Dozens of rare species thrive at Edgbaston in outback Queensland

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There's something in the water in outback Queensland that's drawing ecologists from around the country. Edgbaston Reserve is the unlikely home of more than three dozen species, many of which have been hiding in great artesian basin springs since the dinosaur age.

Transcript

00:00 Artesian springs well up on this outback station.

00:08 But it's what's underneath the surface that has excited ecologists.

00:12 37 species found nowhere else in the world.

00:16 It's kind of like an ongoing mystery about why this particular location has so many species

00:22 and so many different groups.

00:24 Edgbaston Reserve is a former cattle station in western Queensland.

00:29 Ecologists say it's of global significance.

00:32 More unique, diverse and strange animals and plants than occur anywhere else.

00:37 Just as important as things like coral reefs and cloud forests that everyone recognises

00:42 as special, Edgbaston's right up there with the rest of them.

00:45 The snails, shrimp and tiny fish are found in the Great Artesian Basin Springs.

00:51 Yeah, I feel like they're like little grumpy old men.

00:53 These springs are like inverted islands of water in a landscape of desert that just through

00:59 isolation over millennia, the animals and plants have radiated to form new species that

01:03 fill all the available niches within the spring.

01:07 Edgbaston has just become a special wildlife reserve, meaning it's protected from any future

01:11 mining, logging or grazing.

01:13 It's only the second in Queensland to hold that status.

01:17 But scientists fear if anything happened to the basin, the species would be at risk.

01:22 If the basin wasn't strong enough to maintain those conditions, the majority if not all

01:27 of these species die.

01:29 And we've documented that happening.

01:31 It's worth protecting I guess you'd say, because once it's gone you can't get it back.

01:35 Yeah.

01:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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