THREAT ABATEMENT ADVICE FOR A KEY THREATENING PROCESS
This material has been developed based on the best available information at the time of development (September 2014).
To provide information updates please email: weeds@environment.gov.au
Para grass (Urochloa mutica)
Para grass was introduced to Queensland in 1884 to control riverbank erosion. In the 1880s it was growing in the Darwin Botanical Garden and was introduced to Arnhem Land in 1922. It has since been widely used as a pasture grass in northern Australia, including on ponded pastures in Queensland. Para grass is naturalised in Queensland, northern New South Wales, the Northern Territory and in the northern part of Western Australia. Para grass poses a major threat to the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, where it is actively managed.
Para grass under state and territory legislation
Para grass (Urochloa mutica) is not a declared weed under any legislation in Australia. Para grass is listed as a weed in at least 34 countries and recognised as a serious problem in Fiji, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Columbia, Hawaii, Jamaica, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Trinidad.
Priority actions/research (recent or underway)
Seed banks of weed-invaded wetlands: implications for biodiversity and restoration (Wearne L, Nicholas M, Perkins G, Australian Weeds Research Centre, 2011)
This project examines the impact of para grass on wetlands and the potential for recovery following its removal. The study concludes that the use of fire and grazing for the removal of para grass has resulted in a viable seed bank dominated by native species. In areas where para grass has been removed, species richness in the soil seed bank increases.
Using Fire to Restore Australian Wetlands from Invasive Grasses (Grice A, Nicholas M, 2011)
This project demonstrated that fire can be used as a reliable tool for reducing the prevalence of para grass in northern Australian wetlands.
Managing threats to floodplain biodiversity and Indigenous values (Setterfield S, Douglas M, Bayliss P, Jackson S, National Environmental Research Program (NERP) North Australia Hub, 2014). The NERP North Australia Hub continues to work with Northern Territory and Queensland government agencies to improve our understanding of the distribution, impacts and management of the five grasses. This project aims to improve the understanding of the spread of para grass and olive hymenachne in the tropical floodplains, and how spread patterns are related to hydrological regime, fire, and edaphic factors. The project will deliver maps of distribution of these weeds in Kakadu, models of areas of habitat suitable for invasion and predicted patterns of spread. It will also develop an improved decision-support tool to guide the implementation of cost-effective strategies to control aquatic invasive grasses.
Resources
Title or description | Author | Date | Details |
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Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities |
2012 |
Priority actions to manage the five species of invasive grasses |
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Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities |
2012 |
Information on each of the five species of invasive grasses |
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Challen S and Long P |
2004 |
Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries |
Title or description | Author | Date | Details |
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Balancing wildlife conservation and pastoralism: An adaptive management case study on multiple land use, from Northern Australia’s Mary River Region |
Beggs K, Ferdinands K, Whitehead P and Woinarski J |
2003 |
Proceedings of the 3rd International Wildlife Management Congress, Christchurch, New Zealand |
Ponded pastures: A threat to wetland biodiversity |
Clarkson J |
1995 |
Finlayson CM (ed), Wetland research in the wet-dry tropics of Australia, Supervising Scientist Report 101, Supervising Scientist, Canberra, pp. 206–211 |
Douglas MM and O’Connor RA |
2004 |
Sindel BM and Johnson SB (eds), Proceedings of the 14th Australian Weeds Conference, Wagga Wagga, NSW, pp. 153–156 |
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Douglas MM and O’Connor RA |
2004 |
Ecological Management and Restoration, vol. 5, pp. 143–145 |
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Ferdinands K |
2007 |
Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin (PhD thesis) |
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Biodiversity and invasive grass species: multiple use or monoculture? |
Ferdinands K, Beggs K and Whitehead P |
2005 |
Wildlife Research, vol. 32, pp. 447–457 |
Controlling para grass in a tropical seasonal wetland |
Gould SF |
2001 |
Ecological Management and Restoration, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 145–161 |
Pest or pasture? Introduced pasture grasses in the Northern Territory |
Grace BS, Gardener MR and Cameron AG |
2004 |
Sindel BM and Johnson SB (eds), Proceedings of the 14th Australian Weeds Conference, Wagga Wagga, NSW, pp. 157–160 |
Hunter F, Ibbett M and Salau B |
2010 |
Winderlich S (ed), Kakadu National Park Landscape Symposia Series 2007–2009, Symposium 2: Weeds management |
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Knerr, NJA |
1996 |
Department of Botany, University of New England, Armidale (thesis) |
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Low T |
1997 |
Tropical Grasslands, vol. 31, pp. 337–343 |
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Cattle grazing for Para Grass management in a mixed species wetland of north-eastern Australia |
Williams PR, Collins EM and Grice AC |
2005 |
Ecological Management and Restoration, vol. 6; no. 1; pp 75–78 |
Weeds of Protected Areas: Floodplain weeds in Australia’s Kakadu National Park |
Setterfield SA, Douglas MM, Petty AM, Bayliss P, Ferdinands KB and Winderlich S |
2013 |
Foxcroft LC, Richardson DM, Pyšek P and Genovesi P (eds.), Plant invasions in protected areas: patterns, problems and challenges, Springer, ISBN 978-94-007-7750-7 |
Weed Management and the Biodiversity and Ecological Processes of Tropical Wetlands |
Douglas MM, Bunn SE, Pidgeon RJW, Davies PM, Barrow P, O’Connor RA and Winning M |
2001 |
Environment Australia and Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation |
Para grass management and costing trial within Kakadu National Park |
McMaster D, Adams V, Setterfield SA, McIntyre D and Douglas MM |
2014 |
19th Australasian Weed Conference, Hobart, September 2014 |
Title or description | Author | Date | Details |
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Further information about the biology, distribution and impacts of para grass |
Australian Government Department of the Environment |
2013 |
Weeds in Australia website |
Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management |
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Para grass photo identification table |
Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management |
2012 |
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Invasive species risk assessment: Para grass Urochloa mutica |
Hannan-Jones M and Csurhes S, Biosecurity Queensland Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry |
2012 |
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Managing weeds for wildlife conservation |
Northern Land Manager |
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Australian Government Department of the Environment |
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Wetlands web pages |
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Australian Government Department of the Environment |
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Australian Wetlands Database |
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Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities |
2012 |
Fact sheet |