Benger Swamp is a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

located on the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

, in south-west

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The wetland is situated west of Benger, east of the coastal town of Binningup, south-west of

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

, and south of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Some 89% of the swamp is

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

within the Benger Swamp Nature Reserve, while the remaining 11%, mainly in the northern part, is privately owned. It is a seasonally important site for

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s and is classified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, with special regard to the conservation of

freckled duck The freckled duck (''Stictonetta naevosa)'' is a waterfowl species endemic to Australia. The freckled duck has also been referred to as the monkey duck or oatmeal duck. These birds are usually present in mainland Australia, but disperse to coas ...

s and

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...

s. Water levels in the swamp are controlled artificially and are managed both for

conservation and for

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

Description

The swamp lies in a depression on the Pinjarra Plain, part of the Swan Coastal Plain. The soils are friable, dark grey

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

s overlying

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

s. To the west of the swamp are low ridges formed by

wind erosion Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials ...

of the swamp surface when dried out in summer. Salinity measurements indicate that the swamp is a lens of fresh water overlying a saline

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

Flora

Some 20% of the swamp is covered by ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

'' trees and scrub, mainly on the northern and eastern edges. Of the four species there, ''

Melaleuca rhaphiophylla ''Melaleuca rhaphiophylla'', commonly known as swamp paperbark is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It has narrow, needle-like leaves and profuse spikes of white or yellowish flowers at ...

'' (swamp paperbark) occurs as a dense low forest up to in height, while ''

Melaleuca viminea ''Melaleuca viminea'', commonly known as mohan is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is variable in size and form from a densely branched, small shrub to a small tree. It has become n ...

'', '' M. laterita'' and '' M. scabra'' are

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s. Half the swamp is covered by stands of the introduced bulrush '' Typha orientalis''. ''

Baumea articulata ''Baumea articulata'', commonly known as jointed rush, is a sedge in the sedge family, Cyperaceae, that is native to Western Australia. The grass-like plant is rhizomatous and perennial, it typically grows to a height of . It blooms between Septe ...

'' (jointed rush) sedgeland covers about 1% of the swamp area. Flooded areas are dominated by couch grass ('' Cynodon dactylon'') and water couch ('' Paspalum distichum'').

Fauna

As well as freckled ducks and Australasian bitterns, other wetland bird species for which the swamp is an important site include the Pacific and white-faced herons,

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and

straw-necked ibis The straw-necked ibis (''Threskiornis spinicollis'') is a bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. It can be found throughout Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia. Adults have distinctive straw-like feathers on their neck ...

, swamp harrier,

purple swamphen The purple swamphen has been split into the following species: * Western swamphen, ''Porphyrio porphyrio'', southwest Europe and northwest Africa * African swamphen, ''Porphyrio madagascariensis'', sub-Saharan continental Africa and Madagascar * Gr ...

hardhead The hardhead (''Aythya australis''), also known as the white-eyed duck, is the only true diving duck found in Australia. The common name "hardhead" has nothing to do with the density of the bird's skull, instead referring to the difficulty encou ...

spotless crake The spotless crake (''Zapornia tabuensis'') is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is widely distributed species occurring from the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia, across the southern Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands a ...

wood sandpiper The wood sandpiper (''Tringa glareola'') is a small wader. This Eurasian species is the smallest of the shanks, which are mid-sized long-legged waders of the family Scolopacidae. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green ...

Australian reed-warbler The Australian reed warbler (''Acrocephalus australis'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus'' and is the only ''Acrocephalus'' species native to Australia. It has also been observed in Papua New Guinea and nearby islands. The ...

, little grassbird and

blue-billed duck The blue-billed duck (''Oxyura australis'') is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm (16 in). The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding sea ...

. Native mammals include

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is ...

s and rakali. Tiger snakes are common, as are introduced animals such as foxes, cats and rodents.

Threats

The stands of ''Typha'' dry out during the hot-dry summers of the region, providing fuel for bushfires which destroy the ''Melaleucas'' that provide moulting and breeding habitat for freckled ducks.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , last1=Watkins , first1=D. , last2=P. , first2=Henderson , last3=J. , first3=Lane , last4=S. , first4=Moore , title=Benger Swamp Nature Reserve management plan 1987-1992 , url=http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/21768 , website=researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au , publisher=Dept. of Conservation and Land Management , accessdate=1 July 2018 , date=1987 Wetlands of Western Australia Nature reserves in Western Australia Birdwatching sites in Australia Swan Coastal Plain Important Bird Areas of Western Australia

Description

Flora

Fauna

Threats

See also

References