The ecology of Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia, is diverse for its size, [1] 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 rainforest fragments. [2] [3]
There are 79 vegetation communities in the Sydney metropolitan area that are identified, described and mapped. [4] The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soil influence the dispersion of these ecological communities across a height gradient from 0 to 200 metres (0 to 700 ft). [5] There are many hiking trails, paved and unpaved roads for exploring the many different biomes and ecosystems. [6] [7] [8]
Savannas (or grassy woodlands), the most predominant biome in the Sydney region, [9] mainly occur in the Cumberland Plain west of Sydney CBD, which generally feature eucalyptus trees that are usually in open, dry sclerophyll woodland areas with shrubs (typically wattles, callistemons, grevilleas and banksias) and sparse grass in the understory, reminiscent of Mediterranean forests. [10] The plants in this community tend to have rough and spiky leaves, as they are grown in areas with low soil fertility.
Wet sclerophyll forests, which are part of Eastern Australian temperate forests, have narrow, relatively tall, dense trees with a lush, moist understory of fleecy shrubs and tree ferns. They are mainly found in the wetter areas, such as Forest District and the North Shore. [11]
It has been calculated that around 98,000 hectares of native vegetation remains in the Sydney metropolitan area, shaping the geography of Sydney, about half of what is likely to have been existing at the time of European arrival. [12]
In 1787, Arthur Bowes Smyth from the First Fleet described the landscape as "...fresh terraced, lawns and grottos with distinct plantations of the tallest and most stately trees I ever saw in any nobleman's grounds in England, cannot excel in beauty those whose nature now presented to our view." Furthermore, early settlers compared the landscapes to the manicured parks of England which also featured well-spaced trees and a grassy understorey. [13]
In 1819, British settler William Wentworth described Sydney's vegetation and landform in great detail:
The colony of New South Wales possesses every variety of soil, from the sandy heath, and the cold hungry clay, to the fertile loam and the deep vegetable mould. For the distance of 5 mi (8.0 km) to 6 mi (9.7 km) from the coast, the land is in general extremely barren, being a poor hungry sand, thickly studded with rocks. A few miserable stunted gums, and a dwarf underwood, are the richest productions of the best part of it; while the rest never gives birth to a tree at all, and is only covered with low flowering shrubs, whose infinite diversity, however, and extraordinary beauty, render this wild heath the most interesting part of the country for the botanist, and make even the less scientific beholder forget the nakedness and sterility of the scene.
Beyond this barren waste, which thus forms a girdle to the coast, the country suddenly begins to improve. The soil changes to a thin layer of vegetable mould, resting on a stratum of yellow clay, which is again supported by a deep bed of schistus. The trees of the forest are here of the most stately dimensions. Full sized gums and iron barks, alongside of which the loftiest trees in this country would appear as pigmies, with the beefwood tree, or as it is generally termed, the forest oak, which is of much humbler growth, are the usual timber. The forest is extremely thick, but there is little or no underwood.
At this distance, however, the aspect of the country begins rapidly to improve. The forest is less thick, and the trees in general are of another description; the iron barks, yellow gums, and forest oaks disappearing, and the stringy barks, blue gums, and box trees, generally usurping their stead. When you have advanced about 4 mi (6.4 km) further into the interior, you are at length gratified with the appearance of a country truly beautiful. An endless variety of hill and dale, clothed in the most luxuriant herbage, and covered with bleating flocks and lowing herds, at length indicate that you are in regions fit to be inhabited by civilized man. The soil has no longer the stamp of barrenness. A rich loam resting on a substratum of fat red clay, several feet in depth, is found even on the tops of the highest hills, which in general do not yield in fertility to the valleys. The timber, strange as it may appear, is of inferior size, though still of the same nature, i. e. blue gum, box, and stringy bark. There is no underwood, and the number of trees upon an acre do not upon an average exceed thirty. They are, in fact, so thin, that a person may gallop without difficulty in every direction. [14]
In 1827, Peter Cunningham described the western plains of Sydney as "a fine timbered country, perfectly clear of bush...without any impediment in the shape of rocks, scrubs, or close forest". [15]
The most widespread eucalyptus species in the Sydney region include: [33]
Non-eucalyptus tree species:
Common shrub species include, but are not limited to:
Introduced shrubs and/or vines that are invasive species): [56]
Due to the microclimate, the plant hardiness zone in the Sydney area would range: [57]
The fauna of the Sydney area is diverse and its urban area is home to variety of bird and insect species, and also a few bat, arachnid and amphibian species. Introduced birds such as the house sparrow, common myna and feral pigeon are ubiquitous in the CBD areas of Sydney. [58] [59] Moreover, possums, bandicoots, rabbits, feral cats, lizards, snakes and frogs may also be present in the urban environment, albeit seldom in city centers. [60]
About 40 species of reptiles are found in the Sydney region and 30 bird species exist in the urban areas. [61] [62] [63] Sydney's outer suburbs, namely those adjacent to large parks, have a great diversity of wildlife. [64] Since European settlement and the subsequent bushland clearing for the increasing population, 60% of the original mammals are now considered endangered or vulnerable, and many reptile species are experiencing population diminution and are becoming elusive. [65]
This list includes bird species that are widespread in the Sydney metropolitan area: [66]
Although not commonly spotted, these birds are also present in Sydney: [63]
This list includes mammal, reptile and amphibian species that are spotted in the Sydney urban area: [67] [68]
This list includes insect, spider and centipede species that are commonly present in Sydney: [69]
The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire local government area in the southern portion of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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.
The geography of Sydney is characterised by its coastal location on a basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline on the east coast of New South Wales, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the Sydney sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.
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.
Eucalyptus botryoides, commonly known as the bangalay, bastard jarrah, woollybutt or southern mahogany, is a small to tall tree native to southeastern Australia. Reaching up to 40 metres high, it has rough bark on its trunk and branches. It is found on sandstone- or shale-based soils in open woodland, or on more sandy soils behind sand dunes. The white flowers appear in summer and autumn. It reproduces by resprouting from its woody lignotuber or epicormic buds after bushfire. E. botryoides hybridises with the Sydney blue gum in the Sydney region. The hard, durable wood has been used for panelling and flooring.
The Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest (STIF) is a wet sclerophyll forest community of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is typically found in the Inner West and Northern region of Sydney. It is also among the three of these plant communities which have been classified as Endangered, under the New South Wales government's Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, with only around 0.5% of its original pre-settlement range remaining.
Cumberland State Forest is a wet sclerophyll forest in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the southern edge of the Hornsby Plateau, the forest is located in the suburb of West Pennant Hills, Sydney and contains 40 hectares of native forest. It is the only metropolitan state forest in Australia and it is considered unique in comparison to the other state forests of NSW. The forest receives about 150,000 visitors annually.
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.
The Southern Sydney sheltered forest, or the Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest (SSGF), is a vegetation community found in Sydney, Australia that comprises an open forest composition grading into woodland or scrub, typically within gullies. The community is normally associated with sheltered heads and upper inclines of gullies on transitional zones where sandstone outcropping may be present.
Western Sydney Regional Park is a large urban park and a nature reserve situated in Western Sydney, Australia within the suburbs of Horsley Park and Abbotsbury. A precinct of Western Sydney Parklands, a park system, and situated within the heart of the Cumberland Plain Woodland, the regional park features several picnic areas, recreational facilities, equestrian trails, and walking paths within the Australian bush.
The Dharawal National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 6,508-hectare (16,080-acre) national park is situated between the Illawarra Range and the Georges River and is approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) south west of Sydney. There are three entry points to the park: from the east through Darkes Forest; from the north through Wedderburn; and from the south through Appin.
The Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest (CRCIF) is a scattered, dry sclerophyll, open-forest to low woodland and scrubland which occurs predominantly in the Cumberland subregion of the Sydney basin bioregion, between Castlereagh and Holsworthy, as well as around the headwaters of the Cooks River. The Cooks River Clay Plain Scrub Forest is a component of this ecological community, though both belong to a larger occurring community called the Temperate Eucalyptus fibrosa/Melaleuca decora woodland.
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.
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.
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.
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’.
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.
The Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, which also incorporates Sydney Coastal Heaths, is a remnant sclerophyll scrubland and heathland that is found in the eastern and southern regions of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as and endangered vegetation community and as 'critically endangered' under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub is found on ancient, nutrient poor sands either on dunes or on promontories. Sydney coastal heaths are a scrubby heathland found on exposed coastal sandstone plateau in the south.
The Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands is an endangered sclerophyll low-woodland and shrubland community found in western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Vegetation comprises low woodlands with sclerophyllous shrubs and an uneven ground layer of graminoids and forbs.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help){{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)