Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest - endangered ecological community listing

11 Sep 1998

The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list the Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion as an ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY on Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the Act. The listing of endangered ecological communities is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.

This Determination has been superseded by the 2014 Determination (Critically endangered ecological community listing).

NSW Scientific Committee - final determination

The Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest (SSTF) is the name given to the plant community characterised by the species assemblage listed in paragraph 4, which occurs on areas transitional between the clay soils derived from Wianamatta Shale and the sandy soils derived from Hawkesbury Sandstone on the margins of the Cumberland Plain. All sites are within the Sydney Basin Bioregion. (The community is identified and discussed in UBBS (1997) under the name Western Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest. Most of the UBBS Eastern Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest is attributable to Cooks River Clay Plain Scrub Forest.)

2. SSTF occurs or has occurred in the Bankstown, Baulkham Hills, Blue Mountains, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith, and Wollondilly Local Government Areas (LGAs).

3. The floristic composition of the community includes species otherwise characteristic of, or occurring in, either sandstone or shale habitats. The structure of the community is forest or woodland.

4. SSTF is characterised by an assemblage of species:

Acacia brownii
Acacia decurrens
Acacia falcata
Acacia implexa
Acacia parramattensis
Acacia parvipinnula
Allocasuarina littoralis
Allocasuarina torulosa
Angophora bakeri
Angophora costata
Angophora floribunda
Aristida vagans
Arthropodium milleflorum
Astrotricha latifolia
Banksia spinulosa
Bossiaea obcordata
Bossiaea prostrata
Bracteata bracteantha
Breynia oblongifolia
Bursaria spinosa
Calotis cuneifolia
Cheilanthes sieberi
Chenopodium carinatum
Corymbia eximia
Corymbia gummifera
Corymbia maculata
Cryptandra amara
Cymbopogon refractus
Danthonia tenuior
Daviesia ulicifolia
Dianella prunina
Dodonaea triquetra
Einadia hastata
Entolasia stricta
Eragrostis brownii
Eremophila debilis
Eucalyptus agglomerata
Eucalyptus beyeriana
Eucalyptus crebra
Eucalyptus eugenioides
Eucalyptus fibrosa
Eucalyptus globoidea
Eucalyptus haemastoma
Eucalyptus moluccana
Eucalyptus notabilis
Eucalyptus oblonga
Eucalyptus paniculata
Eucalyptus pilularis
Eucalyptus punctata
Eucalyptus resinifera
Eucalyptus sclerophylla
Eucalyptus siderophloia
Eucalyptus sparsifolia
Eucalyptus squamosa
Eucalyptus tereticornis
Euchiton sphaericus
Exocarpos cuppressiformis
Exocarpos strictus
Glycine clandestina
Gompholobium grandiflorum
Goodenia hederacea
Grevillea mucronulata
Hakea dactyloides
Hakea sericea
Hardenbergia violacea
Hibbertia aspera
Hibbertia diffusa
Hypericum gramineum
Indigofera australis
Kunzea ambigua
Lasiopetalum parviflorum
Lepidosperma laterale
Leptospermum trinervium
Leucopogon juniperinus
Leucopogon lanceolatus
Leucopogon microphyllus
Leucopogon muticus
Lomandra filiformis
Lomandra longifolia
Lomatia silaifolia
Melaleuca thymifolia
Microlaeana stipoides
Microlaeana stipoides
Olearia microphylla
Ozothamnus diosmifolius
Persoonia linearis
Phyllanthus gasstroemii
Phyllanthus hirtellus
Pimelea linifolia
Platylobium formosum
Poa labillardieri
Poa sieberiana
Pomax umbellata
Pratia purpurascens
Pultenaea flexilis
Pultenaea villosa
Siegesbeckia orientalis
Solanum prinophyllum
Sporobolus creber
Stackhousia muricata
Stellaria flaccida
Styphelia laeta
Syncarpia glomulifera
Themeda australis
Vernonia cinerea
Wahlenbergia gracilis

Not all these species will be present in every single stand, and the total species list from all stands of the community is considerably larger than that listed above. Depending on the disturbance history of a particular site a proportion of the species may be present only in the soil seed bank.

5. Characteristic tree species in SSTF are; Eucalyptus punctata, Eucalyptus resinifera, one of the stringybarks (Eucalyptus globoidea, Eucalyptus eugenioides, Eucalyptus sparsifolia, Eucalyptus agglomerata). One or more ironbarks (Eucalyptus fibrosa, Eucalyptus crebra, Eucalyptus paniculata, Eucalyptus beyeriana) may be locally important.

6. SSTF has an understorey which may be either grassy and herbaceous or of a shrubby nature. In areas that have not been burnt for an extended period of time the understorey may be dense.

7. Species composition varies between sites depending on geographical location and local conditions (e.g., topography, relative influence of sandstone or shale).

8. SSTF provides habitat for a number of plant species recognised as being of national, state or regional conservation significance in UBBS (1997). These include:

Acacia irrorata
Acacia leiocalyx
Acacia lunata (formerly part of A. buxifolia)
Arthropodium milleflorum
Bossiaea prostrata
Bothriochloa decipiens
Bothriochloa macra
Calotis dentex
Centaurium spicatum
Chamaesyce dallachyana
Cyperus laevis
Danthonia racemosa
Darwinia biflora
Dichelachne crinita
Digitaria ramularis
Einadia trigonos
Entolasia stricta var hirsuta
Epacris purpurascens var purpurascens
Eucalyptus globoidea
Eucalyptus pilularis
Eucalyptus squamosa
Glycine microphylla
Gompholobium huegelii
Gonocarpus longifolius
Lasiopetalum ferrugineum
Lepidium pseudohyssopifolium
Leucopogon juniperinus
Leucopogon juniperinus
Mentha satureioides
Oxalis perennans
Persoonia hirsuta
Phyllanthus similis
Platylobium formosum
Polymeria calycina
Prostanthera incisa
Pterostylis saxicola
Pultenaea scabra var biloba
Scaevola albida
Senecio hispidulus
Solenogyne bellioides
Sporobolus creber
Stackhousia muricata
Tetratheca glandulosa
Thysanotus juncifolius
Thysanotus tuberosus
Viola betonicifolia

9. SSTF generally occurs on soils derived from a shallow shale or clay material overlying sandstone, or where shale-derived materials has washed down over sandstone-derived substrate. Such sites are generally close to the geological boundary between the Wianamatta Shale and the Hawkesbury Sandstone.

10. SSTF occurs on plateaux and hillsides and at the margins of shale cappings over sandstone.

11. Many occurrences of SSTF are as linear stands, which may be as narrow as 20 metres. The small size and scattered distribution of the remnant stands of the community makes provision of a comprehensive map of occurrences impractical. Details of the distribution of many stands are provided in UBBS (1997).

12. Adjacent communities on shale soils are generally Cumberland Plain Woodland, while adjacent communities on sandstone soils are generally part of the Sydney Sandstone Complex (sensu Benson & Howell 1990).

13. Small areas of SSTF are presently included in only three conservation reserves, Blue Mountains National Park, Cattai National Park and Gulguer Nature Reserve.

14. A large proportion of the area where SSTF occurred in the past has been cleared for agriculture and urban development. Remnants are small and scattered. Identified threats include: clearing, physical damage from recreational activities, rubbish dumping, grazing, mowing and weed invasion.

15. In view of the small size of existing remnants the threat of further clearing and other threatening processes, the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that SSTF in the Sydney Basin Bioregion is likely to become extinct in nature unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival cease to operate and that listing as an endangered ecological community is warranted.

Proposed gazettal date: 11/9/98
Exhibition period: 11/9/98 to 23/10/98

References

UBBS (1997) - Urban Bushland Biodiversity Survey, National Parks and Wildlife Service

Benson, D.H. and Howell, J. (1990), Taken for granted: the bushland of Sydney and its suburbs (Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst)

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