This EBA constitutes the Australian state of Tasmania, which includes the islands of the Bass Strait-King Island and the Furneaux Group.

Eucalypt forest is the predominant vegetation, with extensive temperate rain forest in the wetter west of Tasmania. Sedgeland, dominated by buttongrass, often in association with rushes, tea trees, paperbarks and heaths, occurs in the south-west.

Most restricted-range species occur in eucalypt forest and rain forest, with coastal sedgelands being particularly important for Neophema chrysogaster.

Most species are found throughout Tasmania but are included as having restricted ranges because it is assumed that available habitat is less than 50,000 km². Three species have relatively small ranges: Pardalotus quadragintus, which was formerly widespread in the eastern half of the island and on King and Flinders Islands, but is now restricted to the coastal south-east in the vicinity of Hobart and to Flinders Island where it has recently been rediscovered (D. J. Baker-Gabb in litt. 1996); Lathamus discolor, which breeds only in north-east and eastern Tasmania; and Neophema chrysogaster, which breeds only in the south-west.

Tasmanian Masked-owl, which is confined to this EBA, is treated here as a race (castanops) of the more widespread Masked Owl T. novaehollandiae (following Christidis and Boles 1994, contra Sibley and Monroe 1993), and is therefore not included as a restricted-range species.

Hunting with dogs by seal hunters is thought to have been the principal reason for the disappearance of Dromaius ater, and hunting is also likely to have eliminated the Tasmanian subspecies of Emu D. novaehollandiae diemenensis. However, the main threats to the species of this EBA today are the destruction of old-growth forest and replacement with short-rotation eucalypt forests and plantations; the destruction, fragmentation and isolation of habitats on private land, particularly dry forest and grassy woodland; mining, both in protected areas and in unprotected rain forest; and the degradation of coastal and wetland habitats (R. Donaghey in litt. 1993).

The three species which are classified as threatened have specialist habitat requirements and are the most restricted in their distribution, and thus are the most susceptible to changes in the vegetation.

Subspecies of particular note include the Tasmanian form of Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax fleayi, which numbers fewer than 100 breeding pairs and is threatened by land clearance and persecution (Garnett 1993), the Tasmanian forms of Australian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles cristatus tasmanicus and Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea diemenensis, and the King Island race of Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla archibaldi, which are all treated as 'Insufficiently Known' by Garnett (1993).

There are many protected areas in Tasmania, including the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site (13,836 km²) which protects the breeding habitat of Neophema chrysogaster in the south-west. Dry forests are poorly covered by reserves in eastern Tasmania, so sites like the Douglas-Apsley National Park (160 km²), Maria Island (100 km², a refuge for Pardalotus quadragintus) and Freycinet (100 km²) are especially important.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Tasmania. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/187 on 22/11/2024.