Bead Weed Ert

Sarcocornia quinqueflora

Sarcocornia quinqueflora

2013

MATHEW, JESTIN

Ryan Catholic College

6/3/2013

2013

MATHEW, JESTIN

Ryan Catholic College

6/3/2013

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Discussion 9

Graphs 9

Conclusion 14

Part B 15

La Nina 15

Neutral Oscillating Index 16

Bibliography 18

Introduction

Town Common is a site which contains rare species of weeds and grasses. It is located 6km north of the Townsville city centre, Queensland, Australia and covers an area of 3,425 hectares (James Cook University, 2013). The park has an annual mean temperature range between 20°C to 29°C and receives an annual rainfall of 1150mm (James Cook University, 2013). The two major habitat types are wetlands (salt marshes) and eucalypt woodland (James Cook University, 2013). These habitats contain a numerous wildlife and vegetation based on the habitat. The three seasons evident are pre-wet, wet and post wet seasons. The three abiotic factors that were investigated were salinity, soil moisture content and pH. During the pre-wet (dry season) there is less rains and therefore, the plants living in the region needs to be water efficient. This means that the soil moisture content will be low and depending upon the king/spring tide the salinity will be high as there is no rain water to leech the salts. The pH of the soil does not vary much with the different seasons experienced. In the wet season, the soil moisture is high due to frequent rains; the salinity is low as the rainwater leaches the salt in the soil. However, if a spring/king tide occurs then the salinity would be high. The different habitats consist of various ecosystems.

Figure 1: Figure showing location of saltmarsh (Australian Government, 2013)

Figure 1: Figure showing location of saltmarsh (Australian Government, 2013)

Some of the ecosystems found at Town Common include swamp, bog, lake, river, marsh (salt marsh) and estuarine ecosystems. Saltmarshes are important inter-tidal wetland...