Understanding the spatial distribution and physical attributes of upland swamps in the Sydney Basin as a template for their conservation and management

ABSTRACT

Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone (THPSS) and Coastal Upland Swamps in the Sydney Basin (CUSSB) are listed as endangered ecological communities under Australia's national and state legislation. They are threatened by a range of human and climate impacts. Across the region there are 3208 individual, valley-bottom, elongate-shaped, upland swamps that drain first- or second-order drainage lines and small catchment areas (mean = 0.25 km²). They occur at a median distance of 57 km from the coast in areas with an average annual rainfall of 1505 mm/year and average annual temperature of 15°C. Those closer to the coast occur on elevations as low as 160 m a.s.l., and those further from the coast, on plateau country, occur up to 1172 m a.s.l. (median 634 m a.s.l.). The valleys that contain these swamps terminate downstream at a valley constriction or bedrock step, behind which alluvial materials have accumulated, and peat has formed to produce relatively steep swamps (median slope 6.2 per cent). Understanding the spatial distribution and physical attributes of these systems, and having the accompanying maps as a resource, is critical for development of sound, well-informed conservation, rehabilitation and monitoring programs, and for analysing the ecosystem services they provide.

KEYWORDS:

• Wetland
• rehabilitation
• geomorphic mapping
• ecosystem services
• Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone (THPSS)
• physical template
• environmental monitoring

Acknowledgements

This research was funded through the Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone Research Program (THPSS Research Program). This Program was funded through an enforceable undertaking as per section 486A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 between the Minister for the Environment, Springvale Coal Pty Ltd and Centennial Angus Place Pty Ltd. Further information on the enforceable undertaking and the terms of the THPSS Research Program can be found at www.environment.gov.au/news/2011/10/21/centennial-coal-fund-145-million-research-program. This project was also funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant (LP130100120) awarded to K.F. and G.H. at Macquarie University. We thank the NSW Land and Property Information for the orthorectified aerial photographs that were used under a research-only licence agreement. The mapping databases presented in this paper are available at the NSW Government Portal: http://data.environment.nsw.gov.au/dataset/temperate-highland-peat-swamps-on-sandstone-thpss-vegetation-maps-vis-ids-4480-to-4485. We thank two anonymous reviewers and the Guest Editor for useful comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Kirstie A. Fryirs http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0541-3384

Will Farebrother http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0089-947X

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded through the Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone Research Program (THPSS Research Program). This Program was funded through an enforceable undertaking as per section 486A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 between the Minister for the Environment, Springvale Coal Pty Ltd and Centennial Angus Place Pty Ltd. This project was also funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant (LP130100120) awarded to K.F. and G.H. at Macquarie University.