The Shale Sandstone Transition Forest, also known as Cumberland Shale-Sandstone Ironbark Forest, is a transitory
ecotone
An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...
between the grassy woodlands of the
Cumberland Plain Woodland
The Cumberland Plain Woodland, also known as Cumberland Plain Bushland and Western Sydney woodland,sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...
forests of the sandstone plateaus on the edges of the
Cumberland Plain
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 ...
in
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 ...
, Australia.
Listed in 2001 under the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...
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 ...
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 ...
substrates that grade with sandy soils from sandstone, the community is found in
western Sydney
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that ...
on the bounds of the Cumberland Plain (in particular the southern boundary), and as well as on the sandstone-filled Hornsby,
Woronora
Woronora is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woronora is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Sutherland S ...
, and the Lower Blue Mountains plateau which edges the plain, although it is less prevalent at this area. In the
Cumberland Plain
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 ...
, it will grade into the
Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community
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 and , as well as arou ...
, which is a forest-scrub ecoregion.
Only 22.6% of its original extent remaining today and reminiscent of a
forest–savanna mosaic
Forest–savanna mosaic is a transitory ecotone between the tropical moist broadleaf forests of Equatorial Africa and the drier savannas and open woodlands to the north and south of the forest belt. The forest–savanna mosaic consists of drier ...
, the area lies on the transition between shales and sandstones of the Wianamatta and Hawkesbury Groups, including the transitional
Mittagong Formation
The Mittagong Formation is a sedimentary rock unit in the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia.
Formation
Laid down in the Triassic Period, it may be seen as an interval of interbedded fine-grained sandstone and shale between the Ashfield Shale ...
. The community is situated in an area that receives an annual rainfall between 800mm and 1100mm at an elevations less than 200 m above sea level, but may occur at about 600 m ASL at its southern extent in the Southern Highlands.
Ecology
The community is predominated by forest or woodland with an overstorey that features several
Eucalypt
Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia:
''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
species and an
understorey
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above ...
that consists of sclerophyll shrubs, grasses and herbs. Zones that are proximate to sandstone may have a more shrubby understorey, while those with less sandstone would feature more herbs and grasses in the understorey. The canopy consists of trees that reach 20 m on average, with a projective foliage cover of roughly 20%.
Species include
Eucalyptus punctata
''Eucalyptus punctata'', commonly known as grey gum, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has smooth grey bark that is shed in patches, lance-shaped, curved or egg-shaped adult leaves flower buds in groups of ...
,
Eucalyptus crebra
''Eucalyptus crebra'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved ironbark, narrow-leaved red ironbark or simply ironbark, and as muggago in the indigenous Tharawal, Dharawal language, is a species of small to medium-sized tree Endemism, endemic to east ...
,
Eucalyptus fibrosa
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, includin ...
,
Eucalyptus tereticornis
''Eucalyptus tereticornis'', commonly known as forest red gum, blue gum or red irongum, is a species of tree that is native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in grou ...
,
Eucalyptus resinifera
''Eucalyptus resinifera'', commonly known as red mahogany or red messmate, is a species of medium-sized to tall tree Endemism, endemic to coastal areas of eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy or fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance ...
,
Eucalyptus eugenioides
''Eucalyptus eugenioides'', commonly known as the thin-leaved stringybark or white stringybark, is a species of tree endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small to medium-sized tree with rough stringy bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, Fl ...
,
Eucalyptus globoidea
''Eucalyptus globoidea'', commonly known as the white stringybark, is a tree that is endemic to near-coastal areas of south-eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy bark, often furrowed on the trunk, glossy, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, often curv ...
and
Angophora bakeri
''Angophora bakeri'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, w ...
, in addition to smaller trees like
Allocasuarina littoralis
''Allocasuarina littoralis'', commonly known as black she-oak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is dioecious, or less commonly a monoecious tree or shrub, that has its leaves redu ...
and
Syncarpia glomulifera
''Syncarpia glomulifera'', commonly known as the turpentine tree, or yanderra, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can reach in height. It generally grows on heavier soils. The cream fl ...
.
Shrubs include
Bursaria spinosa
''Bursaria spinosa'' is a small tree or shrub in the family Pittosporaceae. The species occurs mainly in the eastern and southern half of Australia and not in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Reaching 10 m (35 ft) high, it ...
,
Kunzea ambigua
''Kunzea ambigua'', commonly known as white kunzea, poverty bush or tick bush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is found mainly on sandstone soils in eastern Australia. Growing up to high and wide, it bears small white flowers in s ...
Dichondra repens
''Dichondra repens'', commonly known as kidney weed, Mercury Bay weed, tom thumb, or yilibili in the Dharawal language, is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae and is native to Australia, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean is ...
,
Entolasia marginata
''Entolasia marginata'', known as the bordered panic grass, is a species of grass found in eastern Australia, tropical Asia and the Pacific region.
It can grow up to 0.8 metres tall when freestanding, but may even reach in excess of two metres ...
,
Entolasia stricta
''Entolasia stricta'', commonly known as wiry panic, is a species of ''right angled'' grass in the family Poaceae. It is found in eastern Australia on sandy or sandstone-based soils. The leaves are inrolled or curved inwards and somewhat rough t ...
Themeda triandra
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''Themeda triandra'' is a species of perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and ...
Saccolaimus flaviventris
The yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat (''Saccolaimus flaviventris''), also known as the yellow-bellied sheathtail or yellow-bellied pouched bat, is a microbat species of the family Emballonuridae found extensively in Australia and less commonly in ...