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Learn More about the Gondwana Rainforests

About

The Gondwana rainforests have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, they are called the Gondwana Rainforests as they are believed to have been formed around the time of the separation of the Gondwana continent. These rainforests have been world heritage listed since 1986 with the area extended in 1994. The rainforests have an extremely high conservation value with over 200 rare or threatened animal species, such the world heritage listing. Rainforest once covered most of the ancient southern super-continent Gondwana and remains the most ancient type of vegetation in Australia. Few places on earth contain so many plants and animals that are almost identical to their ancient ancestors. There is a concentration of primitive plant families, that are directly linked to flowering plants existing over 100 million years ago, as well as some of the oldest elements of the world's ferns and conifers. As well as this these rainforests are a great tourist attraction with many of them being on prime tourist lists.

Location

The current listing includes approximately 50 separate reserves (rainforests) clustered around the NSW and QLD border and located between Newcastle and Brisbane covering a huge area of 366,500 hectares. This area has been extended in 1994 from an original 310,800 hectares then Queensland sites were added bringing us to our present total.

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(This is an overall idea of where the rainforests are located)

Current Issues

Up to 2 million tourists visit the area each year. Simple activities like bushwalking can lead to vegetation damage and soil erosion at campsites and along tracks, especially in steep or wet areas. Tourists are give information on how to enjoy the area in an environmentally responsible way and tour guides are encouraged to take training and follow a strict code of conduct. Another big threat is climate change as the rainforest relies heavily on the current outside climate to keep plants and animals in good health. Methods are being looked into to help to improv the resilience of the rainforests.

Ecosystem FlowChart

Excuse the mess, but inside of the flowchart their is a showcase of how the ecosystem works. Starting with one of the larger predators, The Bilby we then progressively get smaller and smaller from lizard, to worm and then to leaf litter. The tree and soils are the last parts as the leaf litter comes from trees and trees get nutrients from soil. Throghout the whole chart we have the presence of sun and water which are needed to sustain all parts of the flowchart, through providing much needed nutrients to the soil or plants or providing animals with an essential water source.