Griffith Biodiversity

Discover our natural environment. Our campuses play host to a number of natural environments, and play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity in South-East Queensland.

Griffith University has been working to document the variety of living things that call our campuses home. As a result, around 2,000 species have been recorded, making Griffith’s three main campuses key biodiversity hotspots in rapidly urbanising cities and among the most diverse campuses globally. The University has committed to the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with the forests, gardens and wetlands on our campuses contributing to:

SDG15 “Life on Land” by supporting biodiversity,
SDG3 “Good Health” through mental and physical health benefits from working and studying in nature,
SDG4 “Quality Education” through use of the campuses as living laboratories,
SDG11 “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” by promoting green solutions in cities, and
SDG13 “Climate Action” by promoting increased vegetation cover and via sequestering and storing carbon in trees on our campuses.

Our interactive maps of the three campuses provide visitors, students and staff with a virtual tour of the University's natural heritage; our biodiversity, and what we are doing to celebrate, maintain and enhance it. This website also includes a range of other resources including detailed species lists for each campus and ecological reports. Come take a look.

First Nations

Griffith University believes strongly within its core values our position as stewards maintaining the remarkable co-management and environmental sustainability Aboriginal people engineered as traditional farming practices over tens of thousands of years within each of our individual campuses: Brisbane City (South Bank), Brisbane South (Nathan), Logan, and Gold Coast. Aboriginal people co-existing within the natural heritage in cultivating the landscape via complex kinship systems as to make those resources abundant in building a thriving ecological system of biodiversity within each campus.

We now have a responsibility as Griffith University to protect, restore and enhance this biodiversity within each individual campus and ecosystems to protect these significant conservation values in appreciation of the resources provided by Aboriginal people, and protect not only the beautiful environment, but the world view we have inherited well into the future. This wealth of natural heritage embedded within Aboriginal knowledges also provides many opportunities for promoting appreciation of biodiversity values and conservation to staff, students, and the broader community as well as strong collaborative partnerships in conservation and sustainability with a range of stakeholders, e.g., local and state government, community organisations and industry partners and most importantly traditional Aboriginal knowledge keepers.

This website may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. It also contains links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased.

Gold Coast

Gold coast campus biodiversity

View interactive map

Brisbane South (Nathan)

Nathan campus biodiversity

View interactive map

Logan

Logan campus biodiversity

View interactive map

Gold Coast Resources

Situated in the coastal lowlands of South East Queensland, Griffith University's Gold Coast campus contains important remnant ecosystems as well as beautiful displays of native plants across the gardens illustrating the power of green solutions for cities.

There are just under 600 species of plants on campus, of which ~230 are native to the swamp paperbark wetlands and endangered blackbutt forest, while ~230 native species/cultivars are grown across more than 10 ha of gardens, including 23 species of threatened plants. Across the whole campus, over 129 species of birds, mammals, frogs, reptiles and fish can be found along with numerous freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates. This includes 12 species of threatened animals, including the Koala and Glossy Black Cockatoo.

Gold Coast Species (XLSX)

Kombumerri Together Project

BioCondition Report, Gold Coast

Field Based Forest Carbon Assessment Gold Coast

Brisbane South (Nathan) Resources

Situated in the dry eucalyptus forest typical of ridges and hills in South East Queensland, Brisbane South (Nathan) is nestled amongst the natural ecosystems of Toohey Forest.

The campus contains ~690 species of plants, of which ~500 are native. Within this rich forest environment, 115 bird, 25 mammal, 10 frog and 27 reptile species, and numerous freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates make a home. The native ecosystems that exist on this campus are astounding and are a testament to the many people who have fought hard over decades to protect Toohey Forest as an island of biodiversity within a rapidly urbanising city.

Brisbane South (Nathan) Species (XLSX)

BioCondition Report Brisbane South (Nathan)

Field Based Forest Carbon Assessment Brisbane South (Nathan)

Logan Resources

Situated on an old dairy farm in Meadowbrook, Griffith University's Logan campus is, at first, seemingly a green desert compared to the rich forests and landscaping of the Gold Coast and Nathan campuses.

The campus however, may surprise you in that it contains over 330 species of plants, of which around 240 are native. Within this relatively rich floristic environment of landscaped areas, open fields, lakes, bush tucker garden and a native arboretum, there are 94 bird, 6 mammal, 4 frog and 12 reptile species, with many more to be discovered as the forests, gardens and wetlands grow.

Logan Species (XLSX)

Field Based Forest Carbon Logan

Biodiversity books produced by Griffith University

Birds of Brisbane South (Nathan)

Native plants for indoors and small gardens

Vertebrates of Gold Coast

Native plants for school gardens

Common vertebrates on Griffith campuses

Native street and garden trees in SEQ

Campus flow-through

Take a virtual tour of the biodiversity values of the Logan campus. Learn about our brand new arboretum, the rehabilitation of Slacks Creek with Logan City Council, the Logan LEAF Festival, the importance of urban lakes and wetlands, carbon sequestration projects and an ancient Macadamia tree older than the campus itself!

Sustainability

Griffith's commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Climate Action

Griffith’s Climate Action Beacon seeks to develop the knowledge, leadership, capacity and responses to enable effective and just climate action throughout society.

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