The Southern Tablelands Temperate Grassland, formally Natural Temperate Grassland of the Southern Tablelands, is a

temperate grassland Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The predominant vegetation in this biome consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from semi-arid to semi ...

community situated in the

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a Regions of New South Wales, geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by Plateau, high, flat country which has gene ...

and Monaro region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, extending into the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

and the Victorian border.Natural Temperate Grassland of the Southern Tablelands of NSW and the Australian Capital Territory.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

. Retrieved 7 September 2022.Natural Temperate Grassland of the South Eastern Highlands - profile

Office of Environment & Heritage The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), a former division of the Government of New South Wales between April 2011 and July 2019, was responsible for the care and protection of the environment and heritage, which includes ...

. Retrieved 7 September 2022. Listed as Endangered under the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

1999, the grassland is dominated by reasonably tall, dense to open tussock grasses.National Recovery Plan for Natural Temperate Grassland of the Southern Tablelands (NSW and ACT): An Endangered Ecological Community
Environment ACT 2005 National Recovery Plan for Natural Temperate Grassland of the Southern Tablelands (NSW and ACT): an endangered ecological community (Environment ACT, Canberra). Retrieved 7 September 2022. CC-BY icon

Text was copied from this source, which is available unde
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Temperate Grassland new listing, definition; critically endangered
Conservation Council.org.au. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

Geography

The community is commonly present in the Southern Tablelands of NSW and ACT, where it covers areas such as,

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

, Braidwood, Yass,

Abercrombie River Abercrombie River, a perennial river that is part of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west of New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales ...

Boorowa Boorowa () is a farming village in the Hilltops Region in the south west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in a valley southwest of Sydney around above sea-level. The town is in Hilltops Council local government area. H ...

Jindabyne Jindabyne () is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is a popular holiday destination year round, especially in winter. This is due to its p ...

Bombala Bombala is a town in the Monaro region of south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is approximately south of the state capital, Sydney, and south of the town of Cooma. The name derives from an Aborigina ...

, south to the Victorian border at

Delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (Unit ...

, on the eastern boundary of

Kosciuszko National Park The Kosciuszko National Park () is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wildern ...

. The area features relatively low rainfall between 560 and 1200 metres in altitude, with low nutrient, highly textured soils on the valleys and low slopes (which grade with grassy woodland), and on the wider plains. 20 000 ha of natural temperate grassland was present in the ACT prior to European settlement and in NSW around 450 000 ha of grassland occurred. In the ACT there are four reserved sites that comprise a total area of 206 ha of grassland and in NSW there are two proposed nature reserves totaling around 200 ha. The region lies on broad plains with poor drainage and features cold air

inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...

s that encourages frosts which suppresses tree growth. The scattered community is bounded by the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system ...

and

Brindabella Range The Brindabella Range, commonly called The Brindabellas or The Brindies, is a mountain range located in Australia, on a state and territory border of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The range rises to the west of C ...

in the southwest, with he northwestern boundary passing from

Burrinjuck Dam Burrinjuck Dam is a heritage-listed major gated concrete-walled gravity hydro-electric dam at Burrinjuck, Yass Valley Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It has three spillways across the Murrumbidgee River located in the South West Slopes regi ...

and to the

Lachlan River The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The Lachlan River ...

and north to

Wyangala Dam Wyangala Dam is a major gated rock fill with clay core embankment and gravity dam with eight radial gates and a concrete chute spillway across the Lachlan River, located in the south-western slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The ...

Ecology

The area predominantly features moderately tall (25-50 cm) to tall (50 cm-1 m), thick to open

tussock grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

es, such as Bothriochloa macra,

Themeda australis } ''Themeda triandra'' is a species of perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and re ...

Austrodanthonia ''Rytidosperma'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. Most of the species occur in Australasia, with a few in insular Southeast Asia, southern South America (Chile + Argentina), and certain islands of the Pacific (Hawaii + Easter Island).

spp.,

Austrostipa ''Austrostipa'' is a primarily Australian genus of plants in the grass family, commonly called speargrass. The genus includes species formerly included in the genus ''Stipa.'' All known species are native to Australia, most of them found nowher ...

and Poa spp with up to 70% of the species being forbs, which are namely daisies, lilies and native legumes. The grassland is generally treeless, though trees may be present in low densities (10%), either as sporadic individuals or in clusters, with the main tree species being

Eucalyptus melliodora ''Eucalyptus melliodora'', commonly known as yellow box, honey box or yellow ironbark, is a species of medium-sized to occasionally tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern, continental Australia. It has rough, flaky or fibrous bark on part o ...

. Herbs,

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...

s and forbs species include: * Diuris chryseopsis *

Dillwynia glaucula ''Dillwynia glaucula'', commonly known as Michelago parrot-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with lenticels on the stems, linear, grooved leaves and ...

* Diuris pedunculata *

Dodonaea procumbens ''Dodonaea procumbens'', commonly known as trailing hop bush or creeping hop-bush, is a species of shrub in the genus '' Dodonaea'' found in eastern Australia. It occurs in many places in Australia such as South Australia, New South Wales and Vi ...

* Leucochrysum albicans * Prasophyllum petilum * Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides * Carex inversa * Schoenus apogon *

Lomandra filiformis ''Lomandra filiformis'', commonly known as wattle mat-rush, is a tussock forming perennial herb that is native to Australia. It is sparsely tufted, with strap-like leaves and yellow flowers. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest and grassy wood ...

* Wurmbea dioica * Bulbine bulbosa * Diuris chryseopsis * Microtis unifolia *

Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia ''Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia'' is a species of Australian rock fern from the family Pteridaceae. Once a common understory plant along streams in moist areas of Southern Australia, ''Cheilianthes austrotenuifolia'' is still quite widespread in r ...

* Asperula conferta * Chrysocephalum apiculatum *

Convolvulus erubescens ''Convolvulus erubescens'', commonly known as blushing bindweed, or Australian bindweed, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family (biology), family ''Convolvulaceae'' that is endemism, endemic to Australia. Description ''Convolvulus erube ...

* Cymbonotus lawsonianus *

Desmodium varians ''Desmodium varians'' is a small climbing or prostrate herb in the family Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,Craspedia variabilis * Wahlenbergia communis * Ajuga australis * Eryngium ovinum * Geranium solanderi *

Dichondra repens ''Dichondra repens'' is a small, prostrate, herbaceous plant native to New Zealand and many parts of Australia. It is occasionally known as kidney weed in Australia and as Mercury Bay weed in New Zealand. Most commonly called dichondra in Austr ...

* Brachyloma daphnoides * Lissanthe strigosa * Melichrus urceolatus * Cryptandra amara * Daviesia genistifolia * Hymenanthera dentata *

Hibbertia obtusifolia ''Hibbertia obtusifolia'', commonly known as hoary guinea flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is usually an erect shrub with spreading branches, lance-shaped to egg-sh ...

* Hakea microcarpa

Animals

* Synemon plana * Aprasia parapulchella *

Delma impar The striped legless lizard (''Delma impar'') is a species of lizards in the Pygopodidae family endemic to Australia. As of 2015 it is threatened with extinction, with few habitats left. The lizard is up to 30 cm in length.Department of En ...

* Suta flagellum *

* Prasophyllum petilum * Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides *

Microseris lanceolata ''Microseris lanceolata'' is an Australian alpine herb with yellow flowers and one of three plants known as murnong or yam daisy along with ''Microseris scapigera'' and ''Microseris walteri.'' The plant is found in southern parts of Australia, ...

* Synemon plana * Tympanocryptis pinguicolla *

Lampropholis delicata ''Lampropholis delicata'', the delicate skink, dark-flecked garden sun skink, garden skink, delicate garden skink, rainbow skink or plague skink, or the metallic skink is native to Australia and invasive in New Zealand and Hawaii where it is com ...

* Neobatrachus sudelli * Coturnix ypsilophora *

Gallinago hardwickii Latham's snipe (''Gallinago hardwickii''), also known as the Japanese snipe, is a medium-sized, long-billed, migratory snipe of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Description The snipe is 29–33 cm long, with a wingspan of 50–54&nb ...

References

{{Australasia grasslands navbox Grasslands of Australia Remnant urban bushland Vegetation of Australia Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Environment of New South Wales Landforms of the Australian Capital Territory Ecoregions of New South Wales Endangered Ecological Community