The most useful comprehensive regional overview for communicating with the community, business and enthusiasts. At this time limited to the Townsville 1:250,000 map sheet.

lowland/lower slopes wetter vine forest; +/- Black Bean
lowland (warm) complex notophyll vine forest and notophyll vine forest +/- Black Bean

Poplar Gum woodland on plains and slopes
E. platyphylla, C.clarkesoniana woodland (+/- open) usually with narrow leaved Ironbark and C. dallachyana

Ironbark only woodland
narrow leaved Ironbark open woodland usually with C. dallachyana

Eucalypt coastal ranges open forest
Corymbia intermedia, E. tereticornis, Syncarpia glomulifera open forest on coastal ranges

She-oak/Turpentine uplands open forest
Allocasuarina torulosa Corymbia intermedia, Syncarpia glomulifera open forest in uplands and highlands +/- sparse understorey

tall highland Eucalypt open forest
tall to very tall open-forest on permanently damp highlands and uplands +/- E. grandis +/- Syncarpia glomulifera +/- Eucalyptus resinifera +/- well developed understorey with sclerophyllous and/or rainforest species

riverine woodland on inland plains
Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. coolabah, E. tereticornis, Melaleuca western plains riparian

Box (E. persistens) woodland
Eucalyptus persistens woodland (+/- open, usually dominates alone) on inland plains and foothills

Red Bloodwood woodland
Corymbia erythrophloia Ironbark woodland (+/- open) usually with narrow leaved Ironbark and C. dallachyana on inland plains and foothills

Reid River Box inland plains woodland
E. brownii plains woodland (+/- open)

Queensland Yellowjacket woodlands
Eucalyptus similis, C. brachycarpa, C. setosa, C. leichardtii woodlands to open-woodlands on sand sheets

Miscellaneous Eucalypts
Miscellaneous, E. setosa vlu and E cambageana vlu

Gidgee/Blackwood woodland
Acacia cambagei/A. georginae/A. argyrodendron dominated woodland and closed woodland

Lancewood/Bendee woodland
Acacia spp. on residuals. Species include A. stowardii, A. shirleyi, A. microsperma, A. catenulata, Acacia rhodoxylon woodland and closed

 grassland and very open woodland
Tussock and closed-tussock grasslands (various species) +/- very open woodland

Melaleuca low woodland
Low woodlands and low open-woodlands of Melaleuca spp. predominantly on depositional plains in the tropical north +/- open

coastal seasonally inundated lowland Melaleuca open woodland
Seasonally inundated open-forests and woodlands of lowland coastal areas. Dominated by Melaleuca spp.

Sand blows, rock pavements, sand islands
coastal sand blows, rock pavements, sand islands

coastal dune dry woodlands (+/- grassy)
Dry woodlands, primarily on coastal sandplains and dunes, especially C. tessellaris, Melaleuca dealbata +/- grassy

not sure
not sure, Casuarina leuhmanii and separately Acacia burdekinensis

• These brief Broad Ecosystems are highly useful entities.
• In raw form other veg types/ RE’s are far too confusing for this purpose. See regional ecosystem (RE's) map sheet example and our organisation has done that little bit extra to publish (here) the only complete index for the Queensland Herbarium Regional Ecosystem maps that cover 1:250,000 Townsville. Within Townsville City Council 70 veg types are described and the Queensland Herbarium describe 230 and 89 regional ecosystems on that map sheet.
• The basis for all Townsville "ecosystems" from now on will unavoidably be the Queensland Herbarium’s "regional ecosystems"
• The Queensland Herbarium have so far been only too pleased to assist with this extension of their work, printing these maps probably requires only a trivial effort by them, and the regional ecosystem basis for this and adjacent maps will continue to be modified and updated as knowledge advances.
• This is one important way to bridge the gap between technologists and the huge majority of users, a major priority in all government related strategies.

• The 2000 species alternative approach used by plant enthusiasts is way too confusing.
• Like many plant taxa, ecosystems are somewhat arbitrarily defined taxa. However they are defined differently for different purposes. A standard set like this is most important.
• The Townsville City Council’s mapped ecosystems are too confusing for this purpose:

1. About 70 different ecosystems cover their estate divided into three sections. Each section has it’s own overlapping but different purpose, written by different people, with different definitions and names.
2. A general overview of the whole "Greater Townsville Region wild assets is required with consistent simple but recognisable ecosystems both inside and outside the Council’s Boundaries.

• The Queensland Herbarium have mapped 230 RE’s for the 1:250,000 Townsville sheet. These are combined into 89 RE’s for the act’s regulations.

• Educate by planting examples of these magnificent ecosystems side by side in public areas and schools.
• Educate with Plant CD ecosystem overviews for the community, enthusiasts, wild asset managers and eco-tourism.
• Of course species and their interactions will remain important.
• Especially educate about the interesting species examples of the various ecosystems.
• Especially provide education about the plant species that define many broad ecosystems.
• Regionally rare or threatened ecosystems are easier to visualise and appreciate than are species.
• Townsville’s Broad Ecosystems are now defined and maps can quickly become available.
• The more experienced enthusiasts can easily identify these vegetation types.

• The meeting of three Bioregions here is integral to any description of our wild assets within a statewide context. They clearly reflect our regions high bio-diversity gradients.
• But from a regional perspective the Bioregion boundaries are in fact highly diffuse and intergrade.
• These "Broad Ecosystems" fulfill a regionally very important gap in the bioregion/regional ecosystem model that very appropriately straddles the bioregion and province boundaries without any distinction.
• It is useful for this purpose to retain the set of 8 broadest vegetation groups for all of Queensland.
• But the most important level regionally, comprising the 28 broad ecosystems, are derived from: the Herbarium’s broad vegetation sub-group level: Maintenance of this level is not a primary objective of the Herbarium and modification was required.

1. 18 state system groups have been more or less adopted though the names and descriptions are more general public and locally orientated.
2. 6 other state system groups are regionally insignificant.

The 12 "Eucalypt dominated" groups proposed include 10 new groups and appear especially relevant. For various reasons they do not include 10 state system groups.