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Waldegrave Islands
Waldegrave Islands is an island group in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Investigator Group about northwest by west of Cape Finniss on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula. The group consists of Waldegrave Island, Little Waldegrave Island and according to some sources, a pair of rocks known as the Watchers. The group is notable as a breeding site for Australian sea lions and Cape Barren geese. The group has enjoyed protected area status since the 1960s and as of 1972 has been part of the Waldegrave Islands Conservation Park. Description Waldegrave Islands is an island group located about northwest by west of Cape Finniss and about northwest by west of the town of Elliston on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.RAN, 1979 The group consist of the following islands: Waldegrave Island (also called East Waldegrave Island and East Island in some sources), Little Waldegrave Island (also called West Waldegrave Island, West Island and Seal I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the other used by the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS). The IHO defines the Great Australian Bight as having the following limits: ''On the North.'' The south coast of the Australian mainland. ''On the South.'' A line joining West Cape Howe () Australia to South West Cape, Tasmania. ''On the East.'' A line from Cape Otway, Victoria to King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the northwest extreme of Tasmania. The AHS defines the bight with a smaller area, from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia - a distance of . Much of the bight lies due south of the expansive Nullarbor Plain, which straddles South Australia and Western Australia. The Eyre Highway passes close to the cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems, and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galah
The galah (; ''Eolophus roseicapilla''), also known as the pink and grey cockatoo or rose-breasted cockatoo, is the only species within genus ''Eolophus'' of the cockatoo family. Found throughout Australia, it is among the most common of the cockatoos. With its distinctive pink and grey plumage and its bold and loud behaviour, it is a familiar sight in the wild and increasingly in urban areas. It has benefited from the change in the landscape since European colonisation, and appears to be replacing the Major Mitchell's cockatoo in parts of its range. Etymology The term galah is derived from ''gilaa'', a word from the Yuwaalaraay and neighbouring Aboriginal languages spoken in north-western New South Wales. Description The galah is about in length, and weighs . It has a pale silver to grey back, a pale grey rump, a pink face and breast, and a light pink mobile crest. It has a bone-coloured beak, and the bare skin of the eye ring is carunculated. It has grey legs. The sexes a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-tailed Shearwater
The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (''Ardenna tenuirostris''; formerly ''Puffinus tenuirostris''), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested. It is a migratory species that breeds mainly on small islands in Bass Strait and Tasmania and migrates to the Northern Hemisphere for the boreal summer. Taxonomy This shearwater appears to be related to the sooty and great shearwaters, which are also blunt-tailed, black-billed species, but its precise relationships are obscure (Austin, 1996; Austin ''et al.'', 2004). These are among the larger species of shearwater, which have been moved to a separate genus, ''Ardenna'' based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA (Penhallurick & Wink, 2004). Ecology Each parent feeds the single chick for 2–3 days and then leaves for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesembryanthemum Crystallinum
''Mesembryanthemum crystallinum'' is a prostrate succulent plant native to Africa, Sinai and southern Europe, and naturalized in the New World. The plant is covered with large, glistening bladder cells or water vesicles, reflected in its common names of common ice plant, crystalline ice plant or ice plant. Description ''Mesembryanthemum crystallinum'' grows creeping stems, from in length. The leaves are long. It flowers from March to October. The many-petalled flowers, across, open in the morning and close at night, and are pollinated by insects. The species is covered with enlarged epidermal cells, called "bladder cells", the main function of which is to reserve water. The plant can be annual, biennial or perennial, but its life cycle is usually completed within several months, depending on environmental conditions. Biology The plant usually uses C3 carbon fixation, but when it becomes water- or salt-stressed, it is able to switch to Crassulacean acid metabolism. Like m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apium Prostratum
''Apium prostratum'', commonly known as sea celery, is a variable herb native to coastal Australia and New Zealand. The leaves are variable, with toothed leaflets, and a celery like aroma. The tiny white flowers occur in clusters. There are two varieties: * ''Apium prostratum'' var. ''filiforme'' – headland sea celery, squat with broad leaves (2-3 times longer than wide)and grows on coastal dunes and headlands. * ''Apium prostratum'' var. ''prostratum'' – mangrove sea celery, upright with fine leaves (6-15 times longer than wide) and grows in swamps.Low, T., ''Wild Food Plants of Australia'', 1988. Sea Celery, Victorian resources Online. http://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/sip_sea_celery The subspecies Apium prostratum subsp. howense, ''Apium prostratum'' subsp. ''howense'' is endemic to Lord Howe Island. Uses Commonly eaten by Maori in New Zealand, for whom it is known as Tutae Koau, sea celery was also an important vegetable for early explorers an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankenia Pauciflora
''Frankenia pauciflora'', the common sea-heath or southern sea-heath, is an evergreen shrub native to southern Australia. It is part of the Frankenia genus of the Frankeniaceae family. It can be prostrate or may grow up to 0.5 m in height. Pink or white flowers are produced between June and February in its native range. It occurs in saline flats, salt marshes, or coastal limestone areas. Taxonomy The specific epithet ''pauciflora'', referring the Latin words ''paucus'', meaning ''few'', and ''florus'' meaning ''flower'', referring to the fact that the species produces few flowers. Varieties The currently recognised varieties are: *''F. p. ''var. ''fruticulosa'' (DC.) Summerh. *''F. p. ''var. ''gunnii'' Summerh. *''F. p. ''var. ''longifolia'' Summerh. *''F. p. ''var.'' pauciflora'' DC. Habitat ''Frankenia pauciflora'' is characterized as a halophyte and as such is found to localize in sandy soils, salt floats, salt marshes, and coastal limestones. The plant subsists in env ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atriplex Paludosa
''Atriplex paludosa'', commonly known as marsh saltbush, is a species of saltbush endemic to Australia. Description It grows as an erect shrub up to a metre high. Leaves are oval in shape, one to four centimetres long, and 2 to 15 millimetres wide. Taxonomy It was first published by Robert Brown in 1810 based on specimen material collected at Port Dalrymple, the site of present-day Launceston, Tasmania. Four subspecies are recognised: ''A. paludosa'' subsp. ''paludosa'', ''A. paludosa'' subsp. ''baudinii'', ''A. paludosa'' subsp. ''cordata'' and ''A. paludosa'' subsp. ''moquiniana''. Distribution and habitat It occurs in southwestern Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and coastal Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi .... Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olearia Axillaris
''Olearia axillaris'', commonly known as coastal daisy-bush, coast daisy-bush or coastal daisybush is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with densely cottony-hairy branchlets, aromatic, linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and small white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences. Description ''Olearia axillaris'' is an erect, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of and has many branchlets, densely covered with white, cottony hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets and are aromatic, linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lance-shaped to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long, wide and more or less sessile. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, the surfaces covered with woolly grey hairs, densely so on the lower surface. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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