(Unless otherwise credited)
Victoria’s Otway Ranges are stunning and precious, home to windswept coastlines, breathtaking waterfalls, remnant Gondwanan cool-temperate rainforest and vast swathes of grasstree-dominated heathlands. It’s no wonder the Great Ocean Road—which runs the length of the Otways—has become world famous. Hundreds of unique plants and animals live here, too, including threatened mammals like the long-nosed potoroo, swamp antechinus, southern brown bandicoot, and white-footed dunnart. An ominous threat, however, looms over the landscape: a plant pathogen called Phytophthora cinnamomi.
Phytophthora (pronounced fy-TOFF-thora) is a microscopic water mould that lives in soil, water and plants. Its effect can be devastating; by invading the roots of susceptible plants, it prevents their nutrient and water uptake, causing the plant to die. Following infestation and subsequent loss of susceptible plant species, the vegetation becomes simplified and dominated by grasses and sedges that are resistant to the pathogen. This in turn can have horrendous consequences on native fauna.
Approximately 3,000 Australian plant species—including 10% of those currently listed as nationally threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act—are threatened by phytophthora. In terms of the number of threatened species affected, Australia’s latest State of the Environment report ranks the pathogen) and banksias—are more vulnerable, and their loss from the environment has devastating impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
