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3.1. Why is the question important?
3.2. What resources are available?
3.2a National assessments
3.2b Vegetation clearance
3.2c Weeds and diseases
3.2d Altered fire and glazing regimes
3.2e Altered hydrology
3.2f Urbanisation
3.2g Climate change
3.2h Social and institutional pressures
3.2i Interacting threats
3.3. Where to from here?
3.3a Vegetation clearance
3.3b Weeds and diseases
3.3c Altered fire and grazing regimes
3.3d Altered hydrology
3.3e Urbanisation
3.3f Climate change
3.3g Social and institutional pressures
3.3h Interacting threats
3.2f Urbanisation

Most Australians live in cities around the coastal fringe, a trend that is expected to continue. The report Measuring Australia’s Progress 275 estimates that the growth of cities and towns has affected about 0.1 per cent of land cover in Australia 276. While the percentage is small, this represents about 8,000 square kilometres. Most of the urbanisation has occurred around the coast, sometimes in regions with high levels of biodiversity or vegetation communities of limited distribution. Consequently, the removal or modification of native vegetation for urban development or expansion can have regional and local effects. Future housing development in some areas may also have an impact on endangered (now remnant) woodland communities such as the Cumberland Woodland around Sydney 277.

The impacts of the reduction and fragmentation of forest in south-east Queensland in the 1990s have been documented in a publication on remnant bushland 278. Many of the bushland losses in this region have been associated with rapid urban expansion, including the development of low density ‘rural residential’ style areas, in which formerly continuous bushland has been transformed into bushland/clearance mosaics. The broad regional consequences include biological changes such as the disappearance of some community types, declines or extinctions of native species, and invasions by introduced species. Physical and chemical changes can also occur, such as altered patterns of water, soil or nutrient retention and loss. These changes in turn can have flow-on effects on native vegetation. The book Taken for Granted 279 documents these and other impacts of Sydney’s growth on its natural vegetation between 1788 and 1998. A fully searchable database, that covers the Melbourne-Geelong Metropolitan region, lists over 1000 publications on the ecology and management of natural resources in these urban areas 280. It is a comprehensive list, aiming to include all relevant books, scientific journal articles, conference proceedings, consultant and organisational reports, and articles in the popular scientific media. This and other resources that can be used to help manage the threats to native vegetation in urban areas are covered in Section 4.2c.