Kurnell's Ecological Community- Threatened and Endangered Part 2

4. Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest

Swamp oak floodplain forest is found in small pockets of throughout Towra point Nature Reserve. The Scientific Committee is of the opinion that Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest of the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregions is likely to become extinct in nature in New South Wales unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate. Given the dynamic hydrological relationship between Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest, Coastal Saltmarsh and other endangered ecological communities on coastal floodplains, future management of water and tidal flows may result in the expansion of some communities at the expense of others. Very few examples of Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest remain unaffected by weeds. The causes of weed invasion include physical disturbance to the vegetation structure of the community, dumping of landfill rubbish and garden refuse, polluted runoff from urban and agricultural areas and construction of roads and other utilities. Anthropogenic climate change may also threaten Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest if sea levels rise as predicted or if future flooding regimes are affected (IPCC 2001, Hughes 2003).

Sources

Hughes L (2003) Climate change and Australia: trends, projections and impacts. Austral Ecology 28, 423-443.

IPCC (2001) Climate change 2001: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Report from Working Group II. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva

Swamp oak floodplain forest of the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregions - endangered ecological community listing http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/SwampOakFloodplainEndSpListing.htm

5. Freshwater Wetlands

Freshwater wetlands are ecosystems that are affected by permanent or temporary inundation. They play a crucial role in the regulation of water flow water quality to whole catchments, are key habitat for fauna (including migratory species) and provide refuge for fauna during droughts. Freshwater wetlands are highly productive environments that support an abundance of micro-invertebrates, crustaceans, fish, frogs and water birds. They have been altered dramatically by humans, via draining and aeration of fertile soils into productive cropping lands or urban development. Freshwater wetlands continue to be degraded, reduced in area, while many communities have experienced a change in composition, structure and functioning.

Sources

Department of Environment and Conservation N.S.W, Freshwater wetlands on coastal floodplains - Sydney Metro: Distribution and vegetation associations in the Sydney Metro

http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile_data.aspx?id=10929&cma=Sydney+Metro

Concluding notes

A 2009 Senate report into the operations of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 has stated that major scientific studies conducted on Australia’s fauna, flora and ecosystems all indicate that significant ecosystem degradation is occurring across Australia, including the decline in numbers of numerous species with some facing extinction. The report cites Professor David Lindenmayer, a prominent ecologist who has described Australia, when surveying the state of Australian biodiversity, as a leader in environmental degradation, with many species on “an extinction trajectory”.  Moreover the 2006 State of the Environment Report contends that Australia’s ecosystems are experiencing a massive decline in biodiversity. In New South Wales the Department of Climate Change and Water (DECCW) is responsible for protecting and conserving biodiversity, including threatened species. In NSW alone, more than 1000 native species, populations and ecological communities are listed as threatened with extinction.

The Australian environment has been modified dramatically since settlement with Australia holding the dubious record for the world’s highest number of mammal extinctions and 75 per cent of its rainforests have been decimated. Kurnell, like the rest of Australia, has suffered this dramatic modification of its ecological communities however unlike the rest of Australia it is still today exposed to industry operations (including the oil refinery which is deemed a "noxious industry" ) and its environment continues to suffer the consequences of industrialisation and urbanisation. For this reason, Kurnell's fragile ecological communities (as described in these posts) is in particular need of political attention and action.