List of Threatened Ecological Communities Amendment (Ec55) Instrument 2022 (Cth)

Commonwealth of Australia

List of Threatened Ecological Communities Amendment (EC55) Instrument 2022

I, SUSSAN LEY, Minister for the Environment, pursuant to paragraph 184(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, amend the list referred to in section 181 of that Act by including in the list of threatened ecological communities in the endangered category:

Brogo Vine Forest of the South East Corner Bioregion

as described in the Schedule to this instrument.

This instrument commences the day after registration.

Sussan Ley

...................................................................................

Sussan Ley

Minister for the Environment

Dated ..............31 / 3 / 22.........................................................

SCHEDULE 1

Brogo Vine Forest of the South East Corner Bioregion

The Brogo Vine Forest of the South East Corner Bioregion is an assemblage of native plants, animals and other organisms that comprise a type of temperate eucalypt forest with mesic elements associated with slopes, rock outcrops and northerly aspects.

The ecological community occurs in New South Wales within South East Corner bioregion and is typically distributed on steep rocky slopes on soils derived from granitoid substrates, rarely on other volcanic or sedimentary soils.

The vegetation structure is typically a medium-height forest with sparse to moderate canopy cover dominated by Eucalyptus or Angophora species. The canopy is characterised by the dominance of Eucalyptus tereticornis (forest red gum) or sometimes Angophora floribunda (rough-barked apple). Varying proportions of these species are expected to be present at most sites, in association with less frequently occurring Eucalyptus species such as E. bosistoana (coast grey box), E. globoidea (white stringybark) and E. maidenii (Maiden’s blue gum). Ficus rubiginosa (Port Jackson fig) may be the dominant tree in a discontinuous subcanopy layer.

The understorey shrubs and small trees are linked to the ground cover by a variety of vine species including Celastrus australis (staff climber), Geitonoplesium cymosum (scrambling lily), Clematis glycinoides (headache vine), Eustrephus latifolius (wombat berry), Marsdenia rostrata (milk vine) and Stephania japonica (snake vine). Small trees may include Acacia implexa (hickory wattle), Acacia mearnsii (black wattle), Brachychiton populneus (Kurrajong), Ficus rubiginosa (Port Jackson fig) and Pittosporum undulatum (sweet pittosporum). A diverse shrub layer typically includes Cassinia trinerva (three-veined cassinia), Breynia oblongifolia (coffee bush) and Melicytus dentatus (tree violet). Infrequent but very characteristic species are Abutilon oxycarpum (flannel weed) and Deeringia amaranthoides (deeringia). The understorey may also include juvenile trees of canopy species.

The ground cover consists of various grasses such as Cenchrus caliculatus (hillside burrgrass), Microlaena stipoides (weeping grass), Echinopogon ovatus (forest hedgehog grass) and Oplismenus imbecillis (creeping beard grass), herbs such as Oxytes brachypodum (large tick-trefoil), Dichondra repens (kidney weed) and Sigesbeckia orientalis (Indian weed) and ferns such as Cheilanthes sieberi (poison rock fern) and Pellaea falcata (sickle fern).

The ecological community includes a variety of fauna species, including several species that are listed as threatened at a national or state level.