The Stirling Range Dryandra is an erect woody shrub 1–2.5 m in height. The leaves are 60–225 mm long and 9–12 mm wide, with a petiole 5–30 mm long. They are hairy and pinnately divided, deeply divided or divided to the midrib, with 22–52 elongated, triangular, close fitting 5–8 mm lobes cut to the mid-rib and pointing towards the apex. The yellow flowers are produced from January to March, forming villous inflorescences on the old wood inside the foliage. The innermost bracts are 13–15 mm long and the perianth is 17–20 mm long. Both have soft, straight hairs. The pistil is 25–30 mm, curved and hairy. The upper stems and fruits are covered by short red hairs. Follicles are hairy at the base and ovate, ranging from 9–11 mm long and 7–8 mm broad.
Stirling Range Dryandra |
Banksia montana
Status: Endangered on the EPBC Act list
Government evidence of impact of climate change:
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Australian Government, Conservation Advice, Banksia montana
Threats The Stirling Range Dryandra is threatened by the altered fire regimes associated with climate change; disease; grazing and browsing by native and introduced species and habitat disturbance by human recreation.
This may cause substantial changes Trend increasing to the unique climate in which the Stirling Extent across the entire Range Banksia occurs (Monks et al. 2019). range Rainfall on the mountains of the eastern Stirling Range may be up to double that on the surrounding plains; and the peaks can have temperatures approximately five degrees less than the surrounding plain (Keighery Marchant 1993).
The drier; hotter conditions associated with climate change could accelerate this process; significantly reducing the area of habitat suitable for the Stirling Range Dryandra (Monks et al. 2019).
The main factors that make the species eligible for listing in the Endangered category are small population size; very restricted distribution and extreme population decline due to inappropriate fire regimes and Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback.
Bradstock et al. (1998) used a spatially explicit model to simulate plant extinction in relation to fire frequency and scale and found that extinction probabilities in non sprouting perennial shrubs increased with fire frequency and scale.
Non sprouters like the Stirling Range Dryandra are more sensitive to frequent fire regimes than sprouters because they are entirely dependent on seeds for persistence; and therefore require a minimum fire free period to reach reproductive maturity and produce enough seeds to replace themselves.
The species is threatened by several fire related threats; including high frequency fire; fire disease interactions; fire drought interactions; and fire herbivore interactions.
The 1991 bushfire affected a small part of East Bluff and a significant part of Bluff Knoll; though the full impact of these fires and those in 1972 is unknown.
In contrast; the impact of the 2000 fire on Stirling Range Dryandra was closely monitored and resulted in 70 percent mortality in three subpopulations and eight percent of the Pyungoorup population (Yates and Barrett; unpublished data; as cited in DEC 2008).
A bushfire in December of 2019 exacerbated the impacts of a previous fire in 2018 (see Prescribed burning below).
Time since fire and average fire interval are the best predictors of Phytophthora cinnamomi activity in heathlands of south western Australia.
The species is threatened by several fire related threats; including high frequency fire; fire disease interactions; fire drought interactions; and fire herbivore interactions.
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