The vegetation of Dapper Nature Reserve consists predominantly of grey box, mugga ironbark, western grey box, white box and slaty box. The undergrowth of these woodlands contains extensive strands of Acacia linearfolia, box-leafed wattle, hickory, and fern-leafed wattle.

The Reserve is also a winter visiting site for birds that breed in the Blue Mountains and the Liverpool Ranges in the spring and summer. White box, and mugga are important in the area as sources of nectar for insects, nomadic honeyeaters and lorikeets which follow the flowering of eucalyptus.

Fauna that are known to occur within Dapper Nature Reserve include grey kangaroos, red-necked wallabies in the northern part of the reserve, swamp wallabies and wallaroos.