Seed may need to be obtained from outside the normal range of the ecological community if there is insufficient local material and or a) if failure rates suggest consistently low levels of seed viability (e.g. due to inbreeding depression); or b) if climate change and predicted change warrants using plant material from a provenance better suited to current and future climatic conditions.

Fragmentation has led to increased degradation of habitat; altered microclimatic and fire regimes; and weed incursion ( edge effects ); as well as reduced re establishment of the dominant canopy eucalypt species where the gaps between fragments are wide.

The frequency and intensity of fire may influence the level of shrubbiness; or floristic elements such as the abundance of mesic species.

Key threats to the ecological community occurring as a result of increasing urbanisation include inappropriate fire regimes; particularly altered fire frequency and intensity e.g. due to arson or hazard reduction burning; or some patches may have been impacted by a lack of fire because of the close proximity of relatively high density housing and roads weed invasion from escaped garden and agricultural plants and contaminated mulch; sometimes facilitated by nutrient enrichment from increased run off and or absence of fire (see list of weeds in Table A3 at Appendix A) predation and displacement of native fauna by domestic pets; feral introduced species and aggressive native species adapted to an urban setting tidying up of remnant bushland due to residents fears about bushfire and snakes hydrological changes and increased nutrient loads from urban run off; rubbish and garden waste dumping and domestic pets and recreational activities (e.g. mountain bike; trail bike and 4WD use).

Conversely; the exclusion of fire for greater than 30 years may have a detrimental impact on the ecological community; particularly through loss of understorey plant diversity (NSW DEC; 2005); especially those species that require fire to regenerate.

Leary (2007) also comments on the substantial reduction and modification of ground cover; due to the alteration of fire regimes.

Key threats include past and ongoing impacts from clearance and fragmentation of remnants; as well as weed invasion and altered fire regimes (particularly due to arson) (NSW Scientific Committee; 2015 Steenbeeke; pers. comm.; 2014).

Loss of structural integrity and ecological function has occurred due to habitat degradation and fragmentation; weed invasion; changes to vegetation structure and species composition; under scrubbing; inappropriate fire regimes and a variety of other impacts from residential development and recreational use (NSW Scientific Committee; 2015).

There are a number of ways by which altered fire regimes impact upon the ecological community.

Increased fire frequency in the past may partially explain the low native species richness recorded; even from the more intact stands of the ecological community.

Insufficiently frequent and or intense fire leads to declining native species diversity; structural changes; and mesic or mesophyll shift in which native and or non native plants that are intolerant of fire and that discourage combustion can invade or increase in abundance.

Unplanned fire such as arson; may occur during converse conditions such as hot and dry weather over summer; and may generate a fire of too high an intensity and that burns a whole remnant or all remnants; rather than leaving some habitat as a refuge for native fauna and fire sensitive flora.

Once established; weeds adversely affect native species in the ecological community through direct competition or by altering ecosystem processes; such as disrupting food webs or dispersal agents (as when natural pollinators visit weeds rather than native species) or changing fire regimes (for instance the establishment of more flammable invasive grass species into a patch; or conversely; the establishment of fire retarding vines; creepers and shrubs).

Unplanned fire such as arson; may occur during converse conditions such as hot and dry weather over summer; and may generate a fire of too high an intensity and that burns a whole remnant or all remnants; rather than leaving some habitat as a refuge for native fauna and fire sensitive flora.