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Together with the Southern Australia Mallee and Woodlands ecoregion, the Southwestern Australia Forests and Scrub is one of only five shrublands of its kind in the world. Together, these shrublands support 20 percent of the plant species on Earth. The species living in the ecoregion’s various habitats are very different from each other, and some can’t be found anywhere else. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands; Southwest Australia woodlands; Southwest Australia savanna; Kwongan heathlands; Esperance mallee; Coolgardie woodlands Australia broke off from Antarctica to become a continent of its own 50 million years ago, but the natural history of this land goes even farther back in time. When the supercontinent Gondwanaland split apart about 200 million years ago, what was to become Australia kept many of the plant species that it shared with Asia and South America. Today, many of these can be found in the Southwestern Australia Forests and Scrub ecoregion, the second richest Mediterranean plant community in the world, after the Fynbos.
Southwestern Australia has a climate similar to that found around the Mediterranean Sea, a region many thousands of miles away: Temperatures are mild, summers are very dry, and heavy rains fall all winter. The soil here is sandy, and numerous streams and rivers wind through the area. High mountains tower above a rocky landscape, and long coastlines get a lot of sun and wind. More than 5,500 species of plants have adapted to the Southwestern Australia Forests and Scrub ecoregion, with nearly 70 percent being endemic.
The air of the Southwestern Australia Forests and Scrub is filled with the sweet scent of eucalyptus trees, including the bushy yate, jarrah, and red-flowered mallee. The pincushion hakea bush lines sunny coasts. Albany pitcher plants, showy dryandra, blue china orchids, and many-flowered fringed lilies brighten many areas. A birder would be challenged to identify a long list of unusual species, including red-winged wrens, noisy scrub birds, regent parrots, shining bronze cuckoos, splendid fairywrens, singing honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, and mistletoe birds. Thick vegetation and warm rocks keep Kangaroo Island dragons, many-eyed geckos, keel-scaled skinks, and purple blind snakes happy, while moist areas are filled with slender treefrogs, Fletcher’s ground froglets, swamp burrowing frogs, and Nicholls’ toadlets. Many mammals roam through the ecoregion, including numbats, red-tailed phascogales, and honey possums. Others, such as banded hare-wallabies and silky and western mice, can be seen only in particular places.
The people of Southwestern Australia have cleared a significant amount of land for agriculture and urban development. Sometimes land is burned, which changes natural fire patterns. Livestock graze in many areas, and trees are often cut down for timber. Many species brought in from other places compete with native species for food and habitat--and sometimes even eat them.
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