Conservation of Biodiversity
Australia is at odds with the challenges of being a global extinction hotspot and falling short in conservation efforts and emissions reductions targets, with biodiversity and climate change closely intertwined.
In the South Western Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR), an internationally listed biodiversity hotspot, decades of habitat degradation have eroded over 70% of this unique region. The Fitzgerald Biosphere (FB) is located on the South Coast of the SWAFR, in an area that has been identified by researchers as containing high species richness within this hotspot, a high amount of that within transition zoning[i].
In 2004 Nathan McQuoid, a local landscape ecologist, developed the concept of ‘ecozones’ for the south coast of Western Australia, dividing the region into ecozones based on similarities in physical and biological patterns of geology, climatic history, drainage patterns, major soil systems, and existing native vegetation types (McQuoid 2004).
These ecozones here have been refined by Nathan McQuoid in 2009 for the Fitzgerald Biosphere.
They explain the natural layout of the Biosphere’s ecosystems and plant communities. They also cover the reasons why certain plants and animals live there, how they are distribute, and the natural forces that help them survive.
[i] Gioia & Hopper 2017. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 184, 1–15
