Melaleuca Forest

The very wet climate at Chakoro Nature Reserve, with its pronounced wet summer season, and the clay soils of the coastal floodplains mean that the watertable is at, or very close to, the surface for several months of the year. Only specialised plants can withstand this water-logged ground, and the principle genera are Melaleuca trees with an understorey of Pandanus and sedges. The common species here are the paperbarks Melaleuca leucadendra, M. quinquinerva and M. viridiflora, Pandanus monticola and the sword sedge, Scleria polycarpa. When many pandanus plants form a thicket, their stiff, arching, W-sectioned leaves armed with spines on the edges become an impenetrable tangle. Scratches from these leaves are very liable to get infected.

Among the interesting plants that live on the paperbarks is the strange Ant-house Plant (Myrmecodia beccarii). The stalks of this plant are like swollen, prickly tubers which are hollowed out by Golden Ants (Iridomyrmex cordatus) to form a well-protected honeycombed chamber. In these tunnels, the ants farm the larvae of the endangered Apollo Jewel butterfly (Hypochrysops apollo), which then pupate and hatch normally. The seeds of this plant are spread by the Mistletoe Bird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum), making life for the Apollo Jewel butterfly dependent on birds, ants, trees and epiphytes.

In the wettest areas of Chakoro Nature Reserve, water forms into shallow lakes in the wet season - January to April. These lakes are rich in small wildlife, like frogs and wading birds, but also form the fringes of crocodile territory! Adult estuarine crocodiles Crocodylus porosus are most likely to be found in the mangroves alongside the Hull River in the adjacent National Park, where the river is tidally flushed, but smaller ones must find themselves a territory, and every pond in the area is likely to be tried out.

Another large creature you can find in the swamps of Chakoro Nature Reserve is the feral pig. They spend a lot of time ploughing the moist topsoil for earthworms and the tubers of swamp plants, which are developed to help the plants get through the dry season. Feral pigs also eat fallen fruits in the rainforest and so compete with the cassowary for its food. The pig's hoofed feet churned up the soft soil and cause bogs which they wallow in to protect their skin from the sun.


In heavy rain these bogs get washed away, contributing to soil erosion and sedimentation of rivers.

For these reasons, and because of the damage pigs do to agricultural land, these creatures are our number one pest. The best way to get rid of them has been trialled, and trapping has turned out to be far superior to hunting with guns and/or dogs. The Queensland Government and the Wet Tropics Management Authority did fund a feral pig trapping program, but as with all these sorts of things, funding was always woefully inadequate and has now been cut off altogether, showing that they were never serious about looking after the natural environment.

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