Quadrats Online

EVC 803 Plains Woodland
Source: Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI)

EVC 803 Plains Woodland image

This EVC consists of grassy or sedgy woodland to 15 m tall. Large inter-tussock spaces may support a range of annual herbs, some with underground storage organs, which are adapted to low summer rainfall. Recruitment is continuous. The cover of organic litter within this EVC is ~10%.

Interesting Fact

This EVC occupies low relief terrain in areas receiving less than 600 mm annual rainfall. Soils are fertile, sometimes seasonally waterlogged, mostly silty, loamy or clay topsoils, with heavy subsoils, derived largely from former Quaternary swamp deposits.

Latitude
-37.2000
Longitude
143.5
White areas are Bare Soil

Life form percentages

View the virtual quadrat above, using the magnifying glass symbol to see more detail.

Estimate the percentage cover of each life form in the virtual quadrat, using the key and grid tool to assist. (Hint - Most of the life form percentages are multiples of 5%).

Enter the percentage cover of each life form as a whole number, e.g. 5 for 5%, in the table below.

Please note that for some quadrats the total percentage cover will be more than 100% when various life forms overlap one another.

For some quadrats the percentage of bare soil within the quadrat is noted.

When you have completed this task for all life forms, click the ‘Submit your answers’ button.

You may change your estimates and resubmit if you would like to try to improve your estimation skills.

NOTE

If an estimate is correct, the life form details will change to green.

If an estimate is almost correct (within 2%), the field will change to orange.

If an estimate is not within 2% of the correct value the field will change to red.

Life form Key % cover
Bryophytes/Lichens (BL)
quadrat info trigger
X

A broad group of small, non-vascular terrestrial plants including bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) and lichens. These expand in height and width after rain, as they absorb moisture. They then dry out until rain falls again. Distinguished from soil crusts by the presence of a vertical structure.

Example

BRYOPHYTES.LICHENS_GARYCLARK

 Bryophytes/Lichens - key image Guesstimate
Ground Fern (GF)
quadrat info trigger
X

A fern-like non-flowering plant, typically with several to many fronds growing from a common base, usually growing less than 1 m. The fronds are deeply divided into leaflets or segments.

Examples

Common Maidenhair - Adiantum aethiopicum

Necklace fern - Asplenium flabellifolium

Rock fern - Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia

Austral Bracken - Pteridium esculentum

 Guesstimate
Immature Canopy Tree (IT)
quadrat info trigger
X

Woody plants (consisting of tree canopy species) greater than 5 m in height but less than 80% of the mature canopy height.

Examples

Grey Box - Eucalyptus microcarpa

Manna Gum - Eucalyptus viminalis

Yellow Gum - Eucalyptus leucoxylon

Yellow Box - Eucalyptus melliodora

 Immature Canopy Tree - key image Guesstimate
Large Herb (LH)
quadrat info trigger
X

More or less erect, non-woody plants with non-grassy leaves, greater than 50 cm tall

Examples

Spear Thistle - Cirsium vulgare

Variable Willow-herb - Epilobium billardierianum

 Large Herb - key image Guesstimate
Large Non-Tufted Graminoid (LNG)
quadrat info trigger
X

A robust grass or sedge, with leaves arranged along single, erect flower stalks, which grow from rhizomes or stolons (creeping above or below ground stems), more than 1 m tall.

Example

Common Reed - Phragmites australis

 Large Non-Tufted Graminoid - key image Guesstimate
Large Tufted Graminoid (LTG)
quadrat info trigger
X

A robust grass, sedge, rush or similar, usually with more than one flower stalk. Usually have large numbers of leaves growing from a common, often broad base or clump, more than 1 m tall.

Examples

Kneed Spear-grass - Austrostipa bigeniculata

Supple Spear-grass - Austrostipa mollis

Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus

Toowoomba Canary-grass - Phalaris aquatica

Tall Sedge - Carex appressa

 Large Tufted Graminoid - key image Guesstimate
Medium Herb (MH) Medium Herb - key image Guesstimate
Medium Shrub (MS) Medium Shrub - key image Guesstimate
Medium to Small Tufted Graminoid (MTG)
quadrat info trigger
X

A grass, sedge, rush or similar, usually with more than one flower stalk. Usually have large numbers of leaves growing from a common base or clump, between 10 cm and 1 m tall.

Examples

Short-crest Spear-grass - Austrostipa curticoma

Large Quaking-grass - Briza maxima

Lesser Quaking-grass - Briza minor

Squirrel-tail Fescue - Vulpia bromoides

Kangaroo Grass - Themeda triandra

 Medium to Small Tufted Graminoid - key image Guesstimate
Medium to Tiny Non-tufted Graminoid (MNG)
quadrat info trigger
X

A grass, sedge, rush or similar with leaves arranged along single, erect flower stalks, which grow from rhizomes or stolons (creeping above or below ground stems). Grows less than 1 m tall. Includes plants with a few grass-like leaves arising from a common base (e.g. some lilies and orchids).

Examples

Weeping Grass - Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides

Capitate Rush - Juncus capitatus

Rough Dog’s-tail - Cynosurus echinatus

Common Onion Orchid - Microtis unifolia

Yellow Rush Lily - Tricoryne elatior

 Medium to Tiny Non-tufted Graminoid - key image Guesstimate
Prostrate Shrub (PS)
quadrat info trigger
X

Woody plants with stems and branches that often trail along the ground and do not exceed 20 cm in height.

Examples

Cranberry Heath - Astroloma humifusum

Creeping Bossiaea - Bossiaea prostrata

Berry Saltbush - Atriplex semibaccata

Trailing Hop-bush - Dodonaea procumbens

 Prostrate Shrub - key image Guesstimate
Scrambler or Climber (SC)
quadrat info trigger
X

Woody or non-woody plants that rely upon other plants (dead or alive) or other structures (rocks or logs) for support, by leaning on or climbing up them. They can form dense colonies.

Examples

Pink Bindweed - Convolvulus angustissimus

Running Postman - Kennedia prostrata

Twining Fringe Lily - Thysanotus patersonii

Variable Glycine - Glycine tabacina

Small-leaved Clematis - Clematis microphylla

 Scrambler or Climber - key image Guesstimate
Small or Prostrate Herb (SH)
quadrat info trigger
X

More or less erect, non-woody plants with non-grassy leaves, less than 5 cm in height. Many are ephemerals (i.e. germinate, reproduce and die within a few weeks). This group includes prostrate and carpet-forming herbs.

Examples

Smooth Solenogyne - Solenogyne dominii

Pussy Tails - Ptilotus spathulatus 

Kidney-weed - Dichondra repens

Stinking Pennywort - Hydrocotyle laxiflora

Grassland Wood-sorrel - Oxalis perennans

 Small or Prostrate Herb - key image Guesstimate
Small Shrub (SS) Small Shrub - key image Guesstimate
Soil Crust (S/C)
quadrat info trigger
X

A thin hard ‘crust-like’ layer formed on the soil surface by a combination of algae, crustose cryptogamic life forms (including crust forming lichens and mosses) and soil particles. Often there is no vertical structure.

Example

SOILCRUST_GARYCLARK

 Soil Crust -key image Guesstimate
Tiny Tufted Graminoid (TTG)
quadrat info trigger
X

A grass, sedge, rush or similar, usually with more than one flower stalk. Usually a number of leaves growing from a common base or clump, less than 10 cm in height.

Examples

Short Wallaby-grass - Rytidosperma carphoides 

Tiny Flat-sedge - Isolepis levynsiana

Short-stem Sedge - Carex breviculmis

 Tiny Tufted Graminoid - key image Guesstimate
Understorey Tree or Large Shrub (T)
quadrat info trigger
X

Woody plants greater than 5 m in height, with single stems. They never form part of the tree canopy.

Examples

Drooping Sheoak - Allocasuarina verticillata

Blackwood - Acacia melanoxylon

Black Wattle - Acacia mearnsii

Lightwood - Acacia implexa

 Understorey Tree or Large Shrub - key image Guesstimate
Bryophytes/Lichens (BL)
10.00
Immature Canopy Tree (IT)
5.00
Large Herb (LH)
1.00
Large Non-Tufted Graminoid (LNG)
1.00
Large Tufted Graminoid (LTG)
1.00
Medium Herb (MH)
20.00
Medium Shrub (MS)
5.00
Medium to Small Tufted Graminoid (MTG)
45.00
Medium to Tiny Non-tufted Graminoid (MNG)
5.00
Prostrate Shrub (PS)
1.00
Small or Prostrate Herb (SH)
10.00
Small Shrub (SS)
5.00
Soil Crust (S/C)
10.00