Wetlands Australia 32: Sydney Olympic Park Wetlands are an urban biodiversity hotspot

Author: Dr Swapan Paul, Sydney Olympic Park Authority

Wetlands at Sydney Olympic Park are an exceptional and valuable biodiversity repository and therefore known as biodiversity hotspots in urban Sydney.

With a vast majority of the wetland areas that had been once lost or degraded many decades ago; recent decades have witnessed new creation, restoration and rehabilitation into a high diversity of wetlands - teeming with wildlife everywhere! As a result, these wetlands have been acting as the mother habitats on which many aquatic creatures and plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and terrestrial animals rely, either directly or indirectly.

The Park's rich biodiversity includes over 400 native plant species and over 250 native animal species. It includes endangered green and golden bell frog, three endangered ecological communities, over 200 species of native bird, seven species of frog, 12 species of bat, 17 species of reptiles, many native fish species, thousands of species of invertebrates, protected marine vegetation, and three threatened plant species.

The wetlands host the largest population of endangered green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) in the Sydney basin; the largest coverage of coastal saltmarsh on the Parramatta River estuary and the single largest contiguous stand of grey mangrove (Avicennia marina) on this River. The long-living resident pairs of breeding white-bellied sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogasterin) in the Park have been an attraction for millions of online wildlife enthusiasts through Sea-eagleCAM. The Park’s wetlands provide significant feeding and roosting habitats for seven species of migratory shorebirds, including Latham’s snipe (Gallinago hardwickii), sharp tailed sandpiper (Calidris acuminate) and bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica).

Due to their suitability and significance, the wetlands of the Park are now the ideal demonstration site for endangered green and golden bell frog, a preferred site for techniques of restoring coastal saltmarsh and a popular destination for wetland professionals and nature-lovers in this highly urban parkland.

Sydney Olympic Park. Photo: Sydney Olympic Park Authority

Further information

Contact Swapan Paul at Swapan.paul@sopa.nsw.gov.au