Coolgardie (biogeographic region)
Encyclopedia
Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia
The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts...
(IBRA) region and a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
consisting of an area of low hills and plains of infertile sandy soil in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Location and description
This is a transition zone between the Mediterranean climateMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's south-west coast and the country's dry interior. The poor soil makes it unsuitable for agriculture but Coolgardie
Coolgardie, Western Australia
Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....
has been a gold and nickel mining area.
Flora
The low hills are home to woodland of endemic species of eucalyptusEucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
while the sand plains are covered in scrubland. The areas nearer the west coast have more protea
Protea
Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes.-Etymology:...
flowers while the drier inland is home to acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
trees and kwongan
Kwongan
Kwongan is a type of heathland found on the coastal plains of Western Australia. The name is derived from the language of the Noongar people. Kwongan comprises floristically-rich heath with dense thickets of sclerophyllous shrubs and isolated small trees...
heathland.
Fauna
Wildlife of the Coolgardie region includes birds such as MalleefowlMalleefowl
The Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken...
, Laughing Kookaburra
Laughing Kookaburra
The Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, is a carnivorous bird in the kingfisher family Halcyonidae. Native to eastern Australia, it has also been introduced to parts of New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia. Male and female adults are similar in plumage, which is predominantly brown and...
and the Barking Owl
Barking Owl
The Barking Owl , also known as the Barking Boobook or Winking Owl, is a nocturnal bird species native to mainland Australia and parts of Papua New Guinea. They are a medium-sized brown owl and have an extremely characteristic voice that can range from a barking dog noise to a shrill woman-like...
, and reptiles such as Thorny Devil
Thorny Devil
Thorny Devil is an Australian lizard. It is also known as the Thorny Dragon, Mountain Devil, Thorny Lizard, or the Moloch and is the sole species of genus Moloch....
s and Desert Death Adder
Desert Death Adder
The Desert Death Adder, Acanthophis pyrrhus, is a species of snake native to Australia and is one of the most venomous land snakes in the world...
s. Mammals include the egg-laying anteaters Echidna
Echidna
Echidnas , also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. There are four extant species, which, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs...
, and many marsupials, including the brushtail possum
Brushtail possum
The brushtail possums are the members of the genus, Trichosurus, a genus of marsupial in the Phalangeridae family.It contains the following species:*Northern Brushtail Possum, Trichosurus arnhemensis...
, red kangaroo
Red Kangaroo
The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
, Eastern Wallaroo
Eastern Wallaroo
The Eastern Wallaroo also known as the Common Wallaroo or the Hill Wallaroo is part of the Wallaroo family . It is a large, variable species of macropod ....
, and the bilby
Bilby
Bilbies are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. Before European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. One became extinct in the 1950s; the other survives but remains endangered....
.
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