Heath ecosystems fact sheet | Field of Mars EEC

What are heath ecosystems?

Heath ecosystems are open ecosystems where low shrubs, small plants, animals, fungi, soil, sunlight, water, wind and fire interact. They are usually dominated by low, tough-leaved shrubs rather than tall trees.

Heath often grows where conditions make it difficult for forests to form. The soil may be shallow, sandy or low in nutrients, and the site may be exposed to strong wind, salt spray, poor drainage or regular fire.

Heath ecosystems can look low and scrubby, but they are rich in life. They are useful places for learning about food webs, plant adaptations, pollination, seed dispersal, fire ecology and how living things survive in challenging conditions.

A heath ecosystem.

Low heath shrubs and flowering plants grow in sandy soils at Crowdy Bay National Park.

Where are heath ecosystems found?

Heath ecosystems are found in parts of Australia where soil, wind, exposure, drainage or fire history limit the growth of tall trees. They can occur on coastal headlands, sandstone plateaus, sand dunes, damp sandy ground and some mountain or tableland areas.

In the Sydney Basin, Sydney Coastal Heaths grow on exposed coastal sandstone plateaus with shallow, infertile, moderately damp soils. This vegetation class is found from the Gosford area to Royal National Park, with southern outliers near Barren Grounds and Jervis Bay.

Low shrubs and small trees grow in exposed sandstone heath ecosystems.

What living and non-living features make up heath ecosystems?

Living features of heath ecosystems include low shrubs, banksias, hakeas, tea-trees, grevilleas, wattles, grass trees, sedges, grasses, fungi, insects, spiders, reptiles, birds and small mammals. Many heath plants have tough leaves, woody stems or underground parts that help them survive dry, windy or low-nutrient conditions.

Non-living features include sunlight, wind, salt spray, shallow soil, sand, sandstone, low nutrients, water, drainage, temperature and fire history. These features affect how tall plants grow, how dense the shrub layer becomes, when flowers appear and how the ecosystem recovers after disturbance.

Shrubs, sedges, shallow soil, water, sunlight and wind help shape heath ecosystems.

What plants and animals live in heath ecosystems?

Heath plants are often tough-leaved and well suited to dry, exposed or low-nutrient places. In Sydney Coastal Heaths, common plant groups can include banksias, hakeas, tea-trees, geebungs, grass trees, scrub sheoak, dwarf apple, native peas, sedges and small flowering herbs.

Many animals use heath ecosystems for food, shelter and breeding. Nectar-feeding birds, mammals and insects visit flowers, while reptiles and small birds shelter among dense shrubs and leaf litter. Ants, beetles, spiders, worms, fungi and bacteria live in the soil and help recycle nutrients.

Heath flowers provide food for birds, insects and other animals.

How do living things depend on heath ecosystems?

Plants are the producers in heath ecosystems. They use sunlight to make food, then consumers such as insects, reptiles, birds and mammals feed on plants, nectar, pollen, seeds or other animals. Decomposers return nutrients to the soil by breaking down dead leaves, bark, flowers and animals.

Many heath plants and animals are connected through pollination and seed dispersal. Flowers provide nectar and pollen for birds, mammals and insects. Some plants produce seeds with small food bodies that attract ants, which can carry the seeds underground and help move them to safer places in the soil.

Some plant seeds have food bodies that can attract ants.

How are heath ecosystems connected to Aboriginal Peoples and Country?

Heath ecosystems occur on the Countries of many Aboriginal Peoples. Country includes land, water, sky, plants, animals, seasons, stories, responsibilities and cultural connections. Aboriginal Peoples continue to care for Country through observation, cultural knowledge, community-led land management and cultural fire practices where they are appropriate for that Country.

In the Sydney region, some heath and scrub ecosystems have strong cultural importance. Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub occurs on the lands of the Bidjigal and Dharawal Peoples and is part of a living cultural landscape. Heath ecosystems should be understood as places of biodiversity, learning, cultural connection and continuing care for Country.

Heath ecosystems are part of Country and living cultural landscapes.

Why are heath ecosystems important?

Heath ecosystems support biodiversity, including many plants and animals adapted to low-nutrient soils, wind, exposure, drought and fire. Their dense shrub layers provide shelter, nesting places, feeding areas and movement pathways for small birds, reptiles, mammals and invertebrates.

Heath ecosystems also protect soil, stabilise sandy or exposed places, support pollinators and provide food for nectar-feeding animals. They are valuable outdoor learning places because students can observe clear examples of plant adaptations, food webs, habitat structure, nutrient cycling and environmental change.

Banksia flowers are an important food source in many heath ecosystems.

What threatens heath ecosystems?

Threats to heath ecosystems vary between places. They can include clearing, urban development, habitat fragmentation, weed invasion, pest animals, plant diseases such as Phytophthora cinnamomi infection, trampling, climate change and fire regimes that are too frequent or poorly timed. Threatened coastal examples, such as Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, have been greatly reduced by clearing and fragmentation.

Fire is part of many heath ecosystems, but fire needs careful management. If fire occurs too often, some plants may not have enough time to grow, flower and produce seed before the next fire. If fire patterns change too much, the structure of the heath can also change, affecting the animals that rely on dense shrubs, flowers, leaf litter and open spaces.

Fire can change the structure of heath vegetation and affect how plants regrow.

How can you help protect heath ecosystems?

Students and visitors can help protect heath ecosystems by staying on tracks, cleaning shoes and equipment between natural areas, keeping dogs controlled where permitted, leaving flowers, seeds and rocks in place, taking rubbish home, and following signs or advice from land managers. Small actions matter because heath soils, seedlings and low plants can be easily damaged.

Schools and community groups can help by growing suitable local native plants, joining supervised bushcare, removing weeds only with permission, and recording nature observations through approved citizen-science projects. Heath ecosystems should be treated as living systems, not collections of flowers, rocks or seeds to take home.

Staying on tracks helps protect fragile heath plants, seedlings and thin soils.

Related fact sheets

Environments and ecosystems

• Ecosystems and environments fact sheet⁠ – Learn how ecosystems, habitats and environments are connected.
• Eucalypt forest ecosystem fact sheet⁠ – Compare heath with a taller tree-dominated ecosystem.
• Woodland ecosystem fact sheet⁠ – Compare shrub-dominated heath with more open tree ecosystems.
• Rainforest ecosystem fact sheet⁠ – Compare heath with a moist, layered forest ecosystem.

Habitats

• Shrub habitat fact sheet⁠ – Explore the shrub layer that gives many heath animals food and shelter.
• Ground cover habitat fact sheet⁠ – Learn about low plants, grasses and sedges that can grow below shrubs.
• Leaf litter habitat fact sheet⁠ – Discover decomposers and small animals that recycle dead plant material.

Plants found in this ecosystem

• Mountain devil fact sheet⁠ – Learn about a nectar-rich shrub that grows in heath and sandstone bushland.
• Kunzea fact sheet⁠ – Explore a shrub that can form dense shelter in heath and dry forest.
• Hairpin banksia fact sheet – wadanggari⁠ – Discover a banksia that grows in heath, woodland and dry forest.
• Spider flowers (Grevillea) fact sheet⁠ – Learn about nectar-rich shrubs that support birds and insects.

Animals in this ecosystem

• Red-crowned toadlet fact sheet⁠ – Explore a small frog connected to damp sandstone forest, woodland and heathland.
• Grasshopper fact sheet⁠ – Learn about plant-eating insects that may live in heath and other open habitats.
• Invertebrate fact sheets⁠ – Browse small animals that help pollinate, recycle nutrients and feed other animals.

Learn with us

Book now

Book a bushland or ecosystem excursion and use this fact sheet to compare heath, eucalypt forest, woodland and other Australian ecosystems.

Learning programs

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Learning resources

Use this heath ecosystem fact sheet to support classroom learning about shrublands, sandy soils, fire responses, habitats and food webs.

Flora and fauna fact sheets

Explore plant, animal and habitat fact sheets connected to heath ecosystems, tough-leaved shrubs, insects, reptiles and birds.