Cunninghamia : A Journal of Plant Ecology for Eastern Australia, Volume 7, Issue 4 (2002)
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George Caley (1770–1829) collected plant specimens for Joseph Banks in the colony of New South Wales from 1800 to 1810. This paper outlines Caley's contacts with Robert Brown in New South Wales in 1802 and subsequent years; his contacts with Brown back in England; their collecting forays in the colony, and Brown's respect for Caley's ability and botanical knowledge.
This issue of Cunninghamia includes a number of papers presented at Robert Brown 200, an international conference celebrating Robert Brown's time in New South Wales and his contribution to science. This conference, held at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney on 8–10th May 2002, was one of a series around Australia, to celebrate the successes of Matthew Flinders' voyage, two hundred years after the Investigator touched various points in its circumnavigation of the Australian coast. Robert Brown (1773–1858) was selected by Joseph Banks as naturalist for the voyage and in May 1802, arrived in Sydney Cove: he was to spend much of the next three years based in New South Wales (for biographical details of Brown see Mabberley 1985).
A brief assessment is made of the adequacy of the formal conservation reserve network within the Inverell and Yallaroi Shires, around Inverell and Warialda, northern New South Wales. The current reserve network consists of two National Parks (Kings Plains & Kwiambal) and three Nature Reserves (Arakoola, Planchonella & Severn River), sampling 2% of the area of the two shires. 62% of the known vascular plant taxa (746 native, 144 exotic) have been recorded within the five reserves, including 27 of the 48 taxa listed as rare or threatened within the shires. Of 30 vegetation communities found within the five reserves, only 13 were considered adequate in terms of extent or condition. Of 18 communities found on basalt, limestone or alluvial soils, only 12% of their area was considered to be good quality stands. 26 communities were only represented in one reserve. Nine Endangered Ecological Communities are listed for the two shires, only four of which are within the formal reserves. The capture and status of assemblages and flora within the five reserves in the Inverell and Yallaroi Shires is inadequate and many of the species and communities contained warrant additional conservation within the formal conservation network.
Robert Brown noted 29 introduced plant species around Sydney and Parramatta between 1802 and 1804. The list, contained in Brown's miscellaneous papers, was not published by Brown at the time of writing but had to wait for James Britten to publish it in 1906, along with Brown's accompanying notes in Latin. In 1909 Maiden re-published the list for an Australian audience and in 1916 he translated the notes into English and updated the nomenclature of some species.
Brown's list represents the first documentation of Australia's naturalised flora following European settlement of Australia's east coast. Although several of the 29 introduced plant species listed were not considered "weeds" at the time, most of the 29 have spread subsequently to become common components of the naturalised flora throughout Australia. Nomenclature and current distribution of these 29 species are presented in the context of the approximately 2800 taxa now comprising the naturalised flora of Australia.
Ecological data in tabular form are provided on 361 plant species of the families Agavaceae to Juncaginaceae, 260 native and 101 exotics, occurring in the Sydney region, defined by the Central Coast and Central Tablelands botanical subdivisions of New South Wales (approximately bounded by Lake Macquarie, Orange, Crookwell and Nowra). Relevant Local Government Areas are Auburn, Ashfield, Bankstown, Bathurst, Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Blayney, Blue Mountains, Botany, Burwood, Cabonne, Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury, Cessnock, Concord, Crookwell, Drummoyne, Evans, Fairfield, Greater Lithgow, Gosford, Hawkesbury, Holroyd, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Hurstville, Kiama, Kogarah, Ku-Ring-Gai, Lake Macquarie, Lane Cove, Leichhardt, Liverpool, Manly, Marrickville, Mosman, Mulwaree, North Sydney, Oberon, Orange, Parramatta, Penrith, Pittwater, Randwick, Rockdale, Ryde, Rylstone, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Singleton, South Sydney, Strathfield, Sutherland, Sydney City, Warringah, Waverley, Willoughby, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, Wollongong, Woollahra and Wyong. The study area falls within the Sydney Basin IBRA Bioregion.
Families are: Agavaceae, Alismataceae, Alliaceae, Alstroemeriaceae, Amarylidaceae, Anthericaceae, Aponogetonaceae, Araceae, Arecaceae, Asparagaceae, Asphodelaceae, Asteliaceae, Blandfordiaceae, Burmanniaceae, Cannaceae, Centrolepidaceae, Colchicaceae, Commelinaceae, Cyperaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Doryanthaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Flagellariaceae, Haemodoraceae, Hyacinthaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Hypoxidaceae, Iridaceae, Juncaceae, Juncaginaceae.
Data are derived from herbarium collections, literature and field observations. It is hoped that the many, often alarming gaps in the information available will stimulate much-needed research into the ecology of more of the species. Information is provided so far as available to us for each plant species in the following categories:
Life History: Growth form, vegetative spread, longevity, primary juvenile period (time from germination to fruiting), reproduction, flowering and fruiting times, fruit/seed type, dispersal, establishment and growth, fire response, interaction with other organisms.
Distribution: Status/origin (native/naturalised), botanical subregions, distribution in Sydney area, selected locations.
Habitat: Habitat, altitude, annual rainfall, typical local abundance, vegetation, substrate, exposure.
Conservation: Conservation status.
By the time Robert Brown visited western Sydney (1802–1805), its vegetation was already beginning to be affected by settlers' activities. The Cumberland Plain Woodland that occurred on the clay soils has now been extensively cleared and long-term management of remnants for species conservation is of high priority. Robert Brown's collections in the area, together with descriptions by Atkinson, Cunningham and other writers, provide us with valuable information on the vegetation and its floristic composition. Supported by recent site monitoring at Mount Annan Botanic Garden at Campbelltown, we interpret this information in the light of current ecological knowledge and conclude that:
• Woodland structure is variable in the short term; therefore seeking to conserve structure exactly as described in the historical literature is not necessarily appropriate.
• While the historical literature provides evidence of the broad floristic composition of the Cumberland Plain area overall, it does not provide sufficient detail on individual sites; future management of specific sites must therefore be based on current data.
• The evidence suggests relatively few species have become extinct overall, possibly because many species appear to be relatively long-lived, and have mechanisms to survive drought, fire and grazing, though not soil alteration.
• Many species, however, are now distributed patchily in localised remnants and rare species are not clustered in a predictable way; species diversity is therefore likely to be lost if further clearing of remnants occurs.
This preliminary study investigated the interaction between ecological, environmental and genetic factors among two native vines, Cissus hypoglauca and Cissus sterculiifolia (family Vitaceae). Data from a number of fragmented populations within the Big Scrub and surrounding rainforest areas in northern NSW were used to investigate how closely related vines respond to habitat fragmentation. What has emerged is an account of two species occupying fairly distinct ecological niches, and consequently being differently affected by current environmental disturbances. Cissus hypoglauca appears to have greater ecological amplitude, including resilience to drier environmental conditions, while in the long term Cissus sterculiifolia is likely to be more extensively affected by rainforest degradation and fragmentation. Genetic analysis suggests that prior to extensive clearing the Big Scrub provided a continuum for gene flow across otherwise fairly disjunct rainforest areas. This pilot study illustrates how simple research can often support the development of long-term conservation and management strategies at the species and plant community level.
Rare species have long exerted a particular fascination for many botanists. The reasons for this are discussed, as are the justifications for the scientific study of rare and threatened species. A high proportion of the threatened species currently on the Schedules of threatened species in New South Wales were first collected by the earliest botanical explorers. Possible reasons for their success in finding rare species are speculated upon.
Legislative requirements for the identification of threatened species have arisen under the Biodiversity Convention, and the particular regime established by the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 is described. Features of the plants currently included on the New South Wales Schedules are discussed and the question as to whether they are affected by a variety of recording biases is examined. The consequences of listing for the long term conservation of threatened species are explored.