Wet Tropics highlights biodiversity

The Wet Tropics Management Authority celebrated biodiversity month with a series of talks held at the Cairns Botanic Gardens Visitor Information Centre on Saturday 20 September.

Around 50 people attended the talks by some of the region's most regarded scientists and naturalists.

Wet Tropics executive director Andrew Maclean said it was important for the Authority to highlight the amazing biodiversity found in the Wet Tropics.

“Although the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area represents less than one tenth of one percent of the Australian continent, its biodiversity is staggering. The Area was ranked sixth among all global sites and second among World Heritage sites for its irreplaceable endemic species and threatened species. Many of our special Wet Tropics plants and animals are found nowhere else in the world,” Mr Maclean said.

Speakers on the day were:

• Alan Gillanders, Naturalist and tour guide on the Atherton Tablelands who runs Alan’s wildlife tours who spoke about Possum Biodiversity in the Wet Tropics
• Dr Brendan Ebner, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at TropWATER , who spoke about Treasures of our streams: Cling gobies and Freshwater morays
• Dr Sandra Abell, who is a lecturer in the College of Marine and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, spoke about the Biodiversity of fungi in the Wet Tropics region, and
• Stuart Worboys, course coordinator at the Australian Tropical Herbarium spoke about Ancient and Endemic Plants of the Wet Tropics.

Published: 06th Nov 2014