The WISL includes mainly the more common fauna species. Most rare species and all vagrant fauna species have not been included. Species, other than those listed, may also be wetland indicator species for a certain locality given expert recommendation and reliable site specific data.

Most marine species are also not included in the WISL as the wetland definition excludes marine water more than 6m below low tide.

Knowledge of the species geographic distribution and behaviour will aid interpretation of some recorded observations. Expert advice may be required when WIS are recorded in an area without other identifiable wetland characteristics as the species may be:

• travelling between wetlands (e.g. crayfish, eels, crocodiles and birds)
• using adjacent non-wetland habitat for a period of their life cycle or lifestyle (e.g. Chelidae freshwater turtles laying eggs on dry ground)
• forced into less preferred non-wetland habitat due to overpopulation pressures (e.g. swamp rat).

The species groupings below are divided into subgroupings which contain species with similar habitat needs and behaviours. The WIS lists have been grouped in 7 tables and are all at a species level except for insects and spiders.

Groupings:

• Insect and spider
• Crustacean
• Fish
  • cartilaginous
  • lobe-finned
  • ray-finned
• Reptile
• Frog
  • entire aquatic life
  • partial aquatic life
  • early aquatic life
• Bird
• Mammal
  • freshwater
  • saltwater

Insect and spider

Crustacean

There is little knowledge about Queensland’s freshwater crustaceans. Expertise should be sought when using Class Crustacea as a wetland indicator species as some species are considered amphibious during their life cycle and may appear outside the wetland environment.

This section includes only the macro freshwater crustacean species within Class Crustacea, Order Decapoda and Family either Palaemondae (freshwater crabs) or Parastacidae (freshwater crayfish).

Fish

All wild fish—Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) and Osteichthyes (bony fish)—recognised as recorded within Queensland are considered to be WIS, depending on their typical habitat’s physical characteristics as compared to those described in the Queensland Wetland Program wetland definition.

The fish species in this list largely belong to the freshwater fish that are bed spawners (demersal) with the non-floating eggs sinking to the water column bed or adhering to submerged rocks or vegetation.

Other fish (diadromus) are dependent on estuarine and lower freshwater habitat early in their life cycles. The free floating young then move from the estuarine to the marine environment for their mature lives either breeding at sea or returning to estuarine or freshwater environments to breed.

Some species move downstream to breed in the brackish water or even seawater and then migrate upstream (catadromous). Examples of these are Australian perch and barramundi.

More extensive Queensland fish species lists are available from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries).
Queensland’s watercourses and estuaries are populated by freshwater and estuarine elasmobranchs (rays, bull sharks, sawfish). The taxonomy, distribution and status of these creatures are poorly known and because of this expert guidance is essential if considering these as wetland indicator species.

Recent information on these species is contained in Status of Freshwater and Estuarine Elasmobranchs in Northern Australia

Note that species that may spend a part of their life in a marine environment are outside the scope of this guideline.

Reptile

These creatures live most of their lives in aquatic ecosystems and are therefore considered wetland indicators.

Frog

Frogs are amphibians, usually going through 3 distinct life cycle stages from eggs to aquatic larvae (tadpole) and air breathing adults. Expert opinion should be sought as these animals may live at least one stage of their life cycle outside wetland habitats.
The frog species selected for these lists are the most hydrophilic frog species whose life cycle fits within the Queensland Wetlands Program wetland definition (animals that are adapted to and dependent on living in wet conditions for at least part of their life cycle).

Frogs living in permanent wetland conditions usually breed in the wetter summer months. Those in the arid inland areas with ephemeral wetlands are usually burrowing frogs that bury themselves in the moist underground, subdue body metabolism and enter a state of dormancy referred to as aestivation for months or years of drought. They can then activate themselves within 24 hours of a rain or flood event, rise to the surface and mate with the tadpole metamorphosing into a frog in about 14 to 20 days in most species. Breeding occurs as long as the wet event lasts. The moistest soil for burrowing and drought survival is beneath the wetlands. As such, the frog wetland indicator list is divided into 3 tables to differentiate between the frogs according to their relationship with wetlands.

Bird

The birds listed in the following tables are selected for their close relationship with wetlands. To assist with identification, the lists have been divided into categories of species that share similar behaviour and habitats.

The lists include indicator species that either:

• breed in wetlands
• feed almost entirely in wetlands
• live in wetlands or abutting habitat.

These lists include species that are easy to identify but are not complete lists of wetland species. Uncommon and vagrant species are not included. It is important to note that some species in these lists may be recorded out of wetland habitats because they migrate or move during dry periods. This does not interfere with their status of wetland indicators but means that data used as wetland indication may require expert interpretation.

It is also important to recognise that while most wader birds breed in wetlands of the Northern Hemisphere, they remain faithful to wetland sites when in Australia.

The following species recorded in Queensland have been considered as shorebirds based on morphology and taxonomy[2] but are not assigned as wetland indicator species here: little curlew (Numenius minutus), oriental plover (Charadrius veredus), oriental pratincole (Glareola maldivarum), Australian pratincole (Stiltia Isabella), bush stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius), inland dotterel (Charadrius australis), plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus), banded lapwing (Vanellus tricolor) and masked lapwing (Vanellus miles).

Mammal

Wetland mammals are grouped in 2 categories—fresh water and saltwater.

Uncategorised

Legend

NCA - Status under the Nature Conservation Act 1992

EX	: Extinct
PE	: Extinct in the wild
CR	: Critically endangered
E	: Endangered
V	: Vulnerable
NT	: Near threatened
C	: Least concern
SL	: Special least concern
I	: International
P	: Prohibited

EPBC - Status under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

EX	: Extinct
XW	: Extinct in the wild
CE	: Critically endangered
E	: Endangered
V	: Vulnerable
CD	: Conservation dependent

End. - Endemicity

Q	: Queensland endemic - naturally occurs in Queensland
QA	: Intranational - naturally occurs in Queensland and interstate
QAI	: Not endemic to Australia - naturally occurs in Queensland, interstate and overseas
QI	: Regional endemic - naturally occurs in Queensland and overseas
VA	: Vagrant (Intranational) - normally occurs interstate
VI	: Vagrant (International) - normally occurs overseas
VU	: Vagrant (Unknown)
IA	: Introduced (Intranational) - naturalised from interstate
II	: Introduced (International) - naturalised from overseas
IU	: Introduced - unknown origin
U	: Unknown endemicity - native

Download a list of all fauna wetland indicator species (except insect and spider) in .CSV format

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References

1. ^ Cogger, HG (1994), Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia; 5th edition, Reed Books, Sydney.
2. ^ Geering, ADW, Agnew, L & Harding, S (2007), Shorebirds of Australia. [online], CSIRO Pub., Victoria, Australia. Available at: https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/5345/ [Accessed 13 November 2020].

Last updated: 22 March 2013