Mandora Marsh, also known as Mandora Salt Marsh, is a complex and diverse

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 ...

system in

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 ...

close to

Eighty Mile Beach Eighty Mile Beach, also spelled Eighty-mile Beach or 80-mile Beach, lies along the north-west coast of Western Australia about half-way between the towns of Broome, Western Australia, Broome and Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland. I ...

, and included in the Eighty Mile Beach Ramsar Site. It lies at the western edge of the

Great Sandy Desert The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,IBRA Version 6.1
data

bioregion and within the

Mandora Station Mandora Station is a cattle station on the Western Australia coast south of Broome, located in the Shire of Broome. In earlier years it has also been a sheep station. It maintains a weather station and is noted for the Mandora Marsh wetlan ...

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

. The marsh is part of the 3337 km² Mandora Marsh and

Anna Plains Anna Plains Station is a cattle station in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia. Location The station is situated on the Western Australian coast south of Broome, Western Australia, Broome. It lies in the ...

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 ...

, identified as such 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 ...

because of its importance for supporting large numbers of

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s and

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 ...

Description

Mandora Marsh has formed over thousands of years on what used to be the lower reaches and

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

of an ancient river. The main features are two large lakes which are flooded after heavy

cyclonic In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

rainfall. The westernmost Lake Walyarta is a claypan that extends eastwards about 30 km from the inland side of the Great Northern Highway. Although its width may reach 5 km, the depth of water never exceeds 2 m. The eastern lake is separated from Walyarta by a

calcrete Caliche () is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions, ...

ridge. It is a broad and braided drainage line containing islands of vegetation that floods extensively but soon dries out to a series of isolated

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

and claypans. Connecting the lakes is Salt Creek, a mangrove-lined watercourse about 5 km long and 20 m wide. It holds permanent water and appears to be fed by a series of soaks.Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands: Eighty-mile Beach. Black winged Stilt I MG 9747

Despite its alternative name, as well as its saline wetlands Mandora Marsh includes a number of permanent or almost permanent

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s supplied by springs along the southern side of the two main lakes. The springs are usually formed of a central, raised mound, 2–3 m high, of saturated

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

, supporting a mixture of ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Sesbania ''Sesbania'' is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, and the only genus found in tribe Sesbanieae. Riverhemp is a common name for plants in this genus. Notable species include the rattlebox ('' Sesbania punicea''), spiny sesb ...

'' trees, with mangroves appearing at the saline and brackish springs. The springs vary in size from 0.1 to several hectares; each spring's mound is generally surrounded by a moat, varying from a maximum depth of 50 cm to isolated shallow pools or just wet soil. Many springs also support small stands of

cumbungi ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

with the understories of some dominated by the

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

'' Achrostichum speciosum''. Thickets of saltwater paperbark are found where flood waters remain longest; stock watering bores have been established in these thickets and the watering troughs are used by

s throughout the year. The most spectacular of the springs is Mandora Soak, a raised peat

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

estimated to be 7000 years old.

Flora and fauna

Some 269 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

s, from 55

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

, have been collected from Mandora Salt Marsh. This includes 37 species from the

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

, or true grass family, and nine introduced weeds. The most inland occurrence of mangroves in Australia is an isolated stand of grey mangroves in the eastern lake of the marsh, 60 km inland from Eighty-mile Beach.Graham (2001), p.326. A new species of bush tomato, '' Solanum oligandrum'', known only from the Mandora Marsh area, was first described in 2001. A total of 55 species of

s have been seen at the marsh, of which at least 13 species have been recorded breeding there. Particularly common ones include black-winged stilt,

whiskered tern The whiskered tern (''Chlidonias hybrida'') is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''khelidonios'', "swallow-like", from ''khelidon'', "swallow". The specific ''hybridus'' is Latin for ''hybrid''; Peter Simon Palla ...

grey teal The grey teal (''Anas gracilis'') is a dabbling duck found in open wetlands in Australia and New Zealand. Description It can be identified due to the presence of a crimson coloured iris in its eyes.Winter, M. (2018). Grey Teal. Wilderness Mag ...

white-necked heron The white-necked heron or Pacific heron (''Ardea pacifica'') is a species of heron that is found on most of the Australian continent wherever freshwater habitats exist. It is also found in parts of Indonesia, New Guinea and New Zealand, but is ...

, and

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

. Australian pelicans and

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

s breed there in large numbers when floods make conditions suitable. The

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

bilby, which is specially protected by the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, has been recorded in sandy sites within the marsh. Altogether, 22 species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

, 49

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s and six

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s have been recorded there, while a new goby species has been discovered in Salt Creek.

Traditional ownership

The Mandora Marsh is of high cultural significance to the

Nyangumarta people The Nyangumarta people, also written Njaŋumada, Njangamada, Njanjamarta and other variations, are a nation of Aboriginal Australians from the northwestern coast of Western Australia. According to Norman Tindale, they are divided into two distinc ...

, who hold native title over the area.

Conservation

Cattle

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

has caused substantial deterioration in the vegetation and physical environment of the springs and Salt Creek; Saunders Spring in 1997, and Grants Spring in 2001, were fenced to limit further damage. High numbers of feral camels and

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

are present in the marsh.

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{cite web, url=http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/national_parks/wetlands/fact_sheets/eighty_mile_beach1.doc , title=Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands: Eighty-mile Beach , access-date=14 April 2010 , publisher=Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia , date=November 2003 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313021533/http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/national_parks/wetlands/fact_sheets/eighty_mile_beach1.doc , archive-date=13 March 2011 Ramsar sites in Australia Protected areas of Western Australia Great Sandy Desert Wetlands of Western Australia Important Bird Areas of Western Australia