Gibson: Flora and vegetation of Mt Manning Range 
available in the area being sampled. All vascular plants 
were recorded within each quadrat. Quadrats were 
permanently marked with four steel fence droppers and 
their positions determined using a GPS unit. Twenty-four 
5 oil samples from the upper 10 cm were collected from 
each quadrat. These were bulked and analyzed for 
electrical conductivity, pH, total N, total P, available K 
(McArthur 1991). 
Quadrats were sampled in early November 1995. Data 
on topographical position, slope, aspect, percentage litter, 
percentage bare ground, percentage surface rock 
(bedrock and surficial deposits) and vegetation structure 
were collected from each quadrat. Topographical position 
was scored on a subjective six point scale; ridge tops = 1, 
upper slopes = 2, midslopes = 3, lower slopes = 4, valley 
flats =5, small rise in valley =6. Slope was scored on a 
one to three scale from flat to medium, to steep. Aspect 
was recorded as one of 16 cardinal directions. Altitude 
was taken from 1:100000 series topographical map to 
nearest 10 m. Vegetation structure was recorded using 
Muir's (1977) classification. 
Quadrats were classified according to similarities in 
species composition. In these analyses only perennial 
species were used to facilitate comparisons with 
classifications from other ranges (Gibson et al. 1997; 
Gibson & Lyons 1998a,b; Gibson & Lyons 2001a,b). The 
quadrat and species classifications undertaken used the 
Czekanowski similarity coefficient and "unweighted 
pair-group mean average" fusion method (UPGMA 
module in PATN, Belbin 1995, beta value -0.1, Sneath & 
Sokal, 1973). Semi-strong hybrid (SSH in PATN) 
ordination of the quadrat data was undertaken to show 
spatial relationships between quadrat groups (here 
referred to as community types) and to elucidate possible 
environmental correlates with the classification (Belbin 
1991). Methods of Dufrene & Legendre (1997) were used 
to determine best indicator taxa for each group (from PC- 
ORD v 4.24, McCune & Mefford 1999). 
Climate estimates (mean annual temperature, annual 
temperature range, mean annual rainfall, rainfall 
coefficient of variation) were obtained from BIOCLIM 
(Busby 1986), a prediction system that uses mathematical 
surfaces fitted to long term climate data. Relationships 
among and between physical site parameters and climate 
estimates were examined using Spearman rank 
correlation coefficient. To reduce the probability of type I 
errors given the number of intercorrelations, significance 
differences were reported at a level of P<0.01. Vectors for 
the physical site parameters, latitude, altitude and 
climatic estimates were fitted to the ordination along axes 
of highest correlation using the principal axis correlation 
routine (also known as rotational correlation analysis) in 
the PATN package (Belbin 1995). Statistical significance 
of these vectors was determined using random 
permutations of the values of the variable among sites 
(Faith & Norris 1989). Statistical relationships between 
quadrat groups for physical site parameters and climate 
estimates were tested using Kruskal-Wallis non- 
parametric analysis of variance (Siegel 1956). 
Nomenclature generally follows Paczkowska & 
Chapman (2000). Voucher specimens have been be 
lodged in the Western Australian Herbarium. Introduced 
taxa are indicated by a 
Results 
Flora 
A total of 238 taxa (species, subspecies, varieties) were 
recorded from the Mt Manning greenstone belt 
(Appendix 1). The flora list was compiled from taxa 
found in the 54 quadrats or the adjacent area and from 
collections of the Western Australian Herbarium. Of 
these 238 taxa, 234 are native and four are weeds. 
Sampling was undertaken in the first week of November 
1995 and although good rains had fallen in winter and 
spring of 1995, the annuals and geophytes were largely 
finished and further additions could be expected to the 
flora list. The best represented families were the 
Asteraceae (37 native taxa and 2 introduced taxa), 
Myrtaceae (32 taxa), Chenopodiaceae (13 taxa), Poaceae 
(12 native taxa and 2 introduced taxa) Myoporaceae (11 
taxa), and Mimosaceae (10 taxa). This pattern is typical of 
the flora in changeover zone between the of the South 
Western Botanical Province and the Eremaean (Gibson et 
al. 2000). The most common genera were Eucalyptus (17 
taxa), Eremophila (11 taxa) and Acacia (10 taxa). Most 
common life-forms were shrubs 50%, annual herb 23.5%, 
perennial herbs 5.5%, mallee 5.0%, trees 4.6% and 
perennial grasses 4.2%. These six life-forms accounted for 
over 92% of taxa recorded. 
Six taxa of conservation significance (Atkins 2001) 
were recorded ( Calytrix creswellii, Daviesia purpurascens, 
Eremophila sp (GJ Keighery 4372), Eucalyptus formanii , 
Grevillea erectiloba , and Grevillea georgeana). Of these 
Eremophila sp (GJ Keighery 4372) and Calytrix creswellii 
are the most poorly known, being represented by only 5 
and 15 collections respectively in the Western Australian 
Herbarium. All six taxa with the exception of Daviesia 
purpurascens have a geographic range of ca 200 km and 
can be considered regional endemics of the greenstone 
and banded ironstone ranges (Eremophila sp (GJ Keighery 
4372), Grevillea erectiloba , Grevillea georgeana) or the 
surrounding sandplain ( Calytrix creswellii , Eucalyptus 
formajni), although the latter two taxa do also occur on 
the lower slopes or outwash plains of the Mt Manning 
Range. 
Vegetation 
Only plant material that could be identified to species 
or subspecies level was included in the analysis (ca 95% 
of records). In the 54 quadrats established on the Mt 
Manning Range, 197 taxa were recorded of which 142 
were perennial. Fifty-five perennials occurred at only one 
quadrat. Preliminary analyses showed these singletons 
had no effect on the community classification and were 
therefore not considered further. As a result the final data 
set consisted of 87 perennial taxa in 54 quadrats. Species 
richness ranged from five to 23 taxa per quadrat, with 
individual taxa occurring in between two and 38 of the 
54 quadrats. 
The 54 quadrats were divided into two primary 
groups, the first group (types 1-5) containing quadrats 
with skeletal soils over banded ironstone or weathered 
yellow sand on banded ironstone or laterite, the second 
group (types 6 & 7) containing quadrats on greenstone or 
colluvial soils (Fig 2). 
• Community type 1 were species poor quadrats that 
37 
