Fauna of Australia
The fauna of Australia is unique, exotic and megadiverse.Template:Mn A huge variety of birds, fish and invertebrates and some 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and 93% of amphibians found in Australia are endemic to the country.Template:Mn The high level of endemism in the present day fauna can be attributed to the continent's long geological isolation, tectonic stability, and weathered comparatively nutrient poor soils. A unique feature of the fauna of Australia is the relative scarcity of native placental mammals. Consequently, marsupials mostly fill the ecological niches that are occupied by placental mammals in other parts of the world. Australia is home to the two of the four extant monotreme species in the world. Australia also has numerous venomous species, including snakes, sea snakes, spiders, scorpions, octopuses, jellyfish, molluscs, stonefish, stingrays and the monotremes.
Human settlement of Australia by indigenous Australians some 50,000 years ago, and by European settlers from 1788, has had a significant impact on Australia's fauna. The introduction of non-native species, hunting, and land management practices that involve the modification or destruction of habitats have led to numerous extinctions; unsustainable land use continues to threaten the survival of many species. In recognition of the threats to the survival of the Australian fauna, Australia has wide-ranging federal and state legislation and numerous protected areas to protect fauna. However many parties recognise these measures do not address the threats to species continued survival.
Origins of the Australian fauna
Several reasons for the uniqueness of Australia's fauna have been advanced. Australia was once part of the southern super-continent Gondwana, which also included South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. Gondwana began to break up 140 million years ago (MYA); 50 MYA Australia separated from Antarctica, and was relatively isolated until the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Asia in the Miocene era, 23–5.3 MYA. As it drifted Australia was, to some extent, isolated from the effects of global climate change, and species that were present on Gondwana, such as the marsupials, spread throughout the continent. After the Miocene, fauna of Asian origin were able to establish themselves in Australia. The Wallace Line, the hypothetical line separating the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australasia, also marks the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. This boundary prevented land-bridges from forming, which explains the distinct zoological distribution and limited overlap of most Asian and Australian fanua with the exception of birds. Following the establishment of the circumpolar current in the mid-Oligocene era around 15 MYA, the Australian climate became increasingly arid. The establishment and speciation of fauna on the continent was effected by its flora, which in turn was shaped by the climate and the ancient and nutrient-poor soil.
Mammals
Australia has a rich mammalian fossil history, and a varied group of extant species dominated by the marsupials. The fossil record shows that monotremes have been present in Australia since the Early Cretaceous,Template:Mn, and that marsupials and placental mammals were present in the Eocene,Template:Mn 56–34 MYA, when modern mammals first appeared in the fossil record. Although marsupials and placental mammals did coexist in Australia in the Eocene, only marsupials have survived to the present. The placental mammals made their reappearance in Australia in the Miocene as Australia moved closer to Indonesia, and bats and rodents started to appear reliably in the fossil record. Marsupials evolved to fill similar niches and are in many cases physically similar to their placental counterparts in Eurasia and North America, which occupy similar ecological niches, in a phenomenon known as convergent evolutionTemplate:Mn. For example, the top predator in Australia, the Tasmanian Tiger, bore a striking resemblance to canids such as the Gray Wolf; the Koala and the sloth are both arboreal herbivores; gliding possums and flying squirrels have similar adaptations to their arboreal lifestyle; and Numbats and anteaters are both digging insectivores.
Monotremes and marsupials
Two of the four living species of monotreme occur in Australia: the Platypus and the Short-beaked Echidna. The monotremes differ from other mammals in their methods of reproduction; in particular, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young as do marsupials and placental mammals. The Platypus—a venomous, egg-laying, duck-billed, amphibious mammal—is considered to be one of the strangest creatures in the animal kingdom. The Bhort-beaked Echidna is similarly strange, covered in hairy spikes, with a tubular snout in the place of a mouth, and a tongue that can move in and out of the snout about 100 times a minute to capture termites.
Australia has the world's largest and most diverse range of marsupials. Marsupials are characterised by the presence of a pouch in which they rear their young. The carnivorous marsupials—order Dasyuromorphia—are probably the most similar group to the ancestral marsupials. The carnivorous mammals are represented by two surviving families, the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the numbat as the sole surviving member of the Myrmecobiidae. The Tasmanian tiger was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae; however, what appears to have been the last known specimen died in captivity in 1936. The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian Devil; it is the size of a small dog and can hunt, although it mainly eats carrion. It became extinct on the mainland some 600 years ago, and is now found only in Tasmania. There are four species of quoll, or native cat, all of which are threatened species. The remainder of the Dasyuridae are referred to as 'marsupial mice'; most weigh less than 100 g. There are two species of Marsupial Mole—order Notoryctemorphia—that inhabit the deserts of Western Australia. These rare, blind and earless carnivorous creatures spend most of their time underground; little is known about them.
The bandicoots and bilbies—order Peramelemorphia—are marsupial omnivores. There are seven species in Australia, most of which are endangered. These small creatures share several characteristic physical features: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, large upright ears, long, thin legs, and a thin tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is unclear, because they share characteristics from both carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials.
Herbivorous marsupials are classified in the order Diprotodontia, and further into the suborders Vombatiformes and Phalangerida. The Vombatiformes include the Koala and the three species of wombat. One of Australia's best-known marsupials, the Koala is an arboreal species that feeds on the leaves of approximately 120 species of eucalyptus. Wombats, on the other hand, live on the ground and feed on grasses, sedges and roots. Wombats use their rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws to dig extensive burrow systems; they are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal.
The Phalangerida includes six families and 26 species of possum and three families with 51 species of macropod. The possums are a diverse group of arboreal marsupials and vary in size, from the Little Pygmy Possum, weighing just 7 g—to the cat-sized Common Ringtail and Brushtail possums. The Sugar and Squirrel Gliders are common species of gliding possum, found in the eucalypt forests of eastern Australia, while the Feathertail Glider is the smallest glider species. The gliding possums have membranes called "patagiums" that extend from the fifth finger of their forelimb back to the first toe of their hind foot. These membranes, when outstretched, allow them to glide between trees.
The macropods are divided into three families: the Hypsiprymnodontidae with the Musky Rat-kangaroo as its only member; the Potoroidae, with 10 species; and the Macropodidae, with 40 species. Marcopods are found in all Australian environments except alpine areas. The Potoroidae include the bettongs, potaroos and rat-kangaroos, small species that make nests, and carry plant material with their tails. The Macropodiae include kangaroos, wallabies and associated species; size varies widely within this family. Most macropods have large hind legs and long narrow hind feet, with a distinctive arrangement of four toes, and powerfully muscled tails, which they use to move in a bipedal, energy-efficient hopping motion. The short front legs have five separate digits. The Musky Rat-kangaroo is the smallest macropod and the only species that is not bipedal, while the male Red Kangaroo is the largest, reaching a height of about 2 m and weighing up to 85 kg.
Placental mammals
Australia has indigenous placental mammals from two orders: the bats—order Chiroptera—represented by six families; and the mice and rats—order Rodentia, family Muridae. Bats and rodents are relatively recent arrivals to Australia; bats are present in the fossil record only from as recently as 15 MYA, and probably arrived from Asia. There are only two endemic genera of bats, although 7% of the world's bats species live in Australia. Rodents first arrived in Australia 5–10 MYA and underwent a wide radiation to produce the species collectively known as the 'old endemic' rodents. The old endemics are represented by 14 extant genera. A million years ago, the rat entered Australia from New Guinea and evolved into seven species of Rattus, collectively called the 'new endemics'.
Since human settlement many placental mammals have been introduced to Australia and are now feral. The first animal introduced to Australia was the Dingo. Fossil evidence suggests that people from the north brought the Dingo to Australia about 5000 years ago. Template:Mn When Europeans settled Australia they intentionally released many species into the wild including the Red Fox, Brown Hare, and the European Rabbit. Other domestic species have escaped and over time have produced wild populations including the cat, Fallow Deer, Red Deer, Sambar Deer, Rusa Deer, Chital, Hog Deer, Domestic Horse, Donkey, Pig, Domestic Goat, Water Buffalo, Blackbuck and the Dromedary. Only three species of placental mammal were not deliberately introduced to Australia, the House Mouse, Black Rat and the Brown Rat.
Forty-six marine mammals from the order Cetacea are found in Australian coastal waters. Since the majority of these species have global distribution, some authors do not consider them to be Australian species. There are nine species of baleen whale present, including the enormous Humpback Whale. There are 37 species of toothed whale, which include all six genera of the family Ziphiidae and 21 species of oceanic dolphin, including the Australian Snubfin Dolphin, a species first described in 2005. Some oceanic dolphins, such as the Orca, can be found in all waters around the continent; others, such as the Irrawaddy Dolphin, are confined to the warm northern waters. The Dugong is an endangered marine species that inhabits the waters north eastern and north western Australia, particularly theTorres Strait. It can grow up to 3 m long and weigh as much as 400 kg. The dugong is the only herbivorous marine mammal in Australia, feeding on seagrass in coastal areas. The destruction of seagrass beds is a threat to the survival of this species. Eleven species of seal—family Pinnipedia—live off the southern coast.
Birds
Australia and its territories are home to over 800 species of bird; about 350 of these are endemic to the zoogeographic region that covers Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The fossil record of birds in Australia is patchy; however there are records of the ancestors of contemporary species as early as the Late Oligocene. Template:Mn Birds with a Gondwanan history include the flightless ratites (the Emu and Southern Cassowary), megapodes (the Malleefowl and Australian Brush-turkey), a the huge group of endemic parrots. The Australian Psittaciformes comprises a sixth of the world’s parrots, including many cockatoos and galahs. The kingfisher family has a long history in Australia, with the Kookaburra as its largest species.
Passerine, peculiar to Australasia, are descended from the ancestors of the Crows, the Corvi. Examples include wrens, robins, the magpie group, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, birds of paradise and bowerbirds. The Satin Bowerbird is an interesting species: it has complex courtship ritual in which the male creates a bower filled with blue shiny items to woo mates.
Relatively recent colonists from Eurasia are swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds, and some raptors, including Australia's raptor, the Wedge-tailed Eagle. A number of bird species have been introduced by humans: some, like the European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, coexist happily with Australian species; others, such as the Common Starling, European Blackbird, House Sparrow and Indian Mynah, are destructive of some native bird species and thus destabilise the native ecosystem.
About 200 species of seabird live on the Australian coast, including many species of migratory seabird. Australia is at the southern end of the East Asian-Australasian flyway for migratory waterbirds, which extends from Far-East Russia and Alaska, through Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. About two million birds travel this route to and from Australia each year. A large and very common seabird is the Australian Pelican which can be found in all waterways in Australia. The Little Penguin is the only species of Penguin that breeds on mainland Australia.
Amphibia and reptiles
Australia has four families of native frogs and one introduced toad. The Cane Toad was introduced to Australia in 1935 in a failed attempt to control pests in sugarcane crops, but has since become a devastating pest. The Myobatrachidae, or southern frogs, are Australia's largest froup of frogs, with 120 species from 21 genera. A notable member of this group is the colourful and endangered Corroboree frog. The tree frogs, from family Hylidae, are common in high rainfall areas on the north and east coasts; there are 77 Australian species from three genera. The 18 species from 2 genera of the Microhylidae frogs are restricted to the rainforests; the smallest species, the Scanty Frog, is from this family. There is a single species from the world's dominant frog group, family Ranidae—the Australian Wood Frog—which occurs in the Queensland rainforests. There has been a decline in Australia's frog populations and although the reasons for the decline are unknown, it can be at least partly attributed to the fatal amphibian viral disease chytridiomycosis.
Australia has both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. The Saltwater Crocodile, known colloquially as the 'salty', is the largest living crocodile species; reaching up to 7 m and weighing up to 1,000 kg, they can and do kill humans. They live on the coast and in the freshwater rivers and wetlands of northern Australia, and they are farmed for their meat and leather. Freshwater Crocodiles are found only in the freshwater waterways of Northern Australia, and are not considered dangerous to humans.
The Australian coast is visited by six species of sea turtle, the Flatback, Green Sea, Hawksbill, Olive Ridley, Loggerhead and the Leatherback Sea Turtles; all are protected in Australian waters. There are 29 species of Australian freshwater turtles, from eight genera of family Chelidae. The Australasian Pig-Nose Turtle is the only Australian member of that family. Australia and Antarctica are the only continents without any living species of land tortoise.
There are more lizards in Australia than anywhere else in the world, with representatives of five families. There are 114 species in 18 genera of gecko, found throughout the Australian continent, but not in Tasmania. The Pygopodidae is a family of limbless snake- or worm-like lizards endemic to the Australian region; of the 34 species from eight genera, only one species does not occur in Australia. The Agamidae or Dragon lizards are represented by 66 species in 13 genera, including the Thorny Devil, Bearded Dragon and Frill-necked Lizard. There are 26 species of monitor lizard, family Varanidae, in Australia, where they are commonly known as goannas. The largest Australian monitor is the Perentie, which can reach up to 2 m in length. There are 389 species of skink from 38 genera, comprising about 50% of the total Australian lizard fauna; this group includes the Blue-tongued lizards.
Australian snakes come from seven families. Australia is the only continent where venomous snakes outnumber their non-venomous cousins. The most venomous species include the Fierce Snake, Eastern Brown Snake, Taipan and Eastern Tiger Snake from the family Elapidae. Of the 200 species of elapid, 86 are found only in Australia. Thirty-three sea snakes from family Hydrophiidae inhabit Australia's northern waters; many are extremely venomous. Two species of sea snake from the Acrochordidae also occur in Australian waters. Australia has only 11 species from the world's most significant snake family Colubridae; none is endemic, and they are considered to be a relatively recent arrival from Asia. There are 15 species of boa, and 31 species of insectivorous blind snake.
Fish
More than 4,400 species of fish inhabit Australia's waterways;Template:Mn of these, 90% are endemic. Australia has a relatively small freshwater fish fauna of only 170 species—this may be related to Australia's relative scarcity of freshwater waterways. Two families of freshwater fish have ancient origins: the Queensland Lungfish and the bony tongues. The Queensland Lungfish is most primitive of the lungfish, having evolved before Australia separated from Gondwana. The Salamanderfish is peculiar to southwest Western Australia, is one of the smallest freshwater fish, and can survive dessication in the dry season by burrowing into mud. Other families with a potentially Gondwanan origin include the Retropinnidae, Galaxiidae, Aplochitonidae and Percichthyidae. Apart from the ancient freshwater species, 70% of Australia's freshwater fishes have affinities with tropical Indo-Pacific marine fishes, which have adapted to freshwater.Template:Mn These species include freshwater lampreys, herrings, catfish, rainbowfish, and some 50 species of gudgeon, including the Sleepy Cod. Native freshwater game fish include the Barramundi, Murray Cod, and Golden Perch. Two species of freshwater shark are found in the Northern Territory, both endangered. Game fish, including Brown, Brook and Rainbow Trout, Chinook and Atlantic Salmon have been introduced to Australian waterways. The introduced carp has been blamed for the significant decline in freshwater quality and the declining population of many native species.
Most of Australia's fish species are marine. Groups of interest include the Moray eels, squirrelfish, pipefish and seahorses, whose males incubate the eggs in a specialised pouch. There are 80 species of grouper that occur in Australian waters, including the world's biggest bony fish the Giant Grouper, which can grow as large as 2.7 m and weigh up to 400 kg. The trevally, a group of 50 species of silver schooling fish, and the snappers are popular species for commercial fishing. The Great Barrier Reef supports a huge variety of small- and medium-sized reef fish, including the damselfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, gobies, cardinalfish, wrasse, triggerfish and surgeonfish. There are a number of venomous fish, among them several species of stonefish and pufferfish and the Red Lionfish, all of which have toxins that can kill humans. There are 11 venomous species of stingray, the largest of which is the Smooth Stingray. The barracudas are one of the reef’s largest species; large reef fish should not be eaten for fear of ciguatera poisoning.
Sharks inhabit all the coastal waters and estuarine habitats of Australia’s coast. There are 166 species, including 30 species of requiem shark, 32 of catshark, six of wobbegong shark, and 40 of dogfish shark. There are three species from the family Heterodontidae: the Port Jackson Shark, the Zebra Horn Shark and the Crested Horn Shark. In 2004, there were 12 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia; two were fatal.Template:Mn Sharks that are known to pose a significant threat to humans include the Bull, Grey Nurse and Great White Sharks. Some popular beaches in Queensland and New South Wales are protected by shark netting—a mesh that has reduced the population of both dangerous and harmless shark species through accidental entanglement. The overfishing of sharks has also significantly reduced shark numbers in Australian waters, and several species are now endangered. A Megamouth Shark was found on a Perth beach in 1988, very little is known about this species, and this discovery may indicate the presence of the species in Australian coastal waters.
Invertebrates
| Taxonomic group | Estimated number of species described | Estimated total number of species |
|---|---|---|
| Porifera | 1 416 | ~3 500 |
| Cnidaria | 1 270 | ~1760 |
| Platyhelminthes | 1 506 | ~10 800 |
| Acanthocephala | 57 | ~160 |
| Nematoda | 2 060 | 30 000 |
| Mollusca | 9 336 | ~12 250 |
| Annelida | 2 125 | ~4 230 |
| Onychophora | 56 | ~56 |
| Crustacea | 6 426 | ~9 500 |
| Arachnida | 5 666 | ~27 960 |
| Insecta | 58 532 | ~83 860 |
| Echinodermata | 1 206 | ~1 400 |
| Other invertebrates | 2 929 | ~7 230 |
| Modified from: Williams et al. 2001.Template:Mn | ||
Of the estimated 200,000 animal species in Australia, about 96% are invertebrates, while the full extent of invertebrate diversity is unknown 90% of insects and molluscs are considered to be endemic. Template:Mn Invertebrates occupy all ecological niches, they are important in all ecosystems as decomposers, pollinators, and food sources. The largest group of invertebrates are the insects, making up 75% of Australia's known species of animals. The most diverse insect orders in Australia are the Coleoptera with 28,200 species of beetles and weevils out of an estimated 300,000 worldwide. There are 20,816 species of Lepidoptera including the butterflies and moths from an estimated 100,000 and 12,781 species of Hymenoptera the order that included the ants, bees and wasps from 100,000 worldwide. Order Diptera, which includes the flies and mosquitoes, has 7,786 species out of 150,000, and of the estimated 60,000 species of Hemiptera (including bugs, aphids and hoppers), 5,650 are found in Australia. Furthermore, 2,827 species of order Orthoptera, which includes grasshoppers, crickets and katydids, are found here, from an estimated global total of 20,000.Template:Mn Significant introduced species with detrimental environmental effects include the European wasp, the red fire ant, the yellow crazy ant and feral honeybees which competes with native invertebrates.
Australia has a wide variety of arachnids, including 135 species of spider that are common enough to have common names; see list of common Australian spiders. There are a number of highly venomous species including the Sydney funnel-web spider and the Red-back spider, whose bite can be deadly to humans. There are thousands of species of mites and ticks from order Acarina. Australia also has 8 species of pseudoscorpion and 9 scorpion species.
There are two families of native terrestrial worms, the Enchytraeidae and the Megascolecidae, including the world's largest earthworm, the Giant Gippsland Earthworm. The Giant Earthworm is found only in Gippsland, Victoria and can reach up to 3.7 m in length. There are many more families of aquatic oligochaetes.
Freshwater crustaceans include the large family Parastacidae which incorporates 124 species of fresh water crayfish. Australian species include the world's smallest crayfish, Swamp Crayfish which does not exceed 30 mm in length as well as the world's largest Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish from Tasmania, measuring up to 76 cm long and weighing 4.5 kg. The genus Cherax includes the Common Yabby which is the most widely distributed species, in addition to the farmed species Marron and Queensland Red Claw. Species from the genus Engaeus, commonly known as the land crayfish are also found in Australia. Engaeus species are not entirely aquatic as they spend most of their lives living in burrows. Australia has 7 species of freshwater crab from the genus Austrothelphusa. The crabs live burrowed into the banks of waterways and can plug their burrows, surviving several years through drought. The freshwater mountain shrimp only occur in Tasmania; they are a unique group as they are extremely primitive, resembling species found in the fossil record from 200 MYA.
A huge variety of marine invertebrate taxa are found in Australian waters, with the Great Barrier Reef being an obvious source of this diversity. Families include the sponges, the Cnidaria (which includes the jellyfish), corals and sea anemones, comb jellies, the Echinodermata (which includes the sea urchins), starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, the lamp shells and the Mollusca, which includes snails, slugs, limpets, squid, octopuses, cockles, oysters, clams, and chitons. Venomous invertebrates include the Box Jellyfish, the Blue-ringed Octopus and ten species of Cone Snail which can cause respiratory failure and death in humans. The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish usually occurs on the Reef at low densities. However, it can in certain undefined conditions reproduce to reach an unsustainable population density, at which coral is devoured at a rate faster than it can regenerate. This presents a serious reef management issue. Other problematic marine invertebrates include the native species Purple Sea-urchin and the White Urchin which have been able to take over marine habitats and form urchin barrens due to the over harvesting of their natural predators. Introduced pests include the Asian Mussel, New Zealand Green-lipped Mussel, Black-striped Mussel and the Northern Pacific Seastar, all of which displace native shellfish.
There are many unique marine crustaceans in Australian waters among the country's seven represented classes. The best known class, to which all the edible species of crustacean belong, is Malacostraca. The warm waters of northern Australia have many species of Decapod crustaceans including crabs, false crabs, hermit crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and prawns. The Peracarids including the amphipods and isopods are more diverse in the colder waters of southern Australia. Less well known marine groups include the classes Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda, Maxillopoda which includes the barnacles, copepods and fish lice, and the Ostracoda. Notable species include the Tasmanian giant crab, which is the second largest crab species in the world, is found in deep water, and can reach 13 kg. Species called lobsters in Australia including the Western Rock Lobster are distinct from other lobster species, since they do not have claws.
Human impact
Since the human habitation of Australia the fauna has been exploited as a source of food, skins or for sport or pest control, it has also been affected by the land-use activities of man and by the species they introduced. Aborigines used a wide range of Australian fauna, although their impact on species abundance is widely considered to be less significant than that of the European settlers. Template:Mn The aboriginal use of fire-stick farming caused environmental modification which may have affected some fauna, including large herbivores with a specialised diet, like the flightless birds from the genus Genyornis.Template:Mn Vertebrates commonly harvested included macropods, possums, seals, fish and the Short-tailed Shearwater most commonly know as the Muttonbird. Invertebrates used as food included insects like the Bogong Moth and larvae collectively called witchetty grubs and molluscs. The role of the aborigines in the extinction of the Australian megafauna is uncertain. No archæological evidence has been yet found to support the hypothesis of a large-scale hunting of megafauna in Australia, and a link between the extinction and climate change in the Pleistocene is also probable.Template:Mn Since European settlement of Australia the action of humans including direct exploitation, and through habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic predators and competitive herbivore species 27 mammals, 23 bird and 4 frog species are known to have become extinct. At present, there are 380 endangered and threatened animal species protected in Australia under federal legislation, and additional species protected under State and Territory legislation.Template:Mn
Conservation
Much of the fauna of Australia is protected by Commonwealth and State legislation; a notable exception is kangaroos, which are prolific and culled annually. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), was created to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. The EPBC is used at the National level for the protection of all fauna and in particular the identification and protection of threatened species. At the State level, there are additional Acts that allow for the listing of threatened species within each respective State. A key undertaking in the conservation of Australian fauna and biodiversity more generally is the complete cataloguing of all the species within Australia. In 1973 the Commonwealth Government established the Australian Biological Resources Study (ARBS). The ARBS is the primary organisation for the co-ordination of research in taxonomy, identification and classification and recording the distribution of flora and fauna.
Australia is a member of the International Whaling Commission and is in strong opposition to the commercial use of whales—all species of Cetacea are protected in Australian waters. Australia is also a signatory to the CITES agreement and prohibits the export trade in endangered species. Protected areas have been created in every state and territory to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems. These protected areas include national parks and other reserves, as well as 64 wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention and 16 World Heritage Sites. As of 2002, 10.8% (774,619.51 km²) of the total land area of Australia is within a protected area. Template:Mn Protected marine zones have been created in many areas to preserve marine biodiversity; as of 2002 they cover about 7% (646,000 km²) of Australia's marine jurisdiction.Template:Mn The Great Barrier Reef is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under specific Commonwealth and State legislation. The sustainability of Australia's fisheries remains an area of concern, and quotas have been set for the sustainable harvest of many marine species, however many of Australia's fisheries are fully or overexploited.Template:Mn
The State of the Environment Report, 2001, prepared by independent researchers for the Commonwealth Government, concluded that despite legislation like the EPBC Act, environmental management and conditions had worsened since the report of 1996. Of particular relevance to wildlife conservation, the report showed that many threatening processes such as salinity, changing hydrological conditions, land clearing and fragmentation of ecosystems, poor management of the coastal environment and invasive species pose major problems for protecting biodiversity.Template:Mn
See also
- Endangered Australian fauna
- Extinct Australian fauna
- Recently extinct Australian animals: from 1788 to present;
- Australian megafauna: from first human colonisation to 1788
- List of monotremes and marsupials
- List of Australian bats
- List of Australian rodents
- List of Australian marine mammals
- List of Australian birds and the list of Australasian birds
- Invasive species in Australia
Notes
Template:MnbCaldecott, J.O. et al. 1994. Priorities for Conserving Global Species Richness and Endemism. World Conservation Press
Template:MnbWilliams, J. et al. 2001. Biodiversity, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report), CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra. ISBN 0643067493 .pdf
Template:MnbArcher, M. et al., 1985. First Mesozoic mammal from Australia-an early Cretaceous monotreme. Nature 318:363–366
Template:MnbGodthelp, H. et al. 1992. Earliest known Australian Tertiary mammal fauna. Nature, 356:514-516
Template:MnbTownsend, C.R. et al. 2002. The Ecology of Evolution, in Essentials of Ecology 2nd edition. Blackwell Publishers ISBN 1405103280
Template:MnbSavolainen, P. et al. 2004. A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochondrial DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States of America. 101:12387-12390 PMID 15299143
Template:MnbAustralian Museum. 2001. Fossil history of birds: fossil history overview
Template:MnbCSIRO. 2004. Standard Names of Australian Fish
Template:MnbWilliams, W.D. and Allen, G.R. 1987. Origins and adaptations of the fauna of inland waters. In D.W. Walton Ed. Fauna of Australia, Volume 1A. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Template:MnbInternational Shark Attack File. 2005. SAF Statistics for the Worldwide Locations with the Highest Shark Attack Activity Since 1990, Florida Museum of Natural History
Template:MnbCSIRO. Insects and their allies
Template:MnbShattuck, S. and Barnett, N. 2001. Australian Ants Online, CSIRO Entomology
Template:MnbThomson, J.M. et al. 1987. Human Exploitation of and Introductions to the Australian Fauna. In D.W. Walton Ed. Fauna of Australia, Volume 1A. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Template:MnbMiller, G. H. 2005. Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction. Science, 309:287-290 PMID 16002615
Template:MnbDepartment of the Environment and Heritage. EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna
Template:MnbDepartment of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. Summary of Terrestrial Protected Areas in Australia by Type
Template:MnbDepartment of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. About the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA)
Template:MnbNewton, G and Boshier, J, eds. 2001. Coasts and Oceans Theme Report, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report), CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra. ISBN 0643067493 .pdf
Template:MnbAustralian State of the Environment Committee. 2001. Australia State of the Environment 2001, Independent Report to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage. CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage ISBN 0643067450 .pdf
References
- Berra, T. M. 1998. A Natural History of Australia. Academic Press ISBN 0120931559
- McKay, G.M. et al. 1989. Biogeography and Phylogeny of Eutheria. In Fauna of Australia (D. W. Walton and B. J. Richardson, eds.). Mammalia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 1B:1–1227.
- Strahan, R. ed. 1983. The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals. Angus & Robertson ISBN 0207144540
- Walton, D. W. Ed. 1987. Fauna of Australia, Volume 1A. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. ISBN 0644060557
- Wells, A. Ed. 2005. Australian Faunal Directory, Department of the Environment and Heritage
External links
- Australian Insect Common names
- Australian Museum, Australia's natural history museum
- Crustacean Gallery- Marine crustacean from southeastern Australia
- Fauna of Australia, full contents of Mammalia and some of Amphibia & Reptilia available in .pdf format
- Fossil Sites of Australia
- A listing of Australian Animals