The Green and Golden Bell Frog and hundreds of other native species are in a victory dance, with the final lantana removed from the Brickpit at Sydney Olympic Park after almost a decades work reported the SMH today.
Lantana, a weed of national significance is a highly invasive species threatening numerous plant and animal species and covers over 5 million hectares in Australia – that’s almost the size of Tasmania.
Lantana was brought to Australia in the early 1840’s as an ornamental plant and soon became a garden escapee of extraordinary proportions. The straggly thorny creeper forms impenetrable thickets and can produce up to 12,000 seeds each year.
It’s a serious threat to biodiversity in several world heritage listed areas, so clearing the Brickpit might seem a drop in the ocean but it’s already paying biodiversity dividends.