Extract from ABC News
By national science, environment and technology reporter Michael Slezak and the Specialist Reporting Team's Penny Timms
Millions of years ago, lush rainforests blanketed the massive Gondwana supercontinent encompassing Australia, Antarctica and South America. From those forests, the first flowering plants evolved.
Key points:
- The two ancient species have been found in the path of the Coffs Harbour Bypass development
- Traditional custodians, environmentalists and scientists are calling for the unique patch of rainforest to be protected
- The NSW government is developing a plan to protect the plants, but they'll likely be moved
Today, after waves of climatic changes and then destruction by Europeans, only tiny pockets of those ancient rainforests remain, and a vast number of plant and animal species have gone extinct.
Now, in a discovery that has shocked and delighted scientists, two ancient species of plants thought to be entirely new to science have been found in a tiny patch on the edge of a highway in Coffs Harbour.
But they face an impending threat.
That tiny patch is under the path of a new highway, which has already received all its environmental approvals, and is under construction.
Traditional custodians, environmentalists and scientists are calling for the unique patch of rainforest to be protected.
"All of the original forest, apart from this fragment, has been cleared since European settlement," said Mark Graham, a local ecologist, conservationist and former Greens councillor for the region.
The NSW government says it is developing a plan to protect the plants, but Mr Graham worries it will not protect them where they were found.
"We can't and really shouldn't, indeed mustn't, do anything that's going to create a risk of extinction [for the newly discovered plants]," he said.
Scott Lawrence, the environment manager at Transport for New South Wales, said he hoped the species would actually be better off because of the Coffs Harbour Bypass development.
"If we hadn't come in and done these surveys, with only 36 plants in the wild, potentially they could have died out by other means," he said.
Transport for NSW says it has developed an interim management plan for the new plants and is committed to protecting the species, which it is treating on the assumption they will be listed as Threatened Species.
"So by us being able to identify them [and] locate them, it gives us the opportunity to preserve the population," Mr Lawrence said.
But preserving the location many of the plants survived in for all this time is unlikely to be one of the options, Mr Lawrence said.
Instead, many will be dug up and moved elsewhere.
Moving plants poses 'massive risk' to species, ecologist says
One of the new species — a member of the genus fontainea — has been found in two locations. But the ABC understands there is only one mature female.
With mature females of the species being the only plants able to produce seeds, it could be crucial to the species' survival. The location where that plant was found is expected to be cleared.
"That would be very difficult to protect in situ," Mr Lawrence said.
The other location, about 400 metres south, is also planned for clearing. But Mr Lawrence said it might be possible to save some of that site.
"We're still in the early stages of looking at what we can do in terms of the design, in terms of making those small adjustments to protect some parts of the southern population," he said.
Mr Graham was furious that the government was not considering larger design changes to protect all the plants in their original location.
"That's a massive risk to the future of this species and presents a totally unacceptable risk of extinction," he said.
Gordon Guymer, the head of the Queensland Herbarium and a world expert in the genus fontainea, identified the new plant as probably a new species.
He said the female should only be moved after scientists have made certain they can successfully propagate seeds, grow it from cuttings and translocate smaller plants.
"It might be several months before we know whether or not you got success from your cuttings and that you've been successful with regard to translocating some seedlings," Dr Guymer said.
But he said the closest known relative to the new fontainea had been successfully translocated, so there is hope.
That relative is found in Lennox Head, a seaside town south of Byron Bay, and was also officially identified by Dr Guymer. It is known from just 14 individuals in the wild and is listed as "critically endangered".
'Remnants of ancient rainforests' significant for community
The second plant thought to be new to science in the location is a member of the pittosborum genus. It's a flowering plant, with many species grown as ornamentals.
Andrew Orme, the botanical identifications technical officer at the National Herbarium in NSW, was in charge of managing the identification of the two plants.
He said the fact that there were two species of plants scientists had never seen before, as well as another threatened species of rusty plum, meant the location the plants were in was special.
"I think that the conservation of the natural habitat is always and should always be the number one priority," Mr Orme said.
"In some situations where it can't be avoided, other measures are looked at."
Nathan Brennan is a Gumbaynggirr man — one of the First Nations custodians of the area where the plant was found.
He said he felt tingles up his spine when he first saw the new plant.
"To have it found within our country was very significant because it's the remnants of the ancient rainforests that we had, the Gondwana rainforests, that were all within our country," Mr Brennan said.
He said he was sensitive to the importance of the road project, and acknowledged it might be hard to change its design. But he would like to see the plants stay where they are.
"I believe that if it can stay in situ, that's the best possible result for the community or for the country, for the people," he said.
Transport for NSW said the project was important and the government would ensure the best outcome for the plants and the community.
"We are working in collaboration with the state government's Environment, Energy and Science Group of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to ensure all strategies will avoid as much impact as possible on the probable new plant species and will help to manage the construction timeline for the bypass," the spokeswoman said.
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