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Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot
Biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Dr....
 that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion
Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecology and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "ecozone". Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural community and species....
s of Western Australia
Western Australia

Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....
. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide....
, one of five such regions in the world. The region covers 356,717 kmē, consisting of a broad coastal plain 20-120 kilometers wide, transitioning to gently undulating uplands made up of weathered granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
, gneiss
Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of Rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic rock processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous rock or Sedimentary rock rocks....
 and laterite
Laterite

Laterite is a surface formation in hot and wet tropical areas which is enriched in iron and aluminium and develops by intensive and long lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock....
. Desert and xeric shrubland
Deserts and xeric shrublands

Desert and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture. Deserts and xeric shrublands receive an annual average rainfall of ten inches or less, and have an arid or hyperarid climate, characterized by a strong moisture deficit, where annual potential loss of moisture from evapotransp...
s lie to the north and east across the center of Australia, separating Southwest Australia from the other Mediterranean and humid-climate regions of the continent.

The vegetation in the region is mainly woody, including forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
s, woodland
Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
s, shrublands, and heathlands, but no grassland
Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
s.






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Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot
Biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Dr....
 that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion
Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecology and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "ecozone". Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural community and species....
s of Western Australia
Western Australia

Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....
. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide....
, one of five such regions in the world. The region covers 356,717 kmē, consisting of a broad coastal plain 20-120 kilometers wide, transitioning to gently undulating uplands made up of weathered granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
, gneiss
Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of Rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic rock processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous rock or Sedimentary rock rocks....
 and laterite
Laterite

Laterite is a surface formation in hot and wet tropical areas which is enriched in iron and aluminium and develops by intensive and long lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock....
. Desert and xeric shrubland
Deserts and xeric shrublands

Desert and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture. Deserts and xeric shrublands receive an annual average rainfall of ten inches or less, and have an arid or hyperarid climate, characterized by a strong moisture deficit, where annual potential loss of moisture from evapotransp...
s lie to the north and east across the center of Australia, separating Southwest Australia from the other Mediterranean and humid-climate regions of the continent.

The vegetation in the region is mainly woody, including forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
s, woodland
Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
s, shrublands, and heathlands, but no grassland
Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
s. Predominant vegetation types are Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of Flowering plant trees in the Myrtus family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia....
 woodlands, eucalyptus-dominated Mallee
Mallee

Mallee may refer to:* Mallee , the habit of woody plants that grow with multiple stems from underground lignotubers* Mallee , a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia...
 shrublands, and kwongan
Kwongan

The Kwongan heath form an ecoregion confined to Southwest Australia. Kwongan is found on coastal plains from Cape Naturaliste to Perth, Western Australia, though large areas have been cleared....
 shrublands and heathlands, which correspond to the chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, matorral
Matorral

Matorral is a Spanish language word for shrubland, thicket or bushes. Matorral originally referred to the Maquis shrubland of Spain's Mediterranean climate regions, but the term followed Spanish settlement of the Americas, and is used to refer to both Mediterranean-climate and deserts and xeric shrublands in Geography of Mexico, Geography...
, maquis
Maquis shrubland

Maquis or macchia is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs such as Salvia, juniper and myrtle....
, and fynbos
Fynbos

Fynbos is the natural shrubland or Heath vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate....
 shrublands found in other Mediterranean-type regions. The region has generally nutrient-poor sandy or lateritic soils, which has encouraged rich speciation
Speciation

Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook seems to have been the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or 'cladogenesis,' as opposed to 'anagenesis' or 'phyletic evolution' occurring within lineages....
 of plants adapted to specific ecological niches. The region hosts a great diversity of endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
 species, notably among the protea family (Proteaceae
Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants. Mainly restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, it is a fairly large family, with around 80 genus but fewer than 2000 species....
).

Botanic province

The region corresponds to the Southwest Botanic Province and the floristic province
Floristic province

A Phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phtyochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both regions overlap....
 of Southwest Australia. The World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an Internationalism non-governmental organization for the Conservation biology, Environmental science and Restoration ecology of the environment , formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada....
 and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia
Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia

The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia is a biogeography regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts ....
 (IBRA) divide the region up into a number of ecoregions:

  • Coolgardie woodlands (IBRA Coolgardie)
  • Esperance mallee
    Esperance mallee

    Esperance Mallee is a World Wide Fund for Nature ecoregion on the south coast of Western Australia. It is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome....
     (IBRA Esperance Plains and Mallee)
  • Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands (IBRA Warren)
  • Kwongan heathlands (IBRA Swan Coastal Plain)
  • Southwest Australia savanna (IBRA Geraldton Sandplains, Avon Wheatbelt, and Yalgoo)
  • Southwest Australia woodlands
    Jarrah Forest

    Jarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.The name refers to the region's dominant ecosystem: Jarrah forest; that is, a tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is Eucalyptus marginata ....
     (IBRA Jarrah Forest)


See also

  • Flora of Western Australia
    Flora of Western Australia

    The flora of Western Australia comprises 9,437 published native vascular plant species of 1,543 genus within 226 Family ; there are also 1,171 naturalised alien or invasive plant species more commonly known as weeds....


External links



Further reading

  • Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995. ISBN 0642213712