Eastern pygmyfly
(Nannophya dalei)The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (WHA) plays a central
role in the conservation of Tasmania’s unique fauna. At 1.58 million hectares of
largely pristine wilderness, the WHA provides a large and contiguous area for
natural processes to occur. The area supports a number of habitats which are
either unique in a world context or which reach their greatest development
within the WHA. These include vast undulating tracts of buttongrass moorlands,
the harsh and austere worlds of the alpine and subalpine zones, a truly
bewildering diversity of highland lakes and tarns, and labyrinthine caves. The
WHA also supports pockets of Tasmania’s ancient cool temperate rainforest, with
its age-old Gondwanan trees and ferns, mossy vaults and secret animal life
beneath the canopy.
Although the world
heritage fauna values of the WHA are well documented (WHA Nomination 1989), there has been no inventory of fauna species and how well these species are
protected. This information is valuable for assessing the conservation status of
species and the contribution the WHA makes towards fauna conservation in
Tasmania. This information is also useful for monitoring the effectiveness of
fauna management. For example, monitoring changes in the number of native and
exotic species in the WHA over time can give an indication of how the condition
of the WHA may be changing. These changes may be a result of the introduction or
eradication of exotic species, extinction of native species or changes in
knowledge of species distribution or taxonomy.
The accurate inventorying of species in a particular area is a key
first step in conserving both specified taxa, as well as in the long term
conservation of biodiversity. For the vertebrate fauna, the inventory is
reasonably reliable and complete. Inventories of invertebrates are necessarily
both incomplete and constantly changing, as new species are unearthed and old
systems of classification are revised and replaced. Nevertheless, compiling an
inventory of an invertebrate fauna has three powerful benefits:
(1) it summarises and centralises the current knowledge
base
(2) it provides a platform from which
to design and implement further survey and taxonomic work
(3) it highlights taxa, areas and habitats which are particularly
poorly known
See also other information on this site
describing
WHA vertebrates and
WHA invertebrates.
Anyone interested in adding new vertebrate records or updating the current lists, please contact: