Ecology Of Sydney

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 rainforest fragments.

There are 79 vegetation communities in the Sydney metropolitan area that are identified, described and mapped. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soil influence the dispersion of these ecological communities across a height gradient from . There are many hiking trails, paved and unpaved roads for exploring the many different biomes and ecosystems.

Savannas (or grassy woodlands), the most predominant biome in the Sydney region, 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. 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.

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.

Historical description

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.

In 1819, British settler William Wentworth described Sydney's vegetation and landform in great detail:

For the distance of to 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, along side 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 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.

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".

Biomes

*Rainforests
**North Coast Warm Temperate Rainforests – Dominated by ''Ceratopetalum apetalum'', ''Doryphora sassafras'' and ''Acmena smithii'', it is scarcely present in the RNP and Hacking River valley in around Sutherland in southern Sydney, and predominant in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and Turramurra in Northern Sydney, near Hornsby.
** Dry Rainforests or Western Sydney Dry Rainforest – It is very thinly distributed across the dry areas to the south of Blue Mountains and in small portions in Calmsley Hill Farm in Western Sydney Parklands, near Abbotsbury, New South Wales, and as well as in the Camden area, but in fragments. They have ''Alectryon subcinereus'' as one of the tree covers and '' Clerodendrum tomentosum'' as shrubby covers.
**Littoral Rainforests – Dominated by ''Acmena smithii'', '' Ficus rubiginosa'', and ''Elaeodendron australe'', it occurs in sporadic areas in northern Illawarra to Royal National Park (near Bundeena and in Towra Point Nature Reserve in Sutherland Shire), and also in one diminutive area in Northern Beaches Council ( Mona Vale) in the Northern Suburbs to Newcastle.
*Wet scleropyhll forests
**North Coast Wet Sclerophyll Forests – Dominated by tall '' Eucalyptus saligna'' and ''Eucalyptus pilularis'', karrabina, peppermints, ''Eucalyptus oreades'' and '' Eucalyptus globulus'', and receiving high amount of rainfall (above 1000 mm), it is present in Ku-ring-gai Council, Hornsby Shire, Narrabeen, Lane Cove, Pennant Hills and Castle Hill in the north, and in the Illawara region, with small portions in Ryde, North Parramatta and Pittwater.
***The Blue Gum High Forest – Strictly found in northern parts of Sydney, it is a wet sclerophyll forest where the annual rainfall is over 1100 mm (43 in), with its trees between 20 and 40 metres tall.
**Northern Hinterland Wet Sclerophyll Forests – Dominated by ''Eucalyptus resinifera'' and '' Syncarpia glomulifera'', it was once extensive on the north shore across the local government areas of Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Ryde, Willoughby, Lane Cove, Parramatta, Baulkham Hills and Blacktown to the north of Sydney, with small outliers in Menai, Bankstown and Auburn in the southwest.Auburn Council 2004, Auburn Council State of the Environment Report 2003-2004. Auburn Council, Auburn
*** Sydney turpentine ironbark forest – Characterized by thick shrubs and dominated by Syncarpia glomulifera, it is a tall open forest with trees as high as 30 metres and is found on shale and shale-meliorated soils found in small pockets at Campbelltown, Heathcote and Menai.
**Southern Lowland Wet Sclerophyll Forests – Containing '' Corymbia maculata'', it is found in upper Narrabeen, Pittwater, Woronora and Illawara, as well as on the foreshores of Hacking, Parramatta and Georges Rivers.
*Grassy Woodlands/Savannas
** Cumberland Plain Woodland – These are shrub and grass eucalyptus communities located in areas of low to moderate rainfall (less than 950 millimetres annually) and are most commonly found in large parts of the Sydney metropolitan area, namely in Western Sydney or the Cumberland Plain. ''Moist Shale Woodlands'' also exist within this biome, but they are distinguished by their lusher plant habitats. It is a dry woodland remnant containing waxy-leaved shrubs, twiners, herbs and small trees in a grassy understorey. It has a number of sub-regions: ''Moist Shale Woodlands, Western Sydney dry rainforest, and ''Shale sandstone transition forest'', among others.
*Dry sclerophyll forests
**Sydney Coastal Dry Sclerophyll Forests – Predominant on the northeast parts of the Woronora Plateau on ridgelines within the Royal, Heathcote and Dharawal national parks and Garawarra State Conservation Area in southern Sydney. It is also present in north of Sydney Harbour and extends to both sides of the Hawkesbury River in Northern Beaches and Hornsby LGA's and Pennant Hills.
**Sydney Hinterland Dry Sclerophyll Forests – Found in the drier parts (less than 950 mm) of the Woronora Plateau, also in Appin, Sandy Point, pockets in the southwestern edges of the Cumberland Plain (on the doorsteps of the Blue Mountains), and on the foreshores of the Hawkesbury River, it features 10–25 m tall eucalyptus trees with ostensible sclerophyll shrub understorey and open groundcover of sclerophyll sedges.
*** Cooks River/Castlereagh ironbark forest – Found in Castlereagh and Holsworthy, and a few remnants in the cities of Auburn, Bankstown and Liverpool, it is an ironbark shrub-grass forest located in western Sydney that sit on gravelly-clay soils and is made up of a moderately tall open eucalyptus forest or woodland to a low compact brush of paperbarks with nascent eucalypts. Broad-leaved ironbark ('' Eucalyptus fibrosa'') is the most commonly spotted tree.
**Sydney Sand Flats Dry Sclerophyll Forests – Present in northern Holsworthy with smaller examples at Rookwood and Villawood and is dominated by '' Eucalyptus sclerophylla''.
**Coastal Dune Dry Sclerophyll Forests – Examples are found at Bundeena, Kurnell and La Perouse in southern Sydney containing a collection of sclerophyllous shrub and heath species and a ferny ground cover.
*Heathlands
**Wallum Sand Heaths – Present in Pleistocene sand dunes sitting high on sandstone cliff tops between Bundeena in Royal NP, Woollahra, Kurnell peninsula, Narrabeen and Sydney Heads which contain ''Allocasuarina distyla'', '' Banksia serrata'' and '' Banksia aemula''. There are also a wide variety of woody species such as tea-trees, grevilleas, peas and wattles. The ground layer comprises on open cover of sedges and forbs.
** Sydney Coastal Heaths – Found extensively in the Sydney metropolitan area and in the eastern parts of the Woronora and Hornsby plateaus particularly in Royal and Ku-ring-gai national parks with prominence of ''Eucalyptus luehmanniana''.DEC 2004, ''Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Endangered Ecological Community Recovery Plan.'' NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, Hurstville. Heaths on coastal headlands are found in and around Garie Beach on the outskirts of southern Sydney, near Royal NP.
*Scrublands/Shrublands
**Elderslie Banksia Scrub Forest – A critically endangered scrubby woodland community situated in southwestern Sydney that features a variety of stunted forest or woodland found on sandy substrates associated with deep Tertiary sand deposits. It has been reduced in extent of at least 90% of its original pre-European extent.Conservation Advice1 for the Elderslie Banksia
by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
**Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands

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