Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests

Last updated

Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests
Forest View in Blue Mountains (1789372336).jpg
Ecology
Realm Australasia
Biome Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests
Borders
Geography
Area100 km2 (39 sq mi)
CountryAustralia
Elevation750–1,100 metres (2,460–3,610 ft)
Coordinates 34°12′S150°17′E / 34.2°S 150.28°E / -34.2; 150.28
Geology Basalt
Climate type Oceanic climate (Cfb)
Soil typesBasalt, minor clay

The Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests are a sclerophyll temperate forest community that stretch from the northern fringes of the Blue Mountains to the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Australia. [1] Featuring both wet and dry sclerophyll forests, as well as small rainforest pockets, the community features tall (30m+) and open eucalypt forests and woodlands that lie on igneous rock (Blue Mountains Basalts). [2] [3]

Contents

Rainforests of the Blue Mountains, which cover just 1% of the area, feature the descendants of the forests that used to cover the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. [4]

Geography

Rocky gully within Morton National Park. Dimmocks Creek walking track, Morton National Park, New South Wales, Australia 06.jpg
Rocky gully within Morton National Park.

Part of the Eastern Australian temperate forests, the region is found on extremely fertile soils, between 750 m and 1050 m in elevation, in areas with annual rainfall of 950 to 1350 mm, mostly within in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands region, but it is also spread into Wolgan, Morton National Park, Meryla State Forest, Wollemi, and the basalt tops of Mount Irvine, Mount Wilson, Mount Tomah, Mount Banks and Mount Hay, with probable disjunct outliers north towards Mount Cameron and Mount Monundilla. Between 30 and 50% of the vegetation's original occurrence is estimated to remain. [3]

The Wet Sclerophyll Basalt Forests of the Sydney Basin Bioregion, existing as a scattered remnant, also occurs in the ecoregion but in small percentage, such as in areas like the Yengo National Park, the Mount Gibraltar Reserve, Robertson, Moss Vale, Bundanoon and Wingello, which also lie on fertile soils derived from basalts. [5]

Forest subregions

Other small basalt forest patches in the region include: [2]

Cathedral of Ferns, Mount Wilson, a cool temperate rainforest Sunlight ferns.jpg
Cathedral of Ferns, Mount Wilson, a cool temperate rainforest

There are three categories of rainforest found in the Greater Blue Mountains: [4]

The wet sclerophyll forests only inhabit 6% of the Blue Mountains landscape, and have had once occupied the Oberon area. [6]

Ecology

The canopy mixture is multivariate, but is normally predominated by species such as Eucalyptus fastigata, Eucalyptus blaxlandii, Eucalyptus cypellocarpa and Eucalyptus radiata subsp. radiata. Other locally common trees include Eucalyptus oreades, Acacia melanoxylon and Eucalyptus viminalis. A thin to dense layer of shrubs, vines, and various understorey of native grasses, forbs, twiners and ferns exist. [2]

The wet sclerophyll parts of the ecoregion feature shrubs such as Polyscias sambucifolia, Coprosma quadrifida, Senecio linearifolius, Daviesia ulicifolia and Leucopogon lanceolatus, including vines such as, Eustrephus latifolius, Rubus parvifolius, Rubus rosifolius, Smilax australis, Hardenbergia violacea and Hibbertia scandens. Ferns include Pteridium esculentum, Blechnum cartilagineum and Pellaea falcata. [2]

The temperate rainforests feature plant species such as Ceratopetalum apetalum, Livistona australis, Acmena smithii, Acacia elata, Syncarpia glomulifera, Doryphora sassafras and Hedycarya angustifolia, with the dry rainforests containing Backhousia myrtifolia, Ficus rubiginosa, Rapanea variabilis and Alectryon subcinereus. [4]

Fauna

Mammals include wallabies, pademelons, native rats, Antechinus spp, Tachyglossus aculeatus, Vombatus ursinus, Macropus giganteus and Pteropus poliocephalus. Birds include Ninox strenua, Tyto tenebricosa, Monarcha melanopsis, Leucosarcia melanoleuca, Lopholaimus antarcticus, Chalcophaps indica, Macropygia amboinensis and Rhipidura rufifrons. Threatened reptile species is Varanus rosenbergi. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Mountains (New South Wales)</span> Mountain range in Australia

The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region is considered to be part of the western outskirts of the Greater Sydney area. The region borders on Sydney's main metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of centre of the state capital, close to Penrith. The public's understanding of the extent of the Blue Mountains is varied, as it forms only part of an extensive mountainous area associated with the Great Dividing Range. As defined in 1970, the Blue Mountains region is bounded by the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers in the east, the Coxs River and Lake Burragorang to the west and south, and the Wolgan and Colo rivers to the north. Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Mountains National Park</span> Protected area in New South Wales, Australia

The Blue Mountains National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 267,954-hectare (662,130-acre) national park is situated approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of the Sydney CBD, and the park boundary is quite irregular as it is broken up by roads, urban areas and areas of private property. Despite the name mountains, the area is an uplifted plateau, dissected by a number of larger rivers. The highest point in the park is Mount Werong at 1,215 metres (3,986 ft) above sea level; while the low point is on the Nepean River at 20 metres (66 ft) above sea level as it leaves the park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wollemi National Park</span> Protected area in New South Wales, Australia

The Wollemi National Park is a protected national park and wilderness area that is located in the Central West and Hunter region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 501,703-hectare (1,239,740-acre) park, the second largest national park in New South Wales, contains the 361,113-hectare (892,330-acre) Wollemi Wilderness – the largest such wilderness area in Australia – and is situated approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) northwest of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daarrba National Park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal Land)</span> Protected area in Queensland, Australia

Daarrba National Park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal Land) is a national park in Queensland, Australia. It is 1,602 km northwest of Brisbane. The national park was previously named Mount Webb National Park until it was renamed on 28 November 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sclerophyll</span> Type of plant

Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek sklēros (hard) and phyllon (leaf). The term was coined by A.F.W. Schimper in 1898, originally as a synonym of xeromorph, but the two words were later differentiated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Blue Mountains Area</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in New South Wales, Australia

The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The 1,032,649-hectare (2,551,730-acre) area was placed on the World Heritage List at the 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumberland Plain</span> Plain in Australia

The Cumberland Plain, also known as Cumberland Basin, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. An IBRA biogeographic region, Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the Permian-Triassic Sydney Basin found between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and it is a structural sub-basin of the Sydney Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Australian temperate forests</span> Ecoregion in Australia

The Eastern Australian temperate forests is a broad ecoregion of open forest on uplands starting from the east coast of New South Wales in the South Coast to southern Queensland, Australia. Although dry sclerophyll and wet sclerophyll eucalyptus forests predominate within this ecoregion, a number of distinguishable rainforest communities are present as well.

Tasmania can be broadly divided into two distinct regions, eastern and western, that exhibit major differences in climate, geology and vegetation. This divide, termed Tyler’s Corridor, runs from just south of the northwestern corner, and continues south, cutting roughly down the center of the island. The vegetation changes occur principally due to variations in soil types, which are a result of the geological composition, and the vast difference in climate across the state. Generally, the west has a higher mean rainfall but poor acidic soil while the east has a lower mean rainfall but slightly more fertile soil. This results in a larger proportion of rainforest, moorland and wet sclerophyll vegetation dominating in the west and predominantly dry sclerophyll in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Mountains Basalts</span>

Blue Mountains Basalts are igneous rocks occurring in the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia. This formation is up to 140 metres thick. Formed in the middle Miocene, some 17 million to 14 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumberland Plain Woodland</span> Indigenous woodland community in Sydney, Australia

The Cumberland Plain Woodland, also known as Cumberland Plain Bushland and Western Sydney woodland, is a grassy woodland community found predominantly in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that comprises an open tree canopy, a groundcover with grasses and herbs, usually with layers of shrubs and/or small trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland</span> Indigenous forest communities of Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland, also known as Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland and Hornsby Enriched Sandstone Exposed Woodland, is a shrubby woodland and mallee community situated in northern parts of Sydney, Australia, where it is found predominantly on ridgetops and slopes of the Hornsby Plateau, Woronora Plateau and the lower Blue Mountains area. It is an area of high biodiversity, existing on poor sandstone soils, with regular wildfires, and moderate rainfall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology of Sydney</span> Geographic aspect of Sydney, Australia

The ecology of Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia, is diverse for its size, where it would mainly feature biomes such as grassy woodlands or savannas and some sclerophyll forests, with some pockets of mallee shrublands, riparian forests, heathlands, and wetlands, in addition to small temperate and subtropical rainforest fragments.

Tully Training Area is a heritage-listed rainforest in a military training area at Tully-Cardstone Road, Tully, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeast Australia temperate forests</span> Terrestrial ecoregion in Australia

The Southeast Australia temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of south-eastern Australia. It includes the temperate lowland forests of southeastern Australia, at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range. Vegetation ranges from wet forests along the coast to dry forests and woodlands inland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Highlands Shale Forest and Woodland</span> Ecological community in New South Wales

The Southern Highlands Shale Forest and Woodland is a mixed grassy woodland and sclerophyll-temperate forest community situated within the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia. An ecotone featuring clay soils derived from Wianamatta Group, it is listed as an endangered ecological community by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as less than 5% of the original extent remains today. Three varieties of the Shale Woodland exist: ‘typical’, ‘tall wet’ and ‘short dry’.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shale Sandstone Transition Forest</span> Indigenous woodland community in Sydney, Australia

The Shale Sandstone Transition Forest, also known as Cumberland Shale-Sandstone Ironbark Forest, is a transitory ecotone between the grassy woodlands of the Cumberland Plain Woodlands and the dry sclerophyll forests of the sandstone plateaus on the edges of the Cumberland Plain in Sydney, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Mountains Shale Cap Forest</span> Ecological community in New South Wales

The Blue Mountains Shale Cap Forest is a wet-sclerophyll temperate forest community predominantly found in the Blue Mountains, particularly in the Wollemi National Park, and parts of the Hawkesbury in New South Wales, Australia.

References

  1. Blue Mountains Basalt Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Proposed description of Wet Sclerophyll Basalt Forests of the Sydney Basin Bioregion Ecological Community Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  3. 1 2 Blue Mountains Basalt Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile Office of Environment & Heritage by NSW Government. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Biodiversity - vegetation - Rainforests by Kate Hammill & Liz Tasker. Blue Mountains nature. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  5. Upland Basalt Eucalypt Forests of the Sydney Basin Bioregion Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  6. Vegetation (formations and classes) of the Greater Blue Mountain World Heritage Area Vegetation, fire and climate change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area by Kate Hammill & Liz Tasker, DECCW, 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2022.