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Ecoregions Of Australia
Ecoregions in Australia are geographically distinct plant and animal communities, defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature based on geology, soils, climate, and predominant vegetation. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identified 825 terrestrial ecoregions that cover the Earth's land surface, 40 of which cover Australia and its dependent islands. The WWF ecoregions are classified by biome type (tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, tundra, etc.), and into one of eight terrestrial realms. Australia, together with New Zealand, New Guinea and neighboring island groups, is part of the Australasian realm. The IBRA bioregions informed the delineation of the WWF ecoregions for Australia, and the WWF ecoregions generally follow the same ecoregion boundaries, while often clustering two or more similar bioregions into a larger ecoregion. The ecoregion articles in Wikipedia generally follow the WWF scheme. The WWF ecoregions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate Broadleaf And Mixed Forests
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These forests are richest and most distinctive in central China and eastern North America, with some other globally distinctive ecoregions in the Caucasus, the Himalayas, Southern Europe, Australasia, Southwestern South America and the Russian Far East. Ecology The typical structure of these forests includes four layers. * The uppermost layer is the canopy composed of tall mature trees ranging from high. Below the canopy is the three-layered, shade-tolerant understory that is roughly shorter than the canopy. * The top layer of the understory is the sub-canopy composed of smaller mature trees, saplings, and suppressed juvenile canopy layer trees awaiting an opening in the canopy. * Below the sub-canopy is the shrub layer, composed of low g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Grass Downs
The Mitchell Grass Downs is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northeastern Australia. It is a mostly treeless grassland, characterised by Mitchell grasses (''Astrebla'' spp.). Location and description The ecoregion is bounded on the north and east by tropical savanna ecoregions – the Victoria Plains tropical savanna to the northeast, the Carpentaria tropical savanna to the north, the Einasleigh Uplands savanna to the northeast, and the Brigalow tropical savanna to the east. More arid ecoregions lie to west and south – the Great Sandy-Tanami desert to the southwest, the Simpson Desert to the south, and the Eastern Australia mulga shrublands to the southeast. The ecoregion includes three IBRA regions – Mitchell Grass Downs, Mount Isa Inlier, and Desert Uplands. Climate The climate is tropical and semi-arid. Average annual rainfall varies across the ecoregion, from 350 mm to 750 mm. In much of the ecoregion r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley Tropical Savanna
The Kimberley tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northwestern Australia, covering portions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory south of the Timor Sea. Geography The ecoregion lies in Northwestern coastal Australia, including the Kimberley region of Western Australia and extending into the Northern Territory. It is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea. The Arnhem Land tropical savanna ecoregion lies to the northeast, the Carpentaria tropical savanna lies to the east, and the Victoria Plains tropical savanna ecoregion lies to the southeast and south. The Great Sandy-Tanami desert ecoregion lies to the southeast. Much of the ecoregion has rugged terrain of Proterozoic sandstone. The Northern Kimberley coast is generally steep with many offshore islets. Rivers in the ecoregion include the Fitzroy, May, Drysdale, Durack, Ord, Victoria, Katherine, Flora and Daly. Rivers and streams often follow s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einasleigh Uplands Savanna
The Einasleigh Uplands is an interim Australian bioregion, with vegetation consisting of savanna and woodland located on a large plateau in inland Queensland, Australia. It corresponds to the Einasleigh Uplands savanna ecoregion, as identified by the World Wildlife Fund. Location and description This area is inland from the moist Queensland coast but is not as dry as the Brigalow Belt and the Mitchell Grass Downs savannas to the south, while the Cape York Peninsula to the north is lower-lying and wetter. The region contains a number of specialised habitats that add to the variety of wildlife found here. These include lava tubes and caves such as those of Chillagoe. The uplands are an area of eroded volcanic rock on and to the west of the Atherton Tableland in the northern section of Australia's Great Dividing Range running inland as far as the town of Croydon in the southwest. The plateau is covered in grassland dotted with eucalyptus trees and cut through with ridges, gorges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpentaria Tropical Savanna
The Carpentaria tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northern Australia. Geography The ecoregion lies in northwestern Queensland and northeastern Northern Territory, south of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It includes much of Queensland's Gulf Country, and a portion of the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory. The ecoregion includes the Wellesley Islands and Pellew Islands in the gulf. The Roper, Limmen Bight, McArthur, Calvert, Nicholson, Leichhardt, Flinders, Norman, Gilbert, Staaten, and Mitchell rivers drain into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Most have freshwater and brackish wetlands in near the gulf. It is bounded on the northeast by the Cape York Peninsula tropical savanna, on the east by the Einasleigh Uplands savanna, on the south by the Mitchell Grass Downs, on the west by the Victoria Plains tropical savanna and Kimberley tropical savanna, and on the northwest by the Arnhem Land tropical savanna. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape York Peninsula Tropical Savanna
The Cape York Peninsula tropical savanna is a tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northern Australia. It occupies the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, mainland Australia's northernmost point. It is coterminous with the Cape York Peninsula (code CYP), an interim Australian bioregion. Geography The ecoregion covers the northern portion of the Cape York Peninsula, along with the adjacent Torres Strait Islands. It is bounded by the Carpentaria tropical savanna ecoregion to the southwest, Einasleigh Uplands savanna to the south, and Queensland tropical rain forests to the southeast. The west of the region is dominated in the south by an extensive Tertiary sand sheet dissected by the drainage systems of the Holroyd Plain, the Tertiary laterite of the Weipa Plateau, and the low rises of Mesozoic sandstones, while the northern section consists of the Weipa Plateau together with extensive coastal plains along the Gulf of Carpentaria. To the east lie aeolian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigalow Tropical Savanna
The Brigalow Belt is a wide band of acacia-wooded grassland that runs between tropical rainforest of the coast and the semi-arid interior of Queensland, Australia. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) divides the Brigalow Belt into two IBRA regions, or bioregions, ''Brigalow Belt North'' (BBN) and ''Brigalow Belt South'' (BBS). The North and South Brigalow Belt are two of the 85 bioregions across Australia and the 15 bioregions in Queensland. Together they form most of the Brigalow tropical savanna ecoregion. Location and description The Northern Brigalow Belt covers just over 13.5 million hectares and reaches down from just north of Townsville, to Emerald and Rockhampton on the tropic, while the Southern Brigalow Belt runs from there down to the Queensland/New South Wales border and a little beyond until the habitat becomes the eucalyptus dominated Eastern Australian temperate forests. This large, complex strip of countryside covers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnhem Land Tropical Savanna
The Arnhem Land tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in Australia's Northern Territory. Geography The ecoregion occupies the peninsula of Arnhem Land and its offshore islands, including the Tiwi Islands, Groote Eylandt, and the Wessel Islands. Western Arnhem land has rugged sandstone plateaus and gorges. The rest of the peninsula has gentler topography, and includes broad river floodplains and coastal lowlands. Arnhem Land is bounded on the northwest by the Timor Sea, on the north by the Arafura Sea, and on the east by the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Kimberley tropical savanna ecoregion lies to the southwest, and the Carpentaria tropical savanna to the southeast. IBRA regions The ecoregion includes six IBRA regions – Arnhem Coast, Arnhem Plateau, Central Arnhem, Darwin Coastal, Pine Creek, and Tiwi Cobourg. Climate The ecoregion has a tropical savanna climate. Rainfall is strongly seasonal, with a summer wet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical And Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, And Shrublands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Description Grassland is dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savanna is grassland with scattered trees. Shrubland is dominated by woody or herbaceous shrubs. Large expanses of land in the tropics do not receive enough rainfall to support extensive tree cover. The tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are characterized by rainfall levels between per year. Rainfall can be highly seasonal, with the entire year's rainfall sometimes occurring within a couple of weeks. African savannas occur between forest or woodland regions and grassland regions. Flora includes acacia and baobab trees, grass, and low shrubs. Acacia trees lose their leaves in the dry season to conserve moisture, while t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasmanian Temperate Rain Forests
The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in western Tasmania. The ecoregion is part of the Australasian realm, which includes Tasmania and Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and adjacent islands. Rainforest communities in Australia are classified as closed forests in which the canopy comprises 70–100% cover.Reid, J. B., Hill, R. S., Brown, M. J. & Hovenden, M. J. (2005) ''Vegetation of Tasmania'', Australian Biological Resources Study. . It can be divided into tropical, subtropical, monsoon and temperate rainforest. Tasmanian rainforest is classified and as cool temperate rainforest, it represents the most floristically complex and best developed form of this forest type in Australia. In Tasmania, they can be found in the West, Savage River National Park, South West, North East and in patches on the East Coast. On the mainland of Australia, cool temperate rainforest have a wide variety of woodland trees, but Tasma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasmanian Temperate Forests
The Tasmanian temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Australia. The ecoregion occupies the eastern portion of the island of Tasmania, which lies south of the Australian mainland. Geography The ecoregion occupies the eastern portion of Tasmania, as well as islands in the Bass Strait separating Tasmania from Australia – the Furneaux Group of islands off Tasmania's northeast coast, and King Island northwest of Tasmania. Climate The ecoregion has a temperate climate. It is located on the drier eastern side of Tasmania, and average annual rainfall varies from . Rainfall is variable from year to year and month to month, with no pronounced seasonal minimum. Rain generally falls in light showers, with the heaviest rainfall during the spring or autumn. Flora Plant communities in the ecoregion include dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest, wet sclerophyll eucalypt forest, ''Allocasuarina-Callitris'' woodland, rainforest, grassland, and heath. Fire shape ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
