Monitoring for the effects of climate change on the flora values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

Abstract

Climate change is predicted to have significant impacts on Australia's biodiversity including the flora values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA). The current nature and direction of climate change impacts on biodiversity are uncertain. It is therefore prudent to establish a flora monitoring framework that captures a range of aspects of the vegetation values within the TWWHA. Monitoring will assist researchers and land managers in identifying values at high risk from climate change and allow for mitigating measures to be implemented. We outline criteria for a monitoring framework and recommend 14 sites be adopted as key flora monitoring locations within western and southwestern Tasmania. The sites that have been chosen - many of which have been the focus of previous research - provide a broad coverage of TWWHA environments allowing the opportunity for existing data to be used as a baseline to measure change.