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Particular botanical sites have always been attractive to botanists, and the recording of such sites even in an ad hoc way, adds to our long-term documentation of ecological change. Here we look at records from an unusual dry rainforest site in western Sydney, first recognised in 1910, and re-recorded on several occasions more recently. Though the site has little formal conservation protection, the records indicate that many of the original species still survive at the site, while the periodic recording draws attention to the scientific value of the site, particularly at a local level, and has increased its value as an ecological reference site. Much of the vegetation of the Cumberland Plain has been subject to major clearing and disturbance over the past 200 years, and almost all vegetation is recovering in some way. Repeated visits are valuable for getting a complete picture of the flora; repeated visits by the same botanist over the shorter term (e.g. within a few years) may also be valuable, especially as the revisiting botanist may be more likely to notice changes. By documenting sites now, and continuing this over future years; we can enhance the value of many existing sites.
Newnes Plateau Shrub Swamps are a series of low nutrient temperate montane peat swamps around 1100 m elevation in the upper Blue Mountains, west of Sydney (lat 33° 23’ S; long 150° 13’E). Transect-based vegetation studies show a closely related group of swamps with expanses of permanently moist, gently sloping peatlands. Vegetation patterns are related to surface hydrology and subsurface topography, which determine local peat depth. While there is evidence that a group of the highest elevation swamps on the western side of the Plateau are more dependent on rainwater, the majority of swamps, particularly those in the Carne Creek catchment, and east and south of it, may beconsidered primarily groundwater dependent with a permanently high watertable maintained by groundwater aquifers. An integral part of the swamps are a number of threatened groundwater dependent biota (plants–Boronia deanei subsp. deanei, Dillwynia stipulifera, dragonfly– Petalura gigantea, lizard– Eulamprus leuraensis), which are obligate swamp dwellers. This association of dependence leaves the entire swamp ecosystem highly susceptible to threats from any loss of groundwater, the current major one being the impact of damage to the confining aquicludes, aquitards, aquifers and peat substrates as a result of subsidence associated with longwall mining. Impacts on the swamps may also result from changes to hydrology through damming of creeks, mine waste water discharge, increased moisture competition from pine plantations, recreational motorbike and off-road vehicle tracks and climate change. If these groundwater dependent ecosystems do not receive protection from activities such as longwall mining subsidence, significant ecological damage is unlikely to be avoided or able to be mitigated even where provisions of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation and NSW Threatened Species Conservation Acts apply to groundwater dependent swamps and biota. The importance of the highest elevation part of the Plateau for a number of restricted (some endemic) plant species is also discussed.