The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a
biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was developed for use as a planning tool, for example for the establishment of a
national reserve system. The first version of IBRA was developed in 1993–94 and published in 1995.
Within the broadest scale,
Australia is a major part of the
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...
biogeographic realm, as developed by the
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
. Based on this system, the world is also split into 14
terrestrial habitats, of which eight are shared by Australia. The Australian land mass is divided into 89
bioregion
A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use th ...
s and 419 subregions. Each region is a land area made up of a group of interacting ecosystems that are repeated in similar form across the landscape.
IBRA is updated periodically based on new data, mapping improvements, and review of the existing scheme. The most recent version is IBRA7, developed during 2012, which replaced IBRA6.1.
IBRA regions and subregions
This is a list of region and subregions under IBRA7. Region codes are given in parentheses, followed by area, where known. Images of regions are from IBRA6.1, pending creation of maps for IBRA7.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
V
W
Y
See also
*
Ecoregions in Australia
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 ...
*
Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia
The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA), formerly the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia, is a biogeographic regionalisation of the oceanic waters of Australia's exclusive economic zone (EE ...
(IMCRA)
Further reading
* (Discusses IBRA regions most likely to benefit from targeted floral sampling)
References
Additional references
*
Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) regions and codes
Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) subregions and codes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation For Australia
Biogeography of Australia
01
Botany in Australia
Natural history of Australia
Vegetation of Australia