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Blue Lake (New South Wales)
The Blue Lake is one of only four cirque lakes found in mainland Australia. The other three, Cootapatamba, Lake Albina, Albina, and Club, are shallower and are held entirely by terminal moraines. Blue Lake's valley contains the best-developed glacier, glacial features in the Kosciuszko National Park Australian Alps, alpine area of New South Wales. It was recognised as a wetland of international importance on 17 March 1996 when a area, comprising the lake and its surrounds, including nearby Hedley Tarn, was designated Ramsar Site 800 under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. The lake lies within the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves. Description Blue Lake is in area and deep. Its surface is entirely open water, with boulders reaching the shore in the east and north east, and the other shores being pebbly. It lies about west of Jindabyne, New South Wales, Jindabyne and north of Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, Charlotte Pass at an altitude of Australian Height Dat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera system. It makes up the northeastern half of the Australian Alps (the other half being the Victorian Alps) and contains Australia's five tallest peaks, all of which are above , including the tallest Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches to a height of above sea level. The offshore Tasmanian highlands makes up the only other major alpine region present in the whole of Australia. The Snowy Mountains experience large natural snowfalls for several months of the year; with significant accumulation during May, June, July, August, September and October with the snow cover usually melting by November (although it can occasionally persist through high summer and the next autumn). It is considered to be one of the centres of the Australian ski industry d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughly parallel to the east coast of Australia and forms the fifth-longest land-based mountain chain in the world, and the longest entirely within a single country. It is mainland Australia's most substantial topographic feature and serves as the definitive watershed for the river systems in eastern Australia, hence the name. The Great Dividing Range stretches more than from Dauan Island in the Torres Strait off the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through Queensland and New South Wales, then turning west across Victoria before finally fading into the Wimmera plains as rolling hills west of the Grampians region. The width of the Range varies from about to over .Shaw, John H., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-toothed Mouse
The broad-toothed mouse or broad-toothed rat (''Mastacomys fuscus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. Distribution and habitat It is found only in South-eastern Australia. In Victoria live specimens have been caught in the Snowfields, Great Dividing Range (to Cooma in New South Wales), Gippsland Highlands, Otway Ranges and Wilsons Promontory. Specimens located in scats have been found in the Otway plains and East Gippsland. The species is also recorded in buttongrass sedgeland up to 1000 metres in western Tasmania.Menkhorst and Knight, 2001 p. 198 Habitat preferences are areas of herbfields, grasslands and forests with minimal shrubs but a dense covering of sedge, grass, herbs and moss, where precipitation does not fall below 1400 mm per year in alpine areas and others 1000 mm at lower altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or objec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Pygmy Possum
The mountain pygmy possum (''Burramys parvus''), also simply known as the burramys, is a small, mouse-sized (weighs ) nocturnal marsupial of Australia found in dense alpine rock screes and boulder fields, mainly southern Victoria and around Mount Kosciuszko in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales at elevations from . At almost , its prehensile tail is longer than its combined head and body length. Its diet consists of insects (such as the bogong moth), fleshy fruits, nuts, nectar and seeds. Its body is covered in a thick coat of fine grey fur except for its stomach, which is cream coloured; its tail is hairless. On the underside of the female's body is a pouch containing four teats. This possum is the only extant species in the genus ''Burramys''. It is also the only Australian mammal restricted to alpine habitat. Discovery The mountain pygmy possum was first discovered in the fossil record in 1895 when a portion of the jaw and skull bones were found in the Wombeyan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abrotanella Nivigena
''Abrotanella nivigena'' (common name - Snow wort) is a member of the daisy family and ranges from southeast New South Wales to eastern Victoria, Australia, growing in the Kosciuszko region. It is a cushion plant growing from 3 to 5 cm tall. It was first described in 1855 as ''Trineuron nivigenum'' by Ferdinand von Mueller, who described it as growing "on grassy or gravelly places in the Munyang Mountains, irrigated by melting glaciers" at altitudes of 5000 to 6000 feet. Mueller redescribed it in 1865 as ''Abrotanella nivigena''. Similar plants in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ... were previously included in this species, but molecular evidence indicates that these are not the same, and the New Guinean plants have now reverted to the previous n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oschatzia Cuneifolia
''Oschatzia'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae. It is also in the subfamily of ''Azorelloideae''. Its native range is south-eastern Australia, it is found in the states of New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. The genus name of ''Oschatzia'' is in honour of Adolph Oschatz (1812–1857), and German doctor and botanist.He was also an inventor of microtomy A microtome (from the Greek ''mikros'', meaning "small", and ''temnein'', meaning "to cut") is a cutting tool used to produce extremely thin slices of material known as ''sections'', with the process being termed microsectioning. Important in sc .... It was first described and published in Ann. Bot. Syst. Vol.1 on page 340 in 1848. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Oschatzia'': *'' Oschatzia cuneifolia'' *'' Oschatzia saxifraga'' References {{Taxonbar, from=Q10342222 Azorelloideae Apiaceae genera Plants described in 1848 Flora of New South Wales Flora of T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpine Tundra
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets lower until it reaches sea level and merges with polar tundra. The high elevation causes an adverse climate, which is too cold and windy to support tree growth. Alpine tundra transitions to sub-alpine forests below the tree line; stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone are known as '' krummholz''. With increasing elevation it ends at the snow line where snow and ice persist through summer. Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by dwarf shrubs close to the ground. The cold climate of the alpine tundra is caused by adiabatic cooling of air, and is similar to polar climate. Geography Alpine tundra occurs at high enough altitude at any latitude. Portions of montane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate subphylum Vertebrata, i.e. vertebrates. Well-known Phylum, phyla of invertebrates include arthropods, molluscs, annelids, echinoderms, flatworms, cnidarians, and sponges. The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxon, taxa have a greater number and diversity of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 10 Micrometre, μm (0.0004 in) myxozoans to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid. Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are actually sister chordate subphyla to Vertebrata, being more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the "invertebrates" para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heath (habitat)
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler and damper climate. Heaths are widespread worldwide but are rapidly disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. They form extensive and highly diverse communities across Australia in humid and sub-humid areas where fire regimes with recurring burning are required for the maintenance of the heathlands.Specht, R.L. 'Heathlands' in 'Australian Vegetation' R.H. Groves ed. Cambridge University Press 1988 Even more diverse though less widespread heath communities occur in Southern Africa. Extensive heath communities can also be found in the Texas chaparral, New Caledonia, central Chile, and along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to these extensive heath areas, the vegetation type is also found in scattered locatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbfield
Herbfields are plant communities dominated by herbaceous plants, especially forbs and grasses. They are found where climatic conditions do not allow large woody plants to grow, such as in subantarctic and alpine tundra environments. Herbfield is defined in New South Wales (Australia) government legislation as native vegetation that predominantly does not contain an over-storey or a mid-storey and where ground cover is dominated by non-grass species. The New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori language, Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand ... has described herbfield vegetation as that in which the cover of herbs in the canopy is 20–100%, and in which herb cover is greater than that of any other growth form, or of bare ground.Lux et al. (2009). Various kinds of herbfield include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowmelt
In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many parts of the world, in some cases contributing high fractions of the annual runoff in a watershed. Predicting snowmelt runoff from a drainage basin may be a part of designing water control projects. Rapid snowmelt can cause flooding. If the snowmelt is then frozen, very dangerous conditions and accidents can occur, introducing the need for salt to melt the ice. Energy fluxes related to snowmelt There are several energy fluxes involved in the melting of snow. These fluxes can act in opposing directions, that is either delivering heat to or removing heat from the snowpack. Ground heat flux is the energy delivered to the snowpack from the soil below by conduction. Radiation inputs to the snowpack include net shortwave (solar radiation includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
