Fauna of Australia

The fauna of Australia consists of a very great diversity of animal. Some Mammalian 83% of the S, 89% of the Reptile S, 90% of the Poisson S and the Insect S and 93% of the Amphibians which live this continental mass are endemic. This high level of endemism can be allotted to the great geographical insulation of the continent, to its tectonic stability , the effects of a model of changes rather unusual Climat ic on the ground and the Flore with the wire of the geological time. One of specificities of Australian fauna resides in the relative scarcity of the placental mammalian . This is why the Marsupial , a group of mammals whose small ones are carried in a Marsupium and who includes the Kangourou S, the Possum S and the Dasyuromorphia, occupy several ecological Niches which, in other parts of the world, is occupied by the placental animals. Australia is the hearth of two of the five known existing species of Monotrèmes. It counts many poisonous species , of which the Ornithorynque S, some Araignée S, the scorpion S, the Pieuvre S, the Scyphozoaires, some Mollusques, the stone fishes and the lines. Australia is the only part of the world where the species of Serpent S poisonous are more numerous than the species of not-poisonous snakes.

The colonization of Australia by the Indigenous of Australia, there is more 40 000 years, then by Europeans as of 1788 has considerably affected fauna. Hunting, the introduction of foreign species and the practices of management and development of the grounds implying the modification or the destruction of the natural habitats of the animals caused many extinctions. One can quote like example the disappearance of the Perruche of paradise, the Bandicoot to pigs feet and the Potorous platyops . The intensive use of the grounds always threatens survival of many species. In order to face the threats which weigh on the fauna, the Australian authorities adopted many laws, as well at the federal level as local, for the establishment of protected areas.

Origins of the fauna of Australia

See also: southern Fauna of the Cretaceous, Natural history of Australia, Mégafaune Australian

The geological history and ic Climat of the Australia contributed to return its single fauna. Before its formation as an isolated continental mass, Australia belonged to supercontinent southernmost Gondwana which included also the South America, the Africa, the India and the the Antarctic. There is 140 My, Gondwana starts to be divided. Then, during the Crétacé there are approximately 50 My, Australia separates from the the Antarctic and starts to derive towards the North-East when the northern border of the old Indo-Australian plate starts to enter in Subduction under the plates Pacifiques and Eurasiennes. Lastly, with the Miocène there is 5,3 My, Australia is rather close to the the West Indies so that animals swimmers or wheel start to travel between Australia and Asia.

During this dissociation of the other continental masses and this drift through the oceans, Australia connected forever to another continental mass. Its fauna, just as its flora, thus could remain and to evolve/move without too many external influences and to thus acquire some Endémisme and singularity in the animal kingdom, in particular for the terrestrial animals like the marsupial . Moreover, during its transit of the southern latitudes in direction of the equator, Australia underwent climate changes, in particular a Désertification of the interior of the grounds then an appearance of a tropical Climat in the North-East when the circumpolar Courant the Antarctic was set up there is 15 My in the middle of the Oligocene . These changes in the climate and thus in the flora then accentuated this singularity of Australian fauna by forcing them to adapt to these new conditions.

It is only starting from Miocène, when, at certain times, of the terrestrial bridges connecting the various islands and peninsulas of the West Indies reached almost Australia, there that an Asian fauna could be established more easily. The Ligne Wallace mark still the limit enters the écozone S of the Australasien and the Indomalais.

The écorégion S

Mammals

Australia abounds in Fossile S of mammals, that they are alive species or extinct species, with many fossils of marsupials. Found fossils show that the Monotrème S are present in Australia since the Crétacé (145 to 99 My), and that the placental marsupials and mammals live since the Eocene there (there are 56 to 34 My), time to which the first modern mammals according to the discoveries of fossils appear. Although the placental marsupials and mammals coexisted in Australia during the Eocene , only the marsupials survived it. Fossils of bats and rodents let think that the placental mammals reappeared in Australia during the Miocène, time to which Australia approached the the West Indies. Competition in the evolution led the marsupials to occupy of the ecological niches and, in many cases, their evolutions led them to resemble physically the placental mammals occupying of the comparable niches in Eurasia and North America. This phenomenon is known under the name of convergent evolution. For example, thepredatory one of Australia, the Tigre of Tasmanie presents a certain number of resemblances striking to Canidés such as the gray Loup, while the Petauridae, just like the squirrel stealing, is adapted to the arboricolous lifestyle or that the Myrmecobius fasciatus and the fourmilier (Myrmecophagidae) are both of insectivorous which dig the ground to find their food there.

Monotrèmes and marsupials

Monotrèmes

The Monotrème S are - rare thing - mammals Ovipare S. They thus do not put low but lay eggs. Of the five known alive species of monotrèmes, two are present in Australie : the Ornithorynque and the echidna with short nose.

The ornithorynque one - amphibious mammal poisonous laying eggs and equipped with a duck nozzle - is one of the most singular creatures in the mammals. When Joseph Banks presented for the first time, at the end of the 18th century, a fur of ornithorynque with English naturalists, those were convinced that it was a well tied up hoax.

The echidna with short nose is a monotrème quite as strange. Cover of a fur presenting of the prickles, provided with a long tubular muzzle as a mouth, the echidna can also successively leave and return its language a hundred times per minute to catch termites.

Marsupials

Australia also lodges the greatest diversity of marsupials in the world. They are mammals having an abdominal pocket, the Marsupium in which their small grow which is born with the state from embryos.

the carnivorous marsupials, about the Dasyuromorphia, count two still active families and a éteinte family;:

that of the Myrmecobiidae whose Myrmécobie with bands or nunbat constitutes the only not disappeared species.
that of the Dasyuridae comprising 51 species. Today, the largest still alive carnivorous marsupial is the Diable of Tasmanie. Size of a puppy, it can drive out but nourishes primarily Charogne. It disappeared from the Australian continent approximately 600 years ago and one finds it today only in Tasmanie. There exist four species of Dasyurus , all threatened. The surviving species of the family of the Dasyuridae are also called “marsupial mice”. They weigh for the majority less than one hundred grams. One meets also two species of marsupial moles, about the Notoryctemorphia , whose deserts of Western Australia constitute the habitat natural. These carnivores which one knows few things are rare, they do not have ears, are blind and pass the major part of their time under ground.
the family of the Thylacinidae with the Tiger of Tasmanie which was largest of the Dasyuromorphia and whose last known specimen died in captivity in 1936.

the marsupials Omnivore S about the péramélémorphes include/understand the Peramelidae , commonly called Bandicoot S, and the Bilbi S. Australia counts seven species, the majority of them threatened. These small creatures show many physical characteristics communes : a body post hole, an arched back, a long slightly frayed muzzle, large vertical ears, long and fine legs and a thin tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is not very clear but it seems to share particular characteristics at the same time with the marsupials Carnivores and the marsupials Herbivores.

the herbivorous marsupials are classified in the order of the Diprotodontia which counts three under-ordres : the Vombatiformes, the Phalangériformes and the Macropodiformes.

Among the Vombatiformes, one finds the Koala and the three species of the Wombat :

the Koala, one of the most famous marsupials of Australia, is a species Arboricole which nourishes sheets of some 120 species of Eucalyptus.
the Wombat S, as for them, live on the ground and nourish grass, of Laîche S and roots. They use their teeth front, similar to those of the rodents, and their powerful claws to dig vast networks of burrows. They are night animals primarily and twilight.

the Phalangériformes, group varied of arboricolous marsupials, include/understand six families and 26 species among which the Possum. The Phalangériformes are of size variable, according to the espèce : small Cercartetus lepidus also called “possum Pygmy” weighing only seven grams with the Possum with tail out of ring or with the Phalanger fox of the size of a cat. The Sailplane of sugar and the Phalanger de Norfolk ( Petaurus norfolcensis ) are common species of possums sailplanes. The forests of eucalyptus of Eastern Australia are their natural habitat. The smallest species of possum is the Acrobate Pygmy. The possums sailplanes have membranes, called “patagiums”, extending from the fifth finger of their front legs to the first finger of their legs back. When they are deployed, these membranes enable them to plane tree out of tree.
the Macropodiformes are divided into three families which one finds in all the environments of Australia, except for the zones montagneuses :

the family of the Hypsiprymnodontidae has like only current member the musky kangaroo rat.
the family of the Potoroidae account ten species of which the Bettong, the potoroo and the Kangaroo rat. These small species manufacture nests and use their tail to transport the plants.
the family of the Macropodidae includes/understands the Kangourou S, the Wallaby S and other associated species, counted up to 53 species. Their dimensions largely vary from one species to another. The majority of macropodous are bipeds which move by jumps. They have a muscular tail, members postpones large and powerful with thin legs. The legs back present a specific measure of four fingers, while the front legs, shorter, count five separate fingers. The rat musky kangaroo is smallest of macropodous and the only species which is not biped, while the russet-red Kangourou, being able to measure up to two meters and to weigh up to 85 kilograms, represents the largest species.

Placental mammals

Endemic mammals: bat and rats

Australia presents two orders of placental mammals endemic s : the Bats, about the Chiroptera , represented by six families, as well as the mice and rats, about the Rodentia (rodent), family of the Muridae (muridés). That done relatively little time that the bats and the rodents arrived to Australia.

The bats probably arrived of Asia and seem present on the continent, according to the datings of fossils, only since fifteen million years. Although Australia shelters 7% of the species of bats of the world, only two kinds are endemic.

The first rodents arrived to Australia there are five to ten million years and knew an important adaptive radiation which led them to separate those in various species. They are more known under the name of “old endemic rodents” and were represented by fourteen kinds now disappeared. Approximately a million years ago, rats coming from New Guinea appeared in Australia and then evolved/moved in seven species of Rattus , commonly called “new endemic”.

Nutcases

While settling in Australia, the human ones introduced many placental mammals. The first were probably the Dingo S. Of discovered fossils tend to prove that people coming from north brought the nutcase there is that 5 000 years.

“Imported” mammals

Europeans, for their part, when they colonized Australia, voluntarily slackened wild species in nature. It is the case of the russet-red Renard, of the Lièvre of the Cape, the Wild rabbit, the Daim, the Cerf Elaphe, the Sambar, the Cerf rusa, the Chital, the Cerf pig and the buffalo. Other species, servants those, escaped and are at the origin of populations become wild today. One calls this phenomenon marronnage. One can quote the Chat, the horse domesticates, the ass, the Porc, the Chèvre and the Dromadaire. Only three of the nonindigenous species of Australia were not voluntarily introduites : the famous Mice and the Rat of the cities and rat of the fields.

Marine mammals

Water of the Australian littoral shelters forty six species of marine mammals, about the Cetacea. However, these species being present in other areas of the world, certain authors do not regard them as Australian species. One finds nine species of Mysticète S of which enormous the Humpback whale. The Odontocète S (or Cetacea with teeth) there are represented by 37 species, including six kinds of the family of the Ziphiidae (whales with nozzle) and 26 species of Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins), with among those the Dauphin with turned up aileron of Australia, species described for the first time in 2005. Some Delphinidae , like the Orc, are present all around the continent, while others, like the Dauphin Irrawaddy, live exclusively in hotter water of north. The Dugong (about the Sirenia ) is a marine species threatened which lives in water of the North-East and the North-West of Australia, more particularly in the Détroit of Torres. It can measure up to three meters and weigh up to 400 kilograms. The dugong is the only marine mammal Herbivore of Australia. It nourishes watery plants located off the coasts. This species is threatened in particular by the destruction of sea-beds on which these plants push.

Lastly, ten species of Seal S and sea lions (family of the Carnivora ) live at broad southern part of Australia and in the Australian territories of the Antarctic.

Birds

Crocodiles

Australia shelters crocodiles of Johnston out of fresh water and crocodiles with double peak out of salt water. The salt water crocodile, called salty by the Australian ones, is the greatest alive species of crocodile. It can reach seven meters length and weigh until a ton. It is able to kill human and does not deprive itself any on the occasion. Living on the coasts, in the rivers and the wetlands of the north of Australia, it is high for its meat and its leather. The fresh water crocodiles, which live in the north of Australia, are not regarded as dangerous animals for the man.

Tortoises

The Australian littoral is attended by six of the seven species of turtles : the Tortoise with flat back, the green Tortoise, the overlapping Tortoise, the Tortoise olivâtre, the Caouanne and the Leatherly turtle. All are protected. There are 29 species of Australian tortoises of fresh water, divided into eight kinds, of the family of the Chelidae . The Tortue with nose of pig is the only species of its family, the Carettochelyidae . Australia and the Antarctic continent are the two only great areas not sheltering more terrestrial tortoise.

Snakes

Australia is the only continent where the poisonous snakes are in greater number than their congeneric nonpoisonous. The Australian snakes are divided into seven families. The family of the Elapidae account species more venimeuses : the Oxyuranus of which the Taïpan of the desert, the common brown snake and the Snake-tiger of the East. Among the 200 species of Elapidae , 86 are present only in Australia. Thirty-six species of the family of the Hydrophiidae , whose many ones are extremely poisonous, have as a natural habitat water of the North of Australia. Two species of alarming specters of the family of the Acrochordidae also live Australian water. Australia counts only eleven species of the most important family of the world, the Colubridae . There are fifteen species of Boidae (boas) and 31 species of Typhlopidae , of the primitive snakes, blind and insectivorous. These species, of which none is endemic, are regarded as being relatively new and coming from Asia.

Lizards and goannas

It is in Australia which the greatest number of lizards in the world saw. Five families are represented there. One finds through the Australian continent 114 species of gecko S, divided into 18 kinds. The Pygopodidae constitute a family of lizards without members, endemic of the Australian area. Of the 34 species among the eight kinds which account this family, only one is not present in Australia. The Agamidés, or lizards dragons, are represented by thirteen kinds for a total of 66 species among which appear the moloch, the bearded Dragon and the Lézard with flange also called dragon of Australia. There are 26 species of monitors, of the family of the Varanidae in Australia, where those are more often called Goanna the largest S. of the Australian monitors is the Varan Perenti which can measure up to two meters. Lastly, one finds 389 species of Scincidae , divided into 38 kinds, which constitute approximately 50% of the total population of lizards in Australia. It is in this group that one finds the Tiliqua S.

Amphibians

Poisson

More 4 400 fish species, of which 90% are endemic, live in Australian water. However, being given the scarcity of its fresh water points, Australia counts only 170 fresh water fish species.

Fresh water Poisson

Indigenous Poisson

Two families of fresh water fish have origins anciennes : that of the Osteoglossidae and that of the Neoceratodontidae . The dipneustes of Australia, single in their family, are the most primitive dipneustes. Their evolution began before Australia does not separate from Gondwana. The Lepidogalaxias salamandroides is one of smallest fresh water fish of Australia. One finds it mainly in the South-west of the country. It is able to survive the Dessiccation during the dry season while hiding in mud. Among the other families having probable origins gondwaniennes, one can also quote the Retropinnidae , the Galaxiidae , the Aplochitonidae and the Percichthyidae . Except the old fresh water species, 70% of fresh water fish of Australia present similarities with tropical marine species of the oceans Pacifique and Indien which would have adapted to fresh water. However, the fossils discovered bring to think that many these fresh water species can also have old origins. These species include the Petromyzontidae of fresh water, the clupéidés, the Plotosidae , the Melanotaeniidae and some fifty species of Gobioidei of which the Oxyeleotris lineolata . Among local fresh water fish snuffed by the fishermen, one can quote the Barramundi, the Morue of Murray and the Macquaria ambigua . Lastly, two species threatened of fresh water sharks (kind Glyphis ) are present in the Territoire of North.

“Imported” Poisson

Certain exotic fresh water fish species were introduced there. It is the case, inter alia, of the Truite fario, the Saumon of fountain, the Rainbow trout, the Atlantic Saumon, the Oncorhynchus tshawytscha - called salmon chinook by the Anglo-Saxons - common Perche, carp and Gambusie. The gambusy is a species known for its agressivité : it badgers with other fish into corrosive their Nageoire S. It is supposed to be related on the decline and the localized extinction several species autochtones of small fish. The introduction of various trout species had a very negative impact on many fish local species living upstream of the rivers, like the Maccullochella macquariensis , the Perche Macquarie, the species of Galaxiidae or other species like arboricolous frog ( Litoria spenceri ). The carp is responsible mainly for the impoverishment of the watery flora, the decline of certain local species of small fish and a level of Turbidité constantly high in water of the area located between the river Murray and its affluent the river Darling in the South-east of Australia.

Poisson of sea

The majority of the fish species of Australia are marine species. The Muraenidae show an interesting characteristic, just as the Holocentridae , the Syngnathus and the hippocampi. Indeed, the males brood eggs of their partner in a specialized pocket. There exist 80 species of Mérou S alive in Australian water of which one of the largest Osteichthyes : the giant Epinephelus lanceolatus or mérou, which can measure up to 2,7 meters and weigh up to 400 kilograms. The family of the Carangidae , which gathers fifty fish species silver plated gathering in benches, and the Lutjanidae are the subject of an important commercial fishing. The Grande barrier of coral shelters a fauna very varied from small and average fish of which the fish young ladies, butterfly fishes, Pomacanthidae , gobies, Apogonidae , Labridae , Balistidae and fish surgeons. There exists also a certain number of poisonous fish of which the Poisson-pierre, the flying Rascasse and several species of the family of the Tetraodontidae . All contain toxins being able to kill an human being. There are eleven poisonous species of Dasyatidae of which largest is the Dasyatis brevicaudata . The Barracuda S are one of the largest species of the Grande barrier of coral. However, large fish never should be eaten coming from the coral barrier because one would then run the risk of one poisoning to the Ciguatera.

The Requins occupy all the Australian littoral as well as the zones estuariennes. One counts of them 166 species including thirty species of the family of the Carcharhinidae , 32 of the family of the Scyliorhinidae , six species of the family of the Orectolobidae and forty species of Squalidae . There are three species of the family of the Heterodontidae (that the Australian ones call “sharks with head of bull”) : the Shark sleeper bull ( Heterodontus portusjacksoni or “shark of Jackson Port”), the Requin sleeper streaks and the Requin sleeper with peak. One listed in 2006 seven attacks of sharks not caused in Australia from which one was mortal. Only three species of shark represent a true threat for the humains : the Shark bulldog, the Tiger shark and the Large white shark. Certain very attended beaches of Queensland and News-Wales-of-South are protected by nets with sharks. This process made it possible to reduce the population of dangerous species but also of inoffensive species of sharks, the sharks being taken in the nets. The Surpêche is at the origin of a decline worrying of the population of sharks in Australian water so much so that certain species are now threatened. In 1988, a Requin large mouth was found on a beach of Perth. This species is little known but the discovery of a pleasing specimen to think that it is present off the Australian coasts.

Invertebrates

Among the 200 000 animal species estimated present in Australia, 96% are invertebrates. Even if the diversity of the invertebrates is not known as a whole, 90% of the Insectes and the Mollusques are regarded as being endemic. The invertebrates occupy many ecological Niches and play a big role in each ecosystem for the decomposition, the Pollinisation or as a source of food. The greatest group of invertebrates is formed by the insects. They constitute 75% of the animal species known in Australia.

Terrestrial invertebrates

The orders of the most various insects are the coleopters with 28 000 species of Scarabaeoidea and Curculionoidea , the Lepidoptera , with 20 816 species including butterflies and Mites and the hymenoptères with 12 781 species including/understanding Ants (1 275 species and subspecies described in Australia), Bees and Wasps. The order of the dipterous , which includes/understands the Mouches and the Moustiques, account 7 786 species. The order of the hémiptères, which includes/understands the Aphidoidea and the Cicadellidae , includes/understands 5 600 species. There is also 2 827 species in the order of the Orthoptera , which includes/understands the Sauterelle S, the crickets and the Tettigoniidae . Australia also counts introduced species which are a true threat for the local species. Among those, one can citer : the Vespula , the Ant of red light, the Anoplolepis gracilipes or insane ant and the Bee with honey which competes with the local bees.

Australia shelters a large variety of Arachnida, including 135 species of sufficiently known spiders to profit from a common noun. Many species are very poisonous like those of the family of the Hexathelidae and the black widowed with red back whose bites can be fatal. There exist thousands of species of Acarien S whose Tique S. Australia also counts eight species of pseudoscorpions and nine species of scorpions.

The subclass of the Oligochaeta account of many families of watery worms but only two terrestrial families of Worm S locaux : the Enchytraeidae and the Megascolecidae . The latter includes/understands the largest worm of the world, the giant worm of Gippsland which one finds only in the Gippsland, in the State of Victoria. Being 80 centimetres long on average, certain specimens can reach up to 3,7 meters.

It should be noted that, traditionally, the Australian aboriginals have recourse to the Entomophagie.

Fresh water invertebrates

The big family of the Parastacidae includes/understands 124 fresh water crayfish species of which the smallest crayfish of the world - Tenuibranchiurus glypticus which measures less than thirty millimetres length - and the largest crayfish of the world - the Astacopsis gouldi which lives in Tasmanie and can measure up to 76 centimetres for a weight of 4,5 kilograms. Among this one, the kind Cherax includes/understands the Cherax destructor as well as a species of élevage : Cherax quadricarinatus . The kind Engaeus , more known under the name of ground crayfish, also counts several species living in Australia. The species belonging to this kind are not completely watery. They indeed pass most of their life in burrows. Australia also counts seven fresh water crab species belonging to the kind Austrothelphusa . The latter live near river in burrows which they can stop in the event of dryness and where they can survive several years. The Anaspididae are a primitive family of Crustacés that one finds only in Tasmanie. They form a single group and present resemblances to old fossils of 200 My.

Marine invertebrates

Australian water shelters an immense variety of marine invertebrates, the Grande barrier of coral constituting an important source of diversity. Among the various families, one can quote that of the sponges, that of the cnidaires (which includes/understands the Scyphozoa angers, corals, sea anemones and cténophores), that of the echinodermatous (which includes/understands the sea urchin S, starfishes, ophiures, cucumbers of sea and brachiopods) and the junction of the Mollusque S (which includes/understands the Escargot S, Limace S, bernic, Calamar S, Pieuvre S, Cardiidae , Oyster S, Clam S and Chiton S). Australia also counts poisonous invertebrates like the Cuboméduse, the Hapalochlaena or octopus with blue rings, as ten species of the family of the Conidae whose venom can cause at the Man a fatal respiratory insufficiency. The starfish populations Acanthaster planci , which live near the coral barriers, are generally not very dense. However, for still ignored reasons, it happens that they reproduce so much so that them Population density becomes excessive. The corals are then devoured at too high intervals so that they can be regenerated, which poses a true problem for the management of the coral barrier. There exist other marine invertebrates which pose problème : thus, the Centrostephanus rodgersii and the Heliocidaris erythrogramma largely widened their natural habitat and formed of the invaded zones of sea urchins and vacuums of other species because of the the predatory Surpêche their natural ones like the Haliotis and the Jasus edwardsii or lobsters of New Zealand. The harmful species of invertebrates introduced include/understand the Musculista senhousia or moulds Asian, the Perna canaliculus , so known under the name of mould of New Zealand, the Mytilopsis sallei , so called mussel with black bands, and the Asterias amurensis or starfish of the Northern Pacific, which involved a displacement of local molluscs.

Australian water shelters many endemic species of Crustacé S sailors. The the most known class is certainly that of the Malacostraca , to which all the edible shellfish species belong. The hot seas being located at the North of Australia constitute the habitat of many shellfish species décapodes to which belong the Crabe S, the Anomura S, the néphropidés , the Thalassinidea and the Dendrobranchiata . The superorder of the Peracarida , which includes/understands the amphipodes and the Isopodes, account more species in colder water of the South of Australia. The classes Remipedia , Cephalocarida , Branchiopoda , Maxillopoda and Ostracoda also form a less known marine animal-life. One can quote notable species like the Pseudocarcinus gigas . Also called giant crab of Tasmanie, it is the second larger crab of the monde ; it weighs up to thirteen kilograms and one finds it out of deep water. Lastly, the Australian lobsters, like the Panulirus cygnus , dissociate other species of the family of the néphropidés owing to the fact that they do not have grips.

Human impact and conservation

Human impact

During at least 40 000 years, Australian fauna had a broad influence on the lifestyle of the Aborigènes of Australia which found in many species a source of food and clothing. It was the case of many vertebrate, like the macropodous ones, the possums, the seals, the fish or the Puffin with nozzle hails. Among the invertebrates appreciated like source of food, one can also quote the caterpillars of a night butterfly, the Bogong ( Agrotis infused ), the Fourmi with honey and molluscs. The fire-stick farming (Denshering), often employed by the aboriginals, modified fauna and the flora much. This Australian term indicates a practice which consisted in burning the vast wide ones of grounds to facilitate hunting and to support the growth of new species of plants. It would be responsible for disappearance, towards the end of the Pléistocène, of large herbivores gathered under the Australian name of Mégafaune, with the specialized food mode, such as the birds unable to fly of the kind Genyornis . The increased aridity, which has occurred during the period of glaciation which took place there is 18 000 years, an impact would have also had on the extinction of the mégafaune. However, this argument is opposed to the fact that these species had survived during two million years several arid glacial periods before dying out abruptly. Also, the respective parts played by hunting and the modification of the landscape as practiced by the aboriginals of Australia on the one hand and the period of glaciation on the other hand are the debate object today. At present, the Australian government, which had prohibited the practice of the denshering for a long time, retrogresses and again encourages this method in certain areas.

It is allowed that they are the European colonists who had the most impact, and by far, on the native species of Australia. Since their arrival, the direct use of local fauna, the destruction of the natural habitats, the introduction of predatory exotics as of herbivores - entering in competition with the Australian species - caused the extinction of about thirty species of mammals, 23 species of birds and several frog species. The growth of the urbanization, especially in the fragile zones like the écozones of the Mediterranean type, has an direct impact on the Biodiversité. One observes an increase in the salinity of the grounds on large surface (especially in South-west) because of the collecting of subterranean water. Because that modifies the flora and thus that has an effect on the cattle, the Australian authorities sought to limit the damage of them. This salinity also has an effect on the wildlife terrestrial or watery and this problem became stakes today environmental important.

to also see: Extinction of Holocene the and Prehistory of Australia

Invasive species

The invasive species are a threat for the Biodiversité of Australia. Their control or their destruction burdens Australian agriculture heavily. The management and the control of introduction of the invading plants cost 3,5 billion Australian dollars. Certain diseases related to accidentally imported moulds or parasites affect many plants and animals autochtones.

Australia counts 56 species of vertebrate “invading”. The majority of them are pets turned over at the wild state because become useless. It is the case for example Dromadaire S, become without utility with the appearance of the rail in the Années 1920 and which were given in freedom. Others were introduced like predatory of species autochtones considered as vermin. For example, in 1935, the clamping plate buffalo was introduced in order to reduce the population of insects attacking the cultures of Canne to sugar. The pigeons bisets, the starlings sad starlings or the martins were introduced to fight against the Criquet S. Enfin of the animals were introduced for the entertaining Chasse like the russet-red fox in 1855, rabbit and the Lièvre of the Cape.

These animals cause damage mainly by destroying certain plant species autochtones, while returning in competition with species autochtones or being predatory the too effective ones like the russet-red Renard. The toad buffalo is regarded today as nuisible ; indeed, while being spread everywhere in Australia, it makes competition in its search for food to the insectivorous endemic ones. Moreover, the venom which it produces is toxic for local fauna and the human ones.

The largest animals and the Lapin S cause problems of erosion and exhaustion of the grounds. The demographic explosion of certain species, without real predatory, causes also problems of exhaustion of the vegetable resources. One can quote the Dromadaire S which are more 500 000, deer tribe, the wild common asses, the wild asses of Africa . For example, the wild goat's milk cheeses exhaust the flora of the dry zones and return in competition with the Petrogale xanthopus and thus expose them to predatory like the fox and the Australian eagle. On the other hand, if the wild pigs degrade the grounds, they are especially captured because they destroy the agricultural cultures.

Several fish species whose tilapias and carps upset the ecosystems of Australian fresh water. Very many species autochtones disappeared. The local marine species suffer from the intrusion of species which travel on the hulls of the boats. The invasion of the Asterias amurensis touch Tasmanie more particularly. Many insects like certain ants Solenopsis invicta and Anoplolepis gracilipes , the bee has honey or the Germanic Guêpe poses problem. Certain species were introduced recently, as the wasp Erynniopsis antennata in 2001 to parasitize the invasive coleopter Pyrrhalta luteola which attacks the Orme S buildings. This coleopter was discovered in 1989 in the State of Victoria.

Policy of animal management

The policy of animal management is articulated on several axes, the destruction of the harmful or invasive species, the introduction of new species often because of the preceding problem and to try to limit the environmental pollution, vermin to the local species.

Destruction of harmful species

Demolition

Before becoming aware of the dangers on the environment related to the disappearance of the species autochtones, the Australian authorities financed subsidies for the slaughtering for all the species known as harmful, does of them those which obstructed the farmers. Thus the wolf of Tasmanie disappeared while the populations of Diable of Tasmanie, of marsupial Chat to mottled tail, of Australian Aigle strongly decreased.

The authorities however became aware very early of the damage which could cause the introduced species because, starting from 1893 in an intermittent way then in a systematic way since 2003, they pour premiums for the demolition of the russet-red foxes. This only thirty years after their introduction. The government of the Queensland pours premiums for the regulation of the Chat haret. On the other hand, there are regularly controversies about payment of premiums for the demolition of the Dingo S. Indeed the nutcase by destroying the wildcat and the russet-red fox would have a beneficial effect on the indigenous species.

The populations of deer tribe, Bovidae and camels are controlled by hunting. The animals are often drawn from helicopter. If the eradication of species as the buffalo seems possible with the first access, it is not applied for two raisons : on the one hand it is not inevitably simple to find all the animals, on the other hand the aboriginals became dependant on their presence (there was however a demolition campaign of the buffaloes in the years 1980).

Poisoning

The population of fox is effectively and severely controlled thanks to the sodium fluoroacétate but this poison kills also certain local species like the Diable of Tasmanie. In Australian South-west, this poison is adapted much more because the local species are immunized thanks to the synthesis of the poison by an indigenous plant.

Virological destruction

In 1950, the Myxomatosis, a viral disease, was voluntarily introduced to control the rabbit population. Their population passed from 600 million to 100 million in a few years. In 1991, after genetic adaptation and resistance to the virus, their population is estimated at 200 to 300 million individuals. In 1996, a new virus was introduced.

Trapping

A checking routine of the toad buffalo tries to warn the extension of the species towards Darwin and the Australian West. The selected technique is the trapping.

On standby

The Australian population was sensitized with the problems caused by the pigeons, however no programme of limitation for the pigeon but also for the starling or Martin was set up.

Example of fight

For the locusts pilgrims, species originating in India, very ravageurs, many techniques were tested like the introduction of predatory (clamping plate buffalo), poisoning by the pesticides, the introduction of parasitic mushroom spores ( Metarhizium anisopliae VAr acridum ). They remained without real success and involved, at the end of the day, of the damage on many other species whatever the means used. A novel method which consists of the release of disturbing growth hormones is the last means used in date.

Introduction and protection of species

Voluntary introduction of new species

The slowness of the recycling of the dungs of Boviné S related to the absence of specialized insects coprophages left with the Australian authorities of another alternative only the introduction of foreign species. Indeed, there did not exist on the spot of insects, in particular coleopters of Scarabaeidae, adapted to this type of excrements. The local species were adapted to the recycling of dry excrements of small size like those of the Marsupiaux. They were not it for great quantities of wet excrements like the dungs of Bovidae. However the effective absence of recycling caused an impoverishment of the soil, a growth of undesirable herbaceous species and the proliferation of two species of flies ( Haematobia irritans and especially of Musca vetustissima , two harmful species for the herds).

The first experiments go back to 1908. In 1968 and 1982, CSIRO studies the potential of adaptation of 45 species of insects coming from Africa, Europe and Asia. Several species were acclimatized ( Onthophagus binodis , O. taurus , O. gazella , Euoniticellus pallipes and Euoniticellus fulvus in South-west and Onitis Alexis in the area of the North of Perth). To increase the effectiveness by it, these Bousier S is high then slackened. The introduction of other species is testée ; it depends on their capacity to adapt and with their nondangerosity with respect to the environment. In addition to the considerable improvement of the recycling of the dungs, the number of dipterous vermin decreased. Entomologists, like Ian Murray Mackerras, supplemented the fight against these insects by the introduction of Hyménoptère S parasitoïdes for éradiquer these flies.

Protection of the local species

To solve the problems involved in surpêche, the State founded quotas.

The Australian legislation envisages the protection majority of the local species. It creates many national parks. It limits the authorized taking away (Puffin with nozzle hails). It prohibits the destruction of species a priori harmful or dangerous (crocodiles, snakes, etc). However, the kangaroos, which pullulate in Australia, there make exception.

Associations

There exist very many associations of protection of the wildlife like the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union for the birds, the Australian Koala Foundation , the Australian Marine Conservation Society , Field Naturalists Club off Victoria , the Wildlife Preservation Society off Queensland and the The Wilderness Society .

Legislation

The Australian legislation envisages the protection majority of the species. The federal law Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was voted in 1999 to make it possible Australia to fill its engagements in so much signatory of the Convention on biological diversity of 1992. This law protects totality from native fauna and envisages the identification and the protection of the threatened Espèces. Each State and each Territory have a lawful list of its threatened species. Currently, 380 animal species are classified as in danger or being threatened according to the terms of the EPBC Act , while other species are protected in accordance with the local legislation. On broader scale, an operation consisting in cataloguing all the species living in Australia was undertaken. It is a key stage for the conservation of fauna and the Australian Biodiversité. In 1973, the federal government launched the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS - study of the Australian living resources). The purpose of this project is to coordinate research on taxonomy, of identification, classification and distribution of the flora and fauna. The ABRS feeds a database in free line which catalogs most of fauna and described Australian flora.

Australia is a Member State of the Commission international whale-boat and is opposed firmly to hunting for the whale. All the species of Cétacé S are protected in its waters territorial. Australia is also signatory of the QUOTE and prohibits the export of species in danger. Protected areas were created in each State and Territoire in order to protect and to preserve the single ecosystems of the country. These protected areas include the national parks, the reserves, like 64 wetlands recorded according to the terms of the Convention of Ramsar and sixteen sites classified with the World heritage of UNESCO. In 2002,10,8% of the Australian territory, that is to say 774 619 51 km, were classified like protected area. Many protected marine zones were created in order to safeguard the marine biodiversity. These zones covered in 2002 approximately 7%, that is to say 646 000 km, of Australian territorial water. The Grande barrier of coral is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority , according to a federal and local legislation specific. Certain Australian fisheries are already overexploited and of the quotas have being founded for the perenniality of the fishing of certain species.

According to the conclusions of the report on the state of the Australian environment ( The State off the Environment Carryforward ) of 2001, written by independent researchers for submission to the federal government, the situation of the environment and environmental management in Australia made only worsen since the preceding ratio of 1996. The report/ratio indicates that many processes, such as the Salinité, the change of the hydrological conditions, deforestation, the fragmentation of the ecosystems, the bad management of the coastal environment and the invading species, constitute an main issue for the Australian biodiversity.

Appendices

Sources

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