National strategy for the conservation of australias biodiversity

It looks like you're using an old version of Internet Explorer. For the best experience, national update your browser. Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is a term used to describe the variety of living things in the natural environment: Biodiversity is valued by people for many reasons.

It contributes to the emotional and spiritual well-being of individuals and communities; it is the life-blood that sustains rural and coastal communities; and it is fundamental to Indigenous people. Biodiversity - the land, waters and all living things - form Indigenous creation and dreamtime stories and songlines about how they and the world around them came to be. Their traditions and culture are inextricably tied biodiversity the Australian landscape and its biodiversity.

Indigenous woman with cooked yam. The natural environment has the value for many Australians: In18 per cent of all domestic overnight trips in Australia included a nature the, such as visiting a national park, botanical gardens or wildlife park, bushwalking, or whale watching, scuba diving and snorkelling. Visitors to Australia are also attracted to the natural environment: Nature-based visitors also stay almost twice the length of time on average as other international visitors, and spend 80 per cent of international visitor the. Kakadu National Park World Heritage Area left.

Great Barrier Conservation World Heritage Area right. The biodiversity of the natural environment also provides a wide range of ecosystem strategy and services that are integral to life.

Resources that sustain humans, such as food, medicines, timber, fuels and genetic materials, are all provided by a biodiverse natural environment. Biodiversity provides the oxygen biodiversity breathe and purifies the water australias we drink. It builds and protects soils and stores and cycles nutrients essential for food production. It controls pests and breaks down pollutants in the environment. It also australias recovery from unpredictable natural or catastrophic events and helps to maintain a stable climate.

These goods and services, whether gained directly or indirectly from biodiversity, represent the fundamental building blocks of human society End note 1. Back to top 1. Biodiversity related industries also strategy significantly and directly to the Australian national These factors, combined with its size and its long-term and geographical variations in climate make Australia one of biodiversity most biologically biodiversity and diverse countries in the world.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent - the average annual rainfall is only millimetres, compared with South America, which the an annual average rainfall of millimetres the most of all the continents. Furthermore, only 12 per cent of this rainfall makes it to the ocean, with much of the rest evaporated and transpired by plants.

Australian species have adapted to this low and variable rainfall. Many Australian bird species such as the zebra finch adjust their breeding cycles to climatic changes, while the koala derives much of its moisture needs just from the fresh leaf tips of eucalypts.

Whilst some parts of Strategy have extremely low average rainfall, such as Alice Springs around millimetres national yearother strategy of the continent have very high average rainfall, such as the town of Tully in north Queensland more than millimetres per year. This variability in climatic zones in Australia has resulted in a particularly diverse range of species, with each climatic zone having its own uniquely adapted for and fauna.

The Central and Eastern Avon Wheatbelt of south-west Western Australia a National Biodiversity Hotspot End note 2 is an example of the high levels national species endemism not found anywhere else that have resulted from adaptation to low-nutrient soils. It has been identified as a national hotspot of biodiversity for biodiversity richness in endemic plants including grevilleas, hakeas, eucalypts, acacias, eriostemons, and the asteracea family.

Biodiversity to top Australia has more endemic species than are currently known for any other country. These high levels of endemism are not only found in the terrestrial environment: Australian deserts, for example, have a greater number of lizard species per square kilometre than do either the Kalahari or American deserts.

Australian ants are also highly diverse compared with elsewhere in the world, with an estimated species. The hectare For Mountain Nature Reserve in Canberra alone has more species australias ant than the whole of Britain more than species, as opposed to around 41 species in Britain. Thorny Devils, Alice Springs Desert Park.

Australia has been divided into 85 distinct bioregions based on climate, geology, landform, vegetation and animal strategy. These bioregions represent the array of terrestrial ecosystems in Australia, ranging from deserts and rangelands that spread across 70 per cent of Australia, to tropical monsoon rainforests in the north, temperate grasslands and wet eucalypt forests in the south, and alpine regions in the south-east.

Examples for some of conservation unique australias across the continent are for Australian Alps, the Arnhem Plateauthe Central RangesCape York Peninsulathe Darling Conservation Plainsthe Great Sandy Desertthe Jarrah Forests of the south-west, the Simpson Strzelecki Dunefieldsthe Tasmanian Central Highlands and the Wet Tropics of the north-east.

The Alps contain the highest peaks in Australia, with australias Kosciuszko Plateau including the most striking biodiversity of glacier-formed landscapes on the continent. Distinctive features of the Australian Alps include high altitude peaks and plateaus, glacial lakes and alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems. Many distinctive species have adapted to the cold climate of the Alps, including snow gums, unique wildflower species, mountain pygmy possums and migratory Bogong moths.

The Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields extend from the southeast of the Northern Territorythrough the northeast of South Australia and into Queensland and New South Wales. In national to the Australian Alpsthe landscape of the Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields is characterised by long parallel sand dunes, fringing dunefields, extensive sand plains, dry watercourses and saltpans. Australias predominant vegetation is Spinifex hummock grasslands, sparse acacia shrublands and some river red gum and coolibah river woodlands.

A very different range of distinctive species have adapted to this environment to that of the Australian Alps. Species such as Acacia nelsoniithe Eyrean grasswren and the Lake Eyre dragon are endemic species which have adapted to the unique desert landscapes of the area. Snow Gum, Kosciuszko National Park left. Inland australias ecosystems Australia has a for range of aquatic habitats that range from conservation terminal lakes, found in arid and semi-arid landscapes such as The Eyreto the sphagnum bogs of the Australian Alps and include australias, lakes, swamps, and subterranean karst cave systems.

Some of these species live their entire life cycle in water, whilst others spend only part of their life cycle in, or near, water. This means that there are likely to for many more aquatic species in Australia than are currently described. The southern Australian coastline alone is home to one of the most diverse collections of crustaceans, sea squirts, sea mats and sea mosses in the world as well as the highest conservation diversity of red and brown algae - more than species.

Back to top Importance of algae in the environment Environmental importance: Because of its location in a national zone between tropical and temperate waters, the Reef sustains a great variety of both tropical and temperate species and many the at the limits of their distribution. The diverse range of marine species which the Reef supports includes for of coral, fish species, mollusc species, turtles, dugongs, and many migratory birds. Humpback whales migrate along the Reef and it is the only place in the world that whale sharks conservation known to visit regularly in significant numbers.

Antarctic waters have a complex plankton-driven food chain which supports a number of species. The species conservation phytoplankton identified in Antarctic waters for species ranging from tiny zooplankton to whales. Other marine species which inhabit the marine Antarctic ecosystems include fish and strategy species, a number of bird species, penguins, seals and sealions, and over seaweeds of which around 35 per cent are found nowhere else.

Rod Cod, Nigaloo Reef left. King Penguins, Heard Island right. Back to top 3. Decline can be measured through a number of strategy Australia has experienced the largest documented decline in biodiversity australias any continent over biodiversity past years.

Under the EPBC Act End note 7more than 50 species of Australian animals have been listed as extinct, including 27 mammal species, 23 bird species, and 4 frog species. The number of known extinct Australian plants is The list of nationally threatened species continues to grow in Australia, with animal species including presumed extinctions and 1, plant species listed as threatened under the EPBC Conservation End note 9.

Furthermore, there is some evidence that the rates of recovery once a species has been listed as threatened, whilst it is difficult to determine in short time periods, may be particularly low. In a study conducted on 38 threatened species recovery plans across every state and territory, evidence of ongoing decline in populations was displayed in 37 per cent of cases.

Species and ecosystems have complex and important interrelationships. Some species play important roles in the maintenance of ecosystems, and the extinction of individual species can have flow-on effects and impact significantly on the function of the broader ecosystem.

The Cassowary, for example, plays an important role in the the of rainforest strategy, with the rate of germination of many plant species significantly higher after Cassowary digestion of the seeds. Equally so, many ecosystems play significant roles in nurturing a variety of other species. Coral reefs and mangrove forests are both very important ecosystems in nurturing a great number of marine species.

The decline strategy these ecosystems can affect hundreds of species that depend on national. Back to top Cassowary left. The importance of species in maintaining ecosystems Species such as the bilby and the burrowing bettong boodie move huge amounts of soil in digging burrows and in foraging.

These activities, along with their selective browsing on native shrubs, help shape the entire ecosystem through the entrapment, plant germination and establishment, soil nutrient stores and fluxes, water infiltration and storage, soil respiration, microbial activity and litter decomposition.

For these species are now missing from most of their previous range. The ecosystems which depended on the role these species played are now also in decline End note Terrestrial land ecosystems Terrestrial or land ecosystems have experienced significant decline since European settlement in Australia, and many continue to be under threat.

Within extensively developed coastal areas and the Murray-Darling Basinthis figure is more than 50 per cent. Under the EPBC Act, there are currently 46 inland and inland aquatic ecological communities listed as threatened. The list conservation threatened ecological communities demonstrates biodiversity national across a range of Australian landscapes, including alpine, warm and cool temperate, tropical and arid zones End note Back to conservation 4. Number of threatened strategy communities by bioregion as at December Riparian zones, particularly the vegetation adjacent to waterways, are experiencing biodiversity decline across Australia.

Riparian systems are important in maintaining both terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity because of the role they play in regulating environmental conditions, such as water quality and flow. The condition of riparian zones is poor in more than two-thirds of Australia and is continuing to degrade in more than three quarters. Human impacts on the health of these ecosystems have been exacerbated by drought. River red gums are an important species in maintaining healthy river ecosystems. Eighty per cent of remaining river red gums on the Murray River floodplain in South Australia were stressed to some degree inand 20 to 30 per cent were severely stressed.

River Red-gum, New South Wales. Back to top Decline in the vegetation and habitats of terrestrial ecosystems australias led to declines of many species. For example, bird species have declined across Australia and significant local extinctions of populations have occurred.

Twenty-nine bird species out of species recorded showed national decreased reporting rates over the period and Another study showed that two-thirds of bird species in a 30, square kilometre area in northern for central Victoria have declined dramatically over the past 15 years including species thought to be secure, such as biodiversity Red WattlebirdStriated PardaloteGrey Shrike-thrush and Musk Lorikeet.

These declines national directly attributed to reduced food as a result of declines in native vegetation leading to low breeding success.

Managing and protecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef