The Coastal Upland Swamps are critically endangered

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

areas scattered in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

area and the

Illawarra Escarpment The Illawarra escarpment, or officially the Illawarra Range, is the fold-created cliffs and plateau-eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The range enclose ...

which feature flora and fauna associated with sporadically marshy soils on the

Hawkesbury sandstone Sydney sandstone, also known as the Hawkesbury sandstone, yellowblock, and yellow gold, is a sedimentary rock named after Sydney, and the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this sandstone is particularly common. It forms the bedrock f ...

plateaus.COASTAL UPLAND SWAMPS IN THE SYDNEY BASIN BIOREGION: DRAFT DESCRIPTION

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

. Retrieved 14 September 2022. It occurs in the eastern Sydney area from the Somersby district in the north to

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

in the south.Coastal Upland Swamp in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile

Office of Environment & Heritage The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), a former division of the Government of New South Wales between April 2011 and July 2019, was responsible for the care and protection of the environment and heritage, which includ ...

. Retrieved 14 September 2022.

Geography

In the south, the community is present on the Woronora Plateau with shallow groundwater

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

s and in the north it is found on the Somersby-

Hornsby Plateau The Hornsby Plateau is a dissected sandstone plateau lying to the north of Sydney Harbour that rises 200 metres. The plateau is a part of the larger Sydney Basin structure. Geography The North Shore and the Berowra Valley National Park are loc ...

s, where it occurs on impervious sandstone plateaus and acidic soils in the headwater valleys of watercourses, and on sandstone plateaus with plentiful flowing moisture and are related to weathered

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

lenses and

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

. They occur in damp areas, such as in the Illawarra escarpment, as the slope creates

orographic rainfall In meteorology, the different types of precipitation often include the character, formation, or phase of the precipitation which is falling to ground level. There are three distinct ways that precipitation can occur. Convective precipitation is ...

, fog and increased cloud cover, which successively decreases evaporation. The southern part of its spacing is detached from the north by an area of non-sandstone substrates, lower rainfall and lower elevation, and by the urban development of Sydney. They are found in elevations from to approximately above sea level, although the majority of them occur between . The largest swamp is just above while 42% of the mapped swamps are less than .

Ecology

Vegetation variety include open

graminoid In botany and ecology, a graminoid refers to a herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology, i.e., elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves. They are contrasted with forbs, herbaceous plants without grass-like features. The plants most ...

heath,

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

, closed scrubs, closed heaths, ferns, and tall scrub, in addition to

microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in ...

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

, and

cryptogamic A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being Multicellular organism, multicellular, Photosynthesis, photosynthetic, and pr ...

plants.

Animals

The Australian crayfish, hairy crayfish and Sydney crayfish are plenteous in the community, and as well as the

Green and golden bell frog The green and golden bell frog (''Ranoidea aurea''), also named the green bell frog, green and golden swamp frog and green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to eastern Australia. Despite its classification and climbing abi ...

, Red-crowned toadlet, giant dragonfly and the

giant burrowing frog The giant burrowing frog or eastern owl frog (''Heleioporus australiacus'') is a large frog species that occurs in coastal south-east New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria in Australia. It is also known as the owl frog, southern ow ...

. Other tetrapods include Wallabia bicolor,

Varanus rosenbergi The Rosenberg's monitor (''Varanus rosenbergi'') is an Australian species of varanid reptile found in southern regions of the continent. They are large and fast predators with rugged bodies and long tails, having a combined length up to 1.5 metr ...

, Antechinus stuartii and Rattus lutreolus. Birds include Phylidonyris novaehollandiae, Stipiturus malachurus, Stagonopleura bella and Pezoporus wallicus.

References

{{Sydneybushland Wetlands of New South Wales Swamps of Australia Landforms of New South Wales Geography of Sydney Endangered ecological communities Vegetation of Australia Ecoregions of New South Wales Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands