Southwestern Australia

Please note: These biome and ecoregion pages (and associated data) are no longer being updated and may now be out of date. These pages and data exist for historical reference only. For updated bioregion data, please visit One Earth.

  • Scientific Code
    (AA1209)
  • Ecoregion Category
    Australasia
  • Size
    65,200 square miles
  • Status
    Critical/Endangered
  • Habitats

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation
The Southwest Australia Savannas ecoregion comprises three IBRA’s: ‘Geraldton Sandplains’, ‘Avon Wheatbelt’, and ‘Yalgoo’ (Thackway and Cresswell 1995). Vegetation includes savanna woodland, mallee scrub, and heath. This region is a transitional zone between mediterranean climates and the central arid regions. A portion falls within the ‘South-west Botanical Province’ Centre of Plant Diversity (Beard 1995), and the southern portion of this ecoregion falls within the ‘South-west Australia’ Endemic Bird Area (Stattersfield et al. 1998).

References
Beard, J. S. 1995. South-west Botanical Province. Pages 484 – 489 in S. D. Davis, V. H. Heywood and A. C. Hamilton. editors. Centres of Plant Diversity. Volume 2. Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific. WWF/IUCN, IUCN Publications Unit, Cambridge, UK.

Stattersfield, A. J., M. J. Crosby, A. J. Long, and D. C. Wedge. 1998. Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series No. 7. BirdLife International, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Thackway, R. and I. D. Cresswell. editors. 1995. An Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia: a framework for establishing the national system of reserves, Version 4.0. Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra.

Prepared by: Angas Hopkins
Reviewed by: