ecoregion.
  The musky rat-kangaroo is a marsupial species only found in the Wet Tropics ecoregion.
• Map of the region, 2012
  Map of the region, 2012

See also

• Environment of Australia
• Forests of Australia
• List of World Heritage Sites in Asia and Australasia

External links

• Wet Tropics Management Authority webpage
• World heritage listing for Wet Tropics of Queensland