Everything is connected in the natural world - fire and rock, weather and wildlife, plants and processes. The interactions between these components are dynamic flows of energy and matter. These ecosystems are testament to time and change.
Wellington Park is a living museum. Ancient plant and animal species provide legacies from the super continent Gondwana. The Mountain shrimp Anaspides tasmaniae first found in tarns and streams in the Park in the 1890s, tells an ancient story of crustacean evolution. New discoveries of enduring life forms are ongoing.
The scale, integrity and diversity of the Park's ecosystems are extremely significant. Variations in climate and soils make Mount Wellington one of the most biologically diverse areas of its size in Tasmania. The extremely high number of species, variants of species and assemblages of species (communities) makes the Mountain particularly significant.
Natural processes continue everyday, helping to maintain the systems that sustain this diversity.
There is growing community recognition that ecosystems are intrinsically valuable. Nature is seen as self-sustaining and all species, natural communities, and physical, non-living components within the ecosystem are recognised to have value for their own sake apart from any human needs.