Madja botanical walk - - Queensland, Australia - Flora and Fauna Information Signs on Waymarking.com

Madja botanical walk

Madja is one of the few places where plants, representing all stages of the evolution of land plants over the last 400 million years, are found.
Enjoy an easy stroll through rain'orest and mangrove forest atoll the 1.2km (45 minutes return) Madja botanical walk.

In the Daintree, mangroves and rainforests live side-by-side with no large area of overlap. As you cross the creek at the end of the elevated boardwalk you will notice the abrupt transition from mangrove forest to rainforest. Mangroves thrive in the salty, waterlogged mud of the lower bank while rainforest grows in the rich, organic, salt-bee soils of the higher bank.
Along the walk learn more about the plants found in each of these environments.

Salty, sitty, soggy and special!
Mangrove forests are diverse plant communities that grow in tropical to subtropical coastal areas inundated by tides. They may include shrubs, trees, palms, ferns, or climbers.
Mangroves like those found here at Madja are a vital nursery for many marine animals including popular food species like barramundi and banana prawns. Mangrove forests buffer the coast from destructive wind and waves. Roots also trap sediments reducing siltation of neighbouring coral reefs—helping also to protect the sea.

Mangrove modifications
Mangroves live in extremely harsh coastal environments. Regularly inundated with sea water they are subjected to high salt levels, low oxygen and unstable, muddy soil. Despite not being closely related to each other, mangrove species have all developed similar adaptations to grow in this challenging environment.

Mangrove roots exclude salt, but some salt still enters the root system. Remaining salt can be excreted in a variety of ways by different species. Some have leaf glands, while other mangroves store salt in their leaves, until the leaves die and fall off. To absorb oxygen from the saturated soil, mangroves have above-ground roots (pneumatophores), Roots such as prop roots also stabilise the plants in the soft mud. These are just some of the mangroves' many adaptations.

Warm, wet, woody and wonderful!
Tropical rainforests are species-rich forests that are warm and wet—with temperatures always above 1.13°C and on average, about loomm of every month. Rainforests also have a closed canopy — sunlight flickers through the leaves with only patches filtering to the ground. Buttress roots, twisted woody vines and lianas. ferns, palms and epiphytes (non-parasitic plants growing on host plants) are common throughout tropical rainforests.

Lowland tropical rainforest grows here at Madja. The most vigorous type of rainforest, it contains the largest number of species.

Resourceful rainforests
Lowland tropical rainforests are harsh environments for plants—scarce in sunlight with waterlogged, oxygen-deprived soils. The thick, closed canopy restricts most sunlight from reaching the forest floor. To gather sunlight some plants grow quickly towards the canopy and spread their large leaves. Other plants use tall trees to climb towards the light, or cling high to host trees where sunlight is more abundant. Some just make do with what little light reaches the forest floor.

High rainfall leads to waterlogged, unstable, oxygen deprived soils. Additionally, rapid breakdown of leaf litter on the forest floor means the bulk of the nutrients remain in the top layers of soil. Shallow root systems allow absorption of water and nutrients near the surface. Buttress roots grow wide, helping plants stabilise in the unsteady soils. Special cells (lenticels) on the roots also collect oxygen above ground. Other plants avoid the ground altogether, collecting moisture and nutrients high in the canopy.

From the sign

Visit Instructions:
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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/20/2019 CADS11 visited it