AUSTRALIA’S UNIQUE WILDLIFE, PLANTS AND ENVIRONMENT
The isolation of Australia for 55 million years created a sanctuary for birds, animals and plants which have lived and evolved there in geographic isolation.
It is the home to some of the most magnificent species of animals and plants found nowhere else on the earth. More than one million species - about 85% of the continent's flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds and 89% of inshore, temperate-zone fish are endemic to Australia and has the highest diversity of lizards in the world, with over 360 species. Australia does not have any tortoise but counts 29 species of aquatic turtles and more than 200 amphibians. Among them, 93% are endemic. It is the home to 140 species of snakes and has more species of venomous snakes than any other continent.
Among Australia’s best-known animals are the kangaroo, koala, echidna, dingo, platypus, wallaby and wombat.
Australia has more than 140 species of marsupials, including kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats and the Tasmanian Devil, which is now found only in Tasmania. Another unique animal group, the monotremes, which are egg-laying mammals, often referred to as ‘living fossils’. The most distinctive is the platypus, a river dwelling animal with a duck-like bill, a furry body and webbed feet
Bird species listed in Australia is approximately 828. Isolation allowed for the development of strange birds including the large, flightless emu which is found nowhere else in the world. The birds range from tiny honeyeaters to the flightless emu which stands nearly two metres tall.
Australia has 20,000 species of plants, including living fossils such as the cycad palm and the grass tree, 700 species of acacia and 1,200 species in the Myrtaceae family which includes eucalypts or gum trees. Wildflowers turn the Australian arid and savannah areas into living canvases of colour after rain. Native forests are found mainly in wetter coastal districts and rainforests are mainly in Queensland.
Complex Ecological Interaction and Relationships
Plants and animals interact in complex relationships with each other and with factors such as soils, water, climate and landscape. The effects of invasive plants, animals and diseases and direct effects of human activities have caused changes to already fragile ecosystems.
In the 200 years plus of European settlement extensive clearing of native vegetation has changed and fragmented habitats. Cataclysmic events such as fire, drought and flood continue to change Australia's ecology. This change affects the interactions within ecological communities and reduces the diversity which in turn threatens the survival of many native species.
Australia has a strong commitment to the conservation of native flora and fauna around the world, and is party to a number of international conventions and agreements. These include the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which regulates the trade in endangered species.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 promotes the conservation of threatened species and biodiversity. Under this Act, there are six different categories of threatened species:
Extinct – there is no reasonable doubt that the last member of the species has died.
Extinct in the wild – the species is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalised population well outside its past range.
Critically endangered – the species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
Endangered – the species is not critically endangered but it is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.
Vulnerable – the species is not critically endangered or endangered but it is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.
Conservation dependent – the species is the focus of a specific conservation program without which the species would become vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered within a period of five years.
Since settlement, hundreds of species have become extinct in Australia, including at least 50 bird and mammal, 4 frog and more than 60 plant species. It is likely that other species have disappeared too, without our knowledge. Many other species are considered to be threatened and are listed under Australian Government legislation as endangered or vulnerable. More than 310 species of native animals and over 1180 species of native plants are at risk of disappearing forever.