Dry Foothill Forests
| The upper catchment region consists of Dry Foothill Forests on moderately fertile, skeletal soils of clay and sandy clays loams where rainfall is between 600 mm and 800 mm per annum. Typically, these forests are dominated by Red Stringybark Eucalyptus macrorhyncha, Red Box E. polyanthemos, and Long-leaf Box E. goniocalyx with a generally shrubby understorey of Wattles Acacia spp., Bitter-peas Daviesia spp. and Shrubby Composites Ozothamnus spp. and Cassinia spp. Occasionally, these areas may be grassy with Wallaby-grasses Austrodanthonia spp., Wheat-grasses Elymus spp., Bent-grasses Deyeuxia spp. and Weeping Grass Microlaena stipoides on slightly more fertile, damper sites. There is generally a significant shrub layer except on fertile sites and species diversity may decline on frequently burnt sites where grasses become more dominant. Herbs are uncommon and low in cover. Larger areas of this vegetation type still occur in the southern parts of the region from Avoca to Castlemaine, although historic mining activities and more recent timber harvesting have disturbed many of these areas. Weed invasions also pose a serious threat to biodiversity in many dry foothill forests of the region. |  Red Stringybark Eucalyptus macrorhyncha Photograph is the property of Viridans Biological Databases (external link) |
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© The State of Victoria, 1996 - 2012.
This document was last reviewed on 23/12/2008