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Site Description

The Fletcherview tower is located in managed tropical savanna, approximately 90 km south-west of Townsville in North Queensland (GPS coordinates: [-19.88721, 146.18897; elevation: 262 m).

The tower is located at the Fletcherview Reseach Station , a grazed savanna woodland of 1960 Ha located in the Burdekin Basin that typically stocks around 600 head of Brahman cattle. The station is located on a 2.5 km stretch of the Burdekin River, one of the largest river systems in Queensland. There are three ephemeral creek systems (Lolworth Creek, Pandanus Creek and Hann Creek) on Fletcherview station. The flux station is located in an area where shallow gilgai micro-relief is a predominant surface feature with shallow depressions and mounds. The soils on the mounds are described as Dermosols and soils on the depressions are described as Vertosols.

Vegetation structural summary: Eucalyptus brownii low open woodland (11 m). A taller mid storey of younger Eucalyptus brownii, Eremophila mitchellii and Atalaya hemiglauca (6 m) and a denser lower mid storey dominated by Carissa lanceolata (0.6 m). A ground storey dominated by Bothriochloa sp., Bothriochloa pertusa and Sporobolus australasicus (0.2-0.6 m) with Urochloa mosambicensis, Eriochloa crebra and Themeda triandra.

The tower is located to the north of a 1 Ha plot established by TERN Surveillance in 2021 - Plot QDAEIU0008. The soil in this plot is a medium heavy clay and has a bulk density of 1.7 g/cm³. The common names of plant species found in this plot are Indian Bluegrass (B. pertusa), Australian Dropseed (S. australasicus), Sabi Grass (U. mosambicensis), Cup Grass (E. crebra), Kangaroo Grass (T. triandra), Feathertop Wiregrass (tussock grasses), there are a range of shrubs (Conkerberry (C. lanceolata, dominant cover type), Cattle Bush (A. hemiglauca), Bastard Sandalwood (E. mitchellii)) and the single tree species is Brown’s box gum (E. brownii).

The climate of the area is seasonal with 66% of the annual rainfall (MAP around 830 mm) occurring in the wet season months of January to April.