Island Plants

Lush tropical coastal vegetation

The flora and vegetation of the continental islands and coral cays of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park are exceptionally diverse given the small area of land involved.

There are more than 2211 plant species on the Park's 618 continental islands. This is about a quarter of the total number of species for the whole of Queensland in only 0.1 per cent of the State.

Composition of island plant communities

This island plant community is dominated by rainforest species which make up 48 per cent of the species present. Open forest species account for 46 per cent, and six per cent are coastline species. Sixty-two species are currently listed as rare or endangered, and two are found only in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Introduced species

Introduced plant species are present on most of the continental islands in the Park, but in lower numbers than usually found on developed islands in other regions. The per centage of introduced species on the islands of the Reef range from 4.7 per cent to 14.4 per cent. This compares with 47 per cent of the plants in Hawaii being introduced from elsewhere.

Plant communities of the coral cays

Plant communities on the Park's 230 vegetated coral cays have fewer species, with 350-400 in the northern region and about 140 species in the south of the Park.

The northern region is home to many rainforest species and only about 15 per cent introduced ones. Coral cay vegetation, especially Pisonia rainforest, provides important nesting sites for seabirds. Seventy per cent of the entire Australian coral cay Pisonia rainforest occurs on the cays of the Capricorn-Bunker group.