Ecoregions in Australia are geographically distinct plant and animal communities, defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature based on geology, soils, climate, and predominant vegetation.

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The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identified 825 terrestrial ecoregions that cover the Earth's land surface, 40 of which cover Australia and its dependent islands. The WWF ecoregions are classified by biome type (tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, tundra, etc.), and into one of eight terrestrial realms. Australia, together with New Zealand, New Guinea and neighboring island groups, is part of the Australasian realm. The IBRA bioregions informed the delineation of the WWF ecoregions for Australia, and the WWF ecoregions generally follow the same ecoregion boundaries, while often clustering two or more similar bioregions into a larger ecoregion. The ecoregion articles in Wikipedia generally follow the WWF scheme.

The WWF ecoregions are based heavily upon the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) regionalisation. Like the IBRA, it was developed for use as a planning tool for conservation science, with the goal of establishing a system of nature reserves in each of the ecoregions or bioregions sufficient to preserve biodiversity. Both systems also have a prioritization system for establishing preserves; the WWF designated its Global 200 ecoregions as priorities for conservation, and the Department of Environment and Heritage ranks its bioregions high, medium, or low priority, based on "the potential value land reservation in those regions would add to the development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system for Australia."

WWF terrestrial ecoregions

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

• Lord Howe Island subtropical forests
• Norfolk Island subtropical forests
• Queensland tropical rain forests

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests

• Eastern Australian temperate forests
• Southeast Australia temperate forests
• Tasmanian Central Highlands forests
• Tasmanian temperate forests
• Tasmanian temperate rain forests

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

• Arnhem Land tropical savanna
• Brigalow tropical savanna
• Cape York Peninsula tropical savanna
• Carpentaria tropical savanna
• Einasleigh Uplands savanna
• Kimberley tropical savanna
• Mitchell Grass Downs
• Southwest Australia savanna
• Victoria Plains tropical savanna

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

• Eastern Australia mulga shrublands
• Southeast Australia temperate savanna

Montane grasslands and shrublands

• Australian Alps montane grasslands

Tundra

• Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra (Australia, New Zealand)

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

• Coolgardie woodlands
• Esperance mallee
• Eyre and York mallee
• Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands
• Swan Coastal Plain scrub and woodlands
• Mount Lofty woodlands
• Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee
• Naracoorte woodlands
• Southwest Australia woodlands

Deserts and xeric shrublands

• Carnarvon xeric shrublands
• Central Ranges xeric scrub
• Gibson Desert
• Great Sandy-Tanami desert
• Great Victoria Desert
• Nullarbor Plain xeric shrublands
• Pilbara shrublands
• Simpson Desert
• Tirari–Sturt stony desert
• Western Australian mulga shrublands

WWF terrestrial ecoregions and IBRA bioregions

This table shows which IBRA bioregions correspond to which WWF ecoregions.[1][2]

WWF freshwater ecoregions

The WWF published Freshwater Ecoregions of the World, a global map of freshwater ecoregions. The WWF team identified ten freshwater ecoregions for Australia and Tasmania. A major habitat type, or biome, was identified for each ecoregion. The four major habitat types present in Australia are tropical and subtropical coastal rivers, temperate coastal rivers, temperate floodplain rivers and wetlands, and xeric freshwaters and endorheic (closed) basins. The Australian freshwater ecoregions were adapted from the freshwater fish biogeographic provinces identified by Peter Unmack and G.R. Allen, S.H. Midgley, and M. Allen, who were also part of the WWF team. The freshwater fish provinces "were derived through similarity analyses, parsimony analysis, and drainage-based plots of species ranges".[3]

Tropical and subtropical coastal rivers

• Arafura–Carpentaria
• Kimberley

Temperate coastal rivers

• Bass Strait Drainages
• Eastern Coastal Australia
• Southern Tasmania
• Southwestern Australia

Temperate floodplain rivers and wetlands

• Murray–Darling

Xeric freshwaters and endorheic (closed) basins

• Lake Eyre Basin
• Paleo
• Pilbara

See also

• Environment of Australia

References