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The Meaning, Significance and Implications of Biodiversity (continued)

Key features of Australia's biodiversity

Vegetation types

The terrestrial ecosystems found in Australia are very varied owing to the range of climates - including subalpine, cool temperate, arid and tropical biomes. This diversity leads to a range of vegetation types whose distribution at a broad scale is limited mainly by rainfall. These include the spinifex-dominated arid interior, semi-arid shrublands, tropical and temperate grasslands, rainforests and woodlands (including savannas), eucalypt-dominated forests and shrublands, chenopod shrublands, heathlands, alpine and subalpine vegetation (Groves 1994; Flora of Australia 1999). The only available Australia-wide map of Australia's natural vegetation (Figure 3) was compiled by JA Carnahan (Commonwealth of Australia 1990). During 2001, a new continental-scale vegetation map is to be produced by the National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA) (see http://www.nlwra.gov.au ). This is part of a major initiative, the National Vegetation Information System, which is a collaborative project between the state, territory and Commonwealth governments.

Australian terrestrial vegetation contains very few deciduous species, relatively few conifers and no cactuses or other large succulents in the arid zone. In particular, the appearance of the unique Australian landscape is largely as a result of the predominance of species-rich genera such as Eucalyptus and Acacia.

Mangrove forests and saltmarshes occur in intertidal areas and are thus influenced by the characteristics of both the land and the sea. Intertidal mudflats are another significant, yet often forgotten, habitat.

Aquatic vegetation types, especially in the marine environment, are much less diverse than their terrestrial counterparts. For example, vegetation communities in marine areas are largely dominated by seagrasses and macroalgae (Zann 1995). A broader range of vegetation types are associated with the lakes, rivers, wetlands and areas dependent on ground water that help make up the freshwater systems of Australia (Boulton & Brock 1999).

Table 1: Comparative socioeconomic data for the 17 megadiverse nations
Updated from Common and Norton (1992). All figures are from 1998 except life expectancy (1997), protected areas (1996) and the income figures for the DRC (Congo) and Malaysia that are based on regression. Figures for the land area of China, Brazil and Australia have increased since 1989.

Country	Population (millions)	Area (thousands km 2 )	Population density (persons km 2)	Life expectancy (y)	Income (per capita US$)	Agriculture (% of output)	Nationally protected areas (% land area)	Adult literacy rate (%)
Australia		7 741	2	78.2	20 130	3	7.3	99.0
Brazil	166	8 547	20	66.8	6 160	8	4.2	84.0
China	1 239	9 597	133	69.8	3 220	18	6.4	82.9
Colombia	41	1 139	39	70.4	7 500	13	9.0	90.9
DRC	48	2 345	21	50.8	750	58	4.5	79.5
Ecuador	12	284	44	69.5	4 630	12	43.1	90.7
India	980	3 288	330	62.6	1 700	25	4.8	55.0
Indonesia	204	1 905	112	65.1	2 790	16	10.6	85.5
Madagascar	15	587	25	57.5	900	31	1.9	65.0
Malaysia	22	330	68	72.0	6 990	12	4.5	86.5
Mexico	96	1 958	50	72.2	8 190	5	3.7	90.1
Papua New Guinea	5	463	10	58.0	2 700	NA	0.0	NA
Peru	25	1 285	19	68.3	NA	7	2.7	88.7
Philippines	75	300	252	68.5	3 540	NA	4.9	94.5
South Africa	41	1 221	34	65.0	6 990	NA	5.4	84.0
USA	270	9 363	29	76.0	29 340	NA	13.4	NA
Venezuela	23	912	26	73.0	8 190	NA	36.3	92.5

Source: World Bank (1999a, 1999b).

The photographs below illustrate an indicative range of diversity of vegetation types. Some of these vegetation types such as tropical rainforests and alpine vegetation are restricted in occurrence. This contrasts with tropical savannas (dominated by eucalypt species) and spinifex-dominated grasslands which cover large areas of tropical and arid Australia, respectively. Another widespread community is the Mulga (Acacia aneura)-dominated shrublands. Together with hummock grasslands wooded with Mulga, these communities are estimated to occupy 1.5 million square kilometres or about 20% of the Australian continent (Hodgkinson 2001). Although most of the continent is dominated by semi-arid and arid ecosystems, ecosystem diversity is greatest in the higher rainfall regions on the eastern and southern edges of the continent.

Marine habitats

Australia has one of the world's longest national coastlines and one of the largest marine jurisdictions, about twice the size of the Australian mainland ranging from the sub-Antarctic to the tropics. These measurements refer only to surface area - marine organisms live in all available habitats extending throughout the water column to the floor of deep ocean trenches. Some of these trenches reach 11 000 m in depth but even in these extreme habitats, marine invertebrates still occur. In addition to well-known habitats such as shorelines, estuaries, rocky shores and rock pools, coral reefs and seagrass beds, marine invertebrates can be found in other habitats such as the interstitial spaces between grains of sand, around hydrothermal vents, on floating debris (e.g. algal mats and driftwood attached to other animals), the peaks and slopes of seamounts and swimming or floating in the water itself.

Classifying vegetation or habitat types

Indigenous people have developed classifications for vegetation or habitat types that can bear marked similarities to the broad associations defined by western science (Table 2). While western science is based on evolutionary theory and Linnaean taxonomy, all aspects of Indigenous life is governed by the genesis of life and classification based on their religious and social laws (Baker & Mutitjulu Community 1992).

Table 2: Indigenous words for arid zone systems and taxa

Habitat type	Anangu name
Rocky range and outcrops	puli
Mulga shrublands	puti
Riverbed and riverbanks	karu
Sand plain	pila
Dunefields	tali
Saltlakes or claypans	Pantu or tjintjira

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