Banksia Ericifolia - Ecology

Ecology

Like other banksias, B. ericifolia plays host to a wide variety of pollinators and is a vital source of nectar in autumn, when other flowers are scarce. It has been the subject of a number of studies on pollination. A 1998 study in Bundjalung National Park in Northern New South Wales found that B. ericifolia inflorescences are foraged by a variety of small mammals, including marsupials such as Antechinus flavipes (Yellow-footed Antechinus), and rodents such as Rattus tunneyi (Pale Field Rat) and Melomys burtoni (Grassland Mosaic-tailed Rat). These animals carry pollen loads comparable to those of nectarivorous birds, making them effective pollinators. A 1978 study found Rattus fuscipes (Bush Rat) to bear large amounts of pollen from B. ericifolia and suggested the hooked styles may play a role in pollination by mammals. Other visitors recorded include Apis mellifera (European Honeybee).

A great many bird species have been observed visiting this Banksia species. A 1985 study in the Sydney area of B. ericifolia var. ericifolia found numerous birds visiting the inflorescences, including the honeyeaters Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris), White-cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris nigra), New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), White-naped Honeyeater (Melithreptus lunatus), Yellow-faced Honeyeater (Lichenostomus chrysops), Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) and Little Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera), as well as the Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). The Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) also associates with this species. Some mammals were recorded in this study but were found to bear no pollen. Exclusion of certain pollinators showed that birds and insects were important for fertilisation. Additional species seen in The Banksia Atlas survey include White-eared Honeyeater (Lichenostomus leucotis), White-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus), Crescent Honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhoptera), Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), and species of friarbird for B. ericifolia var. ericifolia and Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta), Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (Gliciphila melanops) and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) for B. ericifolia var. macrantha.

Insects recovered from inflorescences include the banksia boring moth (Arotrophora canthelias), younger instars of which eat flower and bract parts before tunneling into the rachis as they get older and boring into follicles and eating seeds. This tunneling itself damages the archtecture of the spike and prevents seed development. Other seed predators include unidentified species of moth of the genus Cryptophasa, as well as Scieropepla rimata, Chalarotona intabescens and Chalarotona melipnoa, Brachmia trinervis, Carposina hyperlopha and an unidentified weevil species.

Like most other Proteaceae, B. ericifolia has proteoid roots—roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as the phosphorus-deficient native soils of Australia. The species lacks a lignotuber, and so is killed by fire and regenerates from seed.

Banksia ericifolia depends on fire for regeneration; if fires are too infrequent, populations age and eventually die out. However, too-frequent fires also threaten this species, which takes around six years to reach maturity and flower. One study estimated an optimum fire interval of 15–30 years. For a large part of its distribution Banksia ericifolia grows near areas of human habitation on Australia's eastern coastline. Bushland near urban areas is subject to both arson and prescribed burns, drastically reducing fire intervals and resulting in the disappearance of the species from some areas. The hotter a fire the more quickly seed is released; timing of rains afterwards is also critical for seedling survival.

Banksia ericifolia is listed in Part 1 Group 1 of Schedule 13 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974; this means that as a common and secure species it is exempted from any licensing or tagging requirements under the 2002–2005 management plan to minimise and regulate the use of protected and threatened plants in the cut-flower industry in New South Wales.