The Species Richness of Vascular Plants and Amphibia in Major Plant Communities in Temperate to Tropical Australia: Relationship with Annual Biomass Production

Table 1

Number of species of Amphibia in plant formations in south-eastern Australia, South Australia, south-western Australia, and Northern Territory. The Foliage Projective Covers of the combined overstorey and understorey strata in each plant community determine the Evaporative Coefficient (𝑘)—the ratio of actual to potential evapotranspiration per mm water available per month, a constant throughout the year, throughout the life cycle of the plant community, and between microhabitats in the same climatic area [5, 16, 26, 27, 40]. The annual shoot growth (dry weight per unit area of land) of each plant community has been estimated for each plant community [11], adjusted for soil nutrient status [16, 36].

Plant formation	Locality	Mean annual temperature (°C)	Annual precipitation (mm) (runoff^†%)	Evaporative coefficient (𝑘) ×10^−2 (per mm H2O)	Overstorey & understorey spp. per hectare	Annual shoot growth (t ha^−1)	Vegetation survey	Amphibia (no. of spp. per plant formation)	Amphibian survey
South-eastern Australia (medium-nutrient soils*—clayey podsols, etc.)
(Tall) Open-forest	Nowa Nowa S.F., Vic. (37° 41’S, 148° 06’E)	13.7	865 (9.5%)	0.75	6/46	5.5	Gullanet al. [41, 42]	17	Wombey in Catling [43]
Open-forest	Myall Lakes, N.S.W. (32° 26’S, 152° 24’E)	17.5	1310 (72%)	0.70	5/46	5.0	Osborn and Robertson [44]	16	Fox [45], Wombey in Catling [43]
Open-forest	Nadgee N.R., N.S.W. (37° 26’S, 149° 55’E)	15.0	920 (12%)	0.60	4/44	3.5	Adams and Craven [46], Austin and Sheaffe [47]	12	Newsome and Catling [48], Wombey in Catling [43]
Open-forest	The Grampians, Vic. (37° 08’S, 142° 26’E)	<15.0	914 (12%)	0.59	4/44	3.8	Audas [49], Frankenberg [50], Frood and Calder [51]	12	Tyler [52]
Open-scrub	Wyperfield N.P., Vic. (35° 35’S, 142° 00’E)	16.5	344 (0.9%)	0.46	3/42	2.6	Rowan and Downes [53]	8	Wombey in Catling [43]
Open-scrub	Brookfield C.P., S.A. (34° 21’S, 139° 30’E)	16.0	300 (0.7%)	0.41	3/42	2.3	Jessup [54]	7	Wombey in Catling [43]
South-eastern Australia (nutrient-rich soils*— black soil plains)
Woodland	Horsham-Nhill, Vic. (37° 00’S, 141° 55’E)	15.0	440 (1.3%)	0.45	4/44	3.1	Connor [55]	12	Tyler [52]
South-western Australia (nutrient-poor soils*— degraded lateritic podsols)
Tall open-forest	Karri forest, W.A. (34° 12’S, 115° 06’E)	15.4	1182 (40.5%)	0.65	3/42	3.0	Smith [56], Beard [57], Weston [58]	9	Christensen et al. [59], Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Open-forest	Perup River, W.A. (34° 20’S, 116° 27’E)	14.4	1055 (22.5%)	0.58	2/41	2.9	Williams [62], Smith [56], Beard [57]	8	Christensen et al. [59], Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Woodland	Dongolocking, W.A. (33° 04’S, 117° 14’E)	15.6	508 (1.8%)	0.55	2/41	2.4	Chapman et al. [63]	7	[60, 61]
Low woodland	Coastal limestone, W.A. (32-33°S, 115° 45’E)	17.5	800 (7.0%)	0.50	2/40	2.0	Beard [57]	6	Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Woodland to shrubland	Woodline Hills, W.A. (28-30°S, 121-122°E)	18.5	>300 (0.8%)	0.38	2/39	1.2	Beard and Webb [64], Dell et al. [65]	2	Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Shrubland	Durokoppin N.R., W.A. (31° 25’S, 117° 45’E)	17.5	339 (0.8%)	0.36	2/38	1.2	Muir et al. [66]	2	Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Shrubland	Yuna East N.R., W.A. (28° 25’S, 115° 12’E)	19.5	340 (0.8%)	0.35	2/38	1.0	Dell et al. [67]	1	Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Shrubland	McDermid Rock, W.A. (32° 01’S, 120° 44’E)	18.0	308 (0.7%)	0.34	1/38	1.0	Monk et al. [68]	1	Daze [60], Tyler et al. [61]
Heathland	Southern Cross, W.A. (31° 38’S, 119° 30’E)	18.5	320 (0.7%)	0.34	0/50	1.0	George et al. [69]	1	Tyler et al. [61]
South Australia (nutrient-poor soils*—degraded lateritic podsols)
Open-forest to woodland	Belair N.P., S. A. (35° 00’S, 138° 38’E)	15.3	751 (5.6%)	0.55	2/41	1.8	Specht and Perry [70], [71]	6	Tyler [52]
South Australia (extremely nutrient-poor soils*—sandy podsols)
Open-forest to open-scrub	Waterfall Gully in Cleland C.P., S.A. (35° 00’S, 138° 40’E)	12.9	970 (15%)	0.59	2/40	1.8	Specht and Perry [70], [71]	5	Tyler [52]
Open-forest to open-scrub	Flinders Chase N.P., Kangaroo Is, S.A. (35° 52’S, 136° 45’E)	14.5	635 (3.3%)	0.65	2/41	2.0	Wood [72], Baldwin and Crocker [73], Davies [74]	6	Tyler [52]
Open-scrub	Cox’s Scrub C.P., S.A. (35° 20’S, 138° 45’E)	15.2	678 (4.0%)	0.56	2/40	1.5	Davies [74]	3	Tyler [52]
Open-scrub	Innes N.P., S.A. (35° 15’S, 136° 55’E)	16.0	435 (1.3%)	0.50	2/39	1.3	Specht [27], Foale [75], Davies [74]	2	Wombey in Catling [43]
Heathland	Dark Island, S.A. (36° 02’S, 140° 29’E)	14.9	457 (1.3%)	0.42	0/45	1.0	Specht and Rayson [76]	1	Tyler [52]
Northern Australia (nutrient-rich soils*— black soil plains)
Wetlands to woodland	Magela Ck, Jabiru, N.T. (12° 52’S, 133° 08’E)	18.0	1480 (>60%)	0.50	23/35	7.2	Specht [77], Wilson et al. [78]	24	Tyler et al. [79]
Wetlands to woodland	Katherine Gorge, N.T. (14° 28’S, 132° 16’E)	26.9	959 (14.5%)	0.38	14/25	5.1	Christian and Stewart [80], Wilson et al. [78]	18	Tyler and Davies [81]
Tussock grassland	Barkly Tableland, N.T. (17-21°S, 135-138°E)	25.0	365 (0.9%)	0.30	10/20	3.8	Perry and Christian [82], Wilson et al. [78]	10	Tyler et al. [83]
Wetlands to woodland	Kununurra, W.A. (15° 39’S, 128° 42’E)	29.1	800 (7.0%)	0.45	19/30	6.3	Speck [84], Perry [85], Beard [86]	24	Tyler and Davies [81]
Northern Australia (medium-nutrient soils*—deep lateritic earths)
Open-forest	Groote Eylandt, N.T. (13° 49’S, 136° 38’E)	c. 26	1274 (almost nil)	0.40	12/22	4.2	Specht [77], Wilson et al. [78]	13	Tyler et al. [87]
Open-forest	Cobourg Peninsula, N.T. (11° 19’S, 132° 06’E)	c. 28	1331 (almost nil)	0.40	12/22	4.2	Specht [77], Wilson et al. [78]	13	Tyler et al. [87]
Open-forest	Melville Island, N.T. (11° 35’S, 131° 10’E)	c. 28	1466 (almost nil)	0.42	13/23	4.5	Wilson [88], Wilson et al. [78]	14	Tyler et al. [87]
Open-forest	Darwin, N.T. (12° 24’S, 130° 48’E)	28.0	1535 (almost nil)	0.45	14/25	4.9	Christian and Stewart [80], Wilson et al. [78]	17	Tyler and Davies [81]
Open-woodland	Tennant Creek, N.T. (19° 38’S, 134° 11’E)	25.2	362 (0.9%)	0.30	8/16	3.0	Perry and Christian [82], Wilson et al. [78]	7	Tyler and Davies [81]
Wetlands to woodland	Derby, W.A. (17° 18’S, 123° 38’E)	27.6	621 (3.1%)	0.39	11/21	4.1	Speck and Lazarides [89], Beard [86]	14	Tyler et al. [90]
Wetlands to woodland	Gibb River, W.A. (16° 26’S, 126° 26’E)	c. 28	764 (5.9%)	0.38	11/21	4.0	Speck and Lazarides [89], Beard [86]	13	Tyler et al. [90]
Northern Australia (nutrient-poor soils*—the “Red Centre”)
Wetlands to woodland	Broome, W. A. (17 57’S, 122 15’E)	26.5	575 (2.5%)	0.45	9/17	2.9	Speck and Lazarides [89], Beard [86]	7	Tyler et al. [61]
Tall shrubland	Alice Springs, N.T. (23° 49’S, 133° 53’E)	20.6	255 (0.6%)	0.33	5/12	2.1	Perry and Lazarides [91], Wilson et al. [78]	5	Tyler and Davies [81]

*Relative to plant formations on medium-nutrient soils (Figure 4), annual shoot growth (dry weight measured in t ha⁻¹) in major plant formations on nutrient-poor soils is about 60% less, 50% less on extremely nutrient-poor soils, and 130% more on nutrient-rich soils [16, 36].
^†Annual stream flows from the major drainage basins in Australia have been collated by the Australian Water Resources Council [92]. These estimates of runoff from the landscape show an exponential relationship to annual precipitation [16].
Runoff/Precipitation = 0.175∗10^{0.002Precipitation} (𝑛=11, 𝑟²=0.60).
Minimal runoff occurs from the deep lateritic earths of northern Australia (see the hydrological survey of the Weipa area in North Queensland, reported by Specht et al. in [93]).