An ecological community is a naturally occurring group of plants, animals and other organisms interacting in a unique habitat. The complex range of interactions between the component species provides an important level of biological diversity in addition to genetics and species.
Because ecosystems and the links between their community members are so complex, it is important to identify, maintain and manage whole ecosystems, their processes and communities (including the many thousands of species of invertebrates, non-flowering plants like fungi and seaweeds, and micro-organisms), rather than just on a species by species basis.
It is also more cost-effective and efficient to prevent species from becoming threatened by conserving them as part of viable, functioning communities than it is to attempt to manage individual species.
The Minister for Environment previously listed ecological communities as threatened through a non-statutory process if the community was presumed to be totally destroyed or at risk of becoming totally destroyed. The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act)provides for the statutory listing of threatened ecological communities (TECs) by the Minister. The new legislation also describes statutory processes for preparing recovery plans for TECs, the registration of their critical habitat, and penalties for unauthorised modification of TECs.
The department has been identifying and listing TECs since 1994 through the non-statutory process.
As at July 2021, an additional 390 ecological communities (community types and sub-types) with insufficient information available to be considered a TEC, or which are rare but not currently threatened, have been placed on the Priority list and referred to as priority ecological communities (PECs).
TEC and PEC occurrences are entered into the threatened and priority ecological community database.
Once the first listing of TECs is made, under section 45 of the BC Act the Minister may authorise a person to modify an occurrence of a TEC. Under the provisions of the BC Act, significant penalties (up to $500,000) are prescribed under section 48 where a TEC is modified without authorisation.
Guidance note - Modification of an occurrence of a threatened ecological community233.21 KB provides guidance on completing an authorisation under the BC Act to modify an occurrence of a TEC. An application for authorisation to modify a TEC must be submitted using the form
Application to the Minister for authorisation under section 45 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016105.25 KB.
Find out more about an authorisation to modify a threatened ecological community.
This is one of the main tools for monitoring TECs in Western Australia.
Send report forms to:
Species and Communities Branchor email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
General information regarding recovery plans and interim recovery plans for Western Australian threatened species and communities can be found on the Threatened Species and Communities page. Any draft plans that are open for public comment will also be found at Threatened Species and Communities.