Photo: Phil Hurle, Australian National Botanical Gardens, preparing plant specimens gathered at Skullbone Plains Now that the fieldwork is now over, the team of 20 scientists are back in their labs identifying the specimens. This can often take many months, if not years to complete. Each specimen will be painstakingly described and documented before being entered into the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Tasmanian Herbarium, as well as other museums, universities and herbaria around Australia. They will be carefully preserved and made available for research. Phil Hurle, nursery manager at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, has a slightly different type of collection. He has collected live specimens from over 60 species of iconic Tasmanian plants found on Skullbone Plains. Carefully packed, the plants have made it back to the Botanic Gardens in Canberra in good condition. The nursery team are busy preparing cuttings from each species and expect it will take from 12 to 18 months before the cuttings are ready to be planted out in the Tasmanian section of the Botanic Gardens. These plants are a beautiful addition to the Gardens and preserve living examples of many species. They are also a living scientific collection. Each individual plant is given a unique number and recorded in a database along with details of where and when it was collected. Every living plant is also complemented by a pressed and dried specimen in the herbarium. Bush Blitz is a multi-million dollar continental biodiversity discovery partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton and Earthwatch Australia that aims to document the plants and animals across Australia’s National Reserve System. Skullbone Plains is a recent addition to the National Reserve System that is managed for conservation by theTasmanian Land Conservancy.
The Bush Blitz to Skullbone Plains in Tasmania’s central highlands was a huge success — with between 520 to 550 species of plants and animals collected during the week.
Bush Blitz
Bush Blitz* is Australia's largest nature discovery project
and it is happening right now at Skullbone Plains!
Photo credit: Matthew Newton
The TLC is very pleased that the Bush Blitz* project has selected Skullbone Plains to conduct its 13th national species survey at our very special permanent reserve. This is the second time the Bush Blitz team have surveyed in Tasmania and the team of about 20 Bush Blitz scientists will conduct the most comprehensive biodiversity survey yet of this spectacular 1,650 hectare property in Tasmania's central highlands which has been recently added to Australia's National Reserve System.
The Bush Blitz team is spending five days from 26 February to 2 March surveying the property in search of new species, and to document the plants and animals that live there. It’s all part of a multimillion dollar continental scale biodiversity discovery program between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton and Earthwatch Australia.
Bush Blitz manager Jo Harding said the team — from museums, herbariums, universities and botanical gardens throughout Australia — was very excited to be surveying such an outstanding example of Tasmania's highland ecosystems. “It's an incredibly beautiful place for us to be working in, with such an amazing diversity of habitats including woodlands, grasslands and ancient peat bogs providing homes for a wealth of plants and animals,” Ms Harding said.
“This is our second Bush Blitz to Tasmania and we’re confident that we’ll be adding to the 600 or so new or undescribed native species that Bush Blitz has collected from all over Australia since the program began. During our previous trip scientists were blown away to discover a species of racing stripe spider — famous for eating cane toads — that was previously only found in arid country in central and western Australia.” Dr Catherine Byrne, senior zoology curator and moth expert from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, who is taking part in her fifth Bush Blitz, said the information gathered would be critical for Tasmania in assessing the impacts of climate change.
“Alpine areas such as Skullbone Plains are the most vulnerable to climate change so it’s important to find out what’s there now because this information will help us quantify changes down the track,” Dr Byrne said. “At least half of the world’s moths and spiders haven’t been described by science, so we’re confident we’ll also find new species.”
TLC CEO Jane Hutchinson said Skullbone Plains’ remarkable natural condition was a key factor in the decision to purchase the property for conservation. “This exquisite property shares a 16 kilometre boundary with the Tasmanian Wilderness Heritage Area and retains most of its original vegetation in excellent condition,” Ms Hutchinson said.
“The diversity of plant and animal life of Skullbone is yet to be fully explored, but we do know the property is home to a range of threatened native species including the iconic Tasmanian devil, the spotted-tail quoll and the nationally endangered fish, Clarence galaxias. “Finding out what plants and animals live on Skullbone Plains is essential to ensure our ongoing management is appropriate for this world class reserve.”
*Bush Blitz is a three-year multimillion dollar partnership to document the plants and animals in hundreds of properties across Australia's National Reserve System. Bush Blitz is expected to uncover hundreds of new species and provide the baseline scientific data that will help us to protect our biodiversity for generations to come.