The Mount Lofty woodlands, or the Peppermint Box Grassy Woodland of South Australia, is an ecoregion in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, which includes woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands in the Mount Lofty Ranges,

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...

, and

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

Location and description

The ecoregion includes the Mount Lofty Range, Fleurieu Peninsula, and Kangaroo Island, including the city of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The ecoregion is bounded on the east by the Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee ecoregion, on the west by the Eyre and Yorke mallee, and on the north by the Tirari-Sturt stony desert. The ecoregion corresponds to the former ''Lofty Ranges'' IBRA region. It includes the current (version 7) Kanmantoo IBRA region and the southern portion of Flinders Lofty Block region.

Climate

The ecoregion has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

. The Mount Lofty Ranges intercept southwesterly winter winds, creating orographic rainfall. Rainfall ranges from nearly 900 mm on the high peaks of the southern range to below 400 in the northern portion of the range.

Flora

Plant communities include sclerophyll forests and woodlands, open woodlands and savannas, mallee shrublands, and grasslands. Species of

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

are the predominant trees, and the

species composition Relative species abundance is a component of biodiversity and is a measure of how common or rare a species is relative to other species in a defined location or community.Hubbell, S. P. 2001. ''The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeog ...

varies with elevation, rainfall, and soils. Peppermint Box ('' Eucalyptus odorata'') is the dominant species of the tree canopy. Other tree species include '' Eucalyptus microcarpa,

Eucalyptus leucoxylon ''Eucalyptus leucoxylon'', commonly known as yellow gum, blue gum or white ironbark, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It has smooth yellowish bark with some rough bark near the bas ...

, Eucalyptus cladocalyx, Eucalyptus porosa,

Bursaria spinosa ''Bursaria spinosa'' is a small tree or shrub in the family Pittosporaceae. The species occurs mainly in the eastern and southern half of Australia and not in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Reaching 10 m (35 ft) high, it ...

Acacia pycnantha ''Acacia pycnantha'', most commonly known as the golden wattle, is a tree of the family Fabaceae. It grows to a height of and has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks) instead of true leaves. The profuse fragrant, golden flowers appear in late ...

, Allocasuarina verticillata,

Callitris glaucophylla ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

'', and '' Callitris preissii''. Grasses and herbs include '' Austrodanthonia'' spp., '' Austrostipa'' spp., '' Lomandra'' spp. and '' Dianella revoluta''.

Fauna

The

short-beaked echidna The short-beaked echidna (''Tachyglossus aculeatus''), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna, and the only member of the genus ''Tachyglossus'', from Ancient Greek (), meaning "fast", and (), meaning ...

(''Tachyglossus aculeatus'') is found throughout the ecoregion. The

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...

(''Ornithorhynchus anatinus'') no longer lives on the South Australian mainland. The platypus was introduced to Flinders-Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island between 1928 and 1946, and is currently established on the western portion of the island. Many species of birds and medium-sized mammals have been extirpated from the mainland portion of the ecoregion, principally from loss of habitat.

Koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

s (''Phascolarctos cinereus'') were introduced to Kangaroo Island in the 1920s. As koala numbers increased, over-browsing caused declines in some native eucalypts, particularly the rough-barked manna gum (''Eucalyptus viminalis'' ssp. ''cygnetensis''). The Government's Koala Management Program captures and sterilizes koalas, plants trees of the over-browsed species, and fixes collars on some trees to prevent koalas from climbing them."Kangaroo Island Koala Management Program". Department of Environment and Natural Resources Fact Sheet, Government of South Australia. Accessed 31 May 2020.

Protected areas

8.82% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Most of the mainland portion has been converted to agriculture or pasture. Protected areas in the mainland include Mount Remarkable National Park, Belair National Park, and

Onkaparinga River National Park Onkaparinga River National Park is a protected area in the Australia, Australian state of South Australia located about south of Adelaide city centre. It extends over the floodplain of the Onkaparinga River east of South Road, Adelaide, Ma ...

. Protected areas on Kangaroo Island include

Flinders Chase National Park Flinders Chase National Park (formerly Flinders Chase) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located at the west end of Kangaroo Island about west-south west of the state capital of Adelaide and west of the municipal ...

, Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area, Cape Bouguer Wilderness Protection Area, and Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area.

References

External links

* *{{WWF ecoregion, name=Mount Lofty woodlands, id=aa1206 Biogeography of South Australia Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub in Australia