Wooramel Seagrass Bank
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Wooramel Seagrass Bank
Wooramel Seagrass Bank is a large deposit of carbonate sediment, a sand bank, formed by diverse communities of seagrasses off the coast of Carnarvon, Western Australia. The mattes of seagrass meadows and stands consolidate a shallow platform of sandy substrate by acting as an organic baffle against currents and tides. These colonies provide food and shelter to many of the species within the Shark Bay Marine Park. The bank occurs in the easternmost bay of the Shark Bay World Heritage area. It is a structure 129 kilometres long and around 8 kilometres wide, comprising various communities on sand plains, tidal channels and other coastal habitats. The space taken up is 1030 km2, making it the largest seagrass bank in the world. The only other comparable structure is found in the Mediterranean. Shark Bay has the largest number of seagrass species recorded in one area. Twelve species have been identified in the area, with nine species being found in some locations. The stands or ...
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Seagrass
Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the order Alismatales (in the clade of monocotyledons). Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants which recolonised the ocean 70 to 100 million years ago. The name ''seagrass'' stems from the many species with long and narrow leaves, which grow by rhizome extension and often spread across large "meadows" resembling grassland; many species superficially resemble terrestrial grasses of the family Poaceae. Like all autotrophic plants, seagrasses photosynthesize, in the submerged photic zone, and most occur in shallow and sheltered coastal waters anchored in sand or mud bottoms. Most species undergo submarine pollination and complete their life cycle underwater. While it was previously believed this pollination was carried out without pollinators ...
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Carnarvon, Western Australia
Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately north of Perth, in Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo Reef and the popular tourist town of Exmouth lie to the north. Within Carnarvon is the Mungullah Aboriginal Community. Inland, Carnarvon has strong links with the town of Gascoyne Junction and the Burringurrah Community. At the 2021 census, Carnarvon had a population of 4,879. History The Inggarda people are the traditional owners of the region around Carnarvon. Before European settlement the place now called Carnarvon, located at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, was known as ''Kuwinywardu'' which means "neck of water". Australian-Aboriginals associating with the Carnarvon area typically associate as being Yamatji, traditionally speaking the Wajarri language. The town was founded in 1883, initially as a port and supply centre for the ...
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Seagrass Meadow
A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and long green, grass-like leaves. They produce seeds and pollen and have roots and rhizomes which anchor them in seafloor sand. Seagrasses form dense underwater meadows which are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. They provide habitats and food for a diversity of marine life comparable to that of coral reefs. This includes invertebrates like shrimp and crabs, cod and flatfish, marine mammals and birds. They provide refuges for endangered species such as seahorses, turtles, and dugongs. They function as nursery habitats for shrimps, scallops and many commercial fish species. Seagrass meadows provide coastal storm protection by the way their leaves absorb energy from waves as they hit the coast. They keep coastal waters healthy ...
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Shark Bay Marine Park
The Shark Bay Marine Park is protected marine park located within the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Shark Bay, in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The marine park is situated over north of Perth and north of Geraldton. The marine park is known for its large marine animals, such as the famous Monkey Mia dolphins, turtles, dugongs and sharks. The park and its vast seagrass meadows, with a total of twelve species of seagrass in the park that form an important part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. Major reference points of its boundaries include Steep Point at the south side of Dirk Hartog Island and Cape Inscription at the north side. Fishing Fishing in the marine park are governed by the Gascoyne Fishing Rules that specify the waters and species of the Shark Bay area, also known as the Shark Bay Inner Gulfs: * Eastern Gulf Zone: the region located east of the Peron Peninsula and north from Cape Peron North ( to a line at 25°16.6'S) and east to the coast of t ...
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Shark Bay, Western Australia
Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's official listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage Site reads: : History The record of Australian Aboriginal occupation of Shark Bay extends to years BP. At that time most of the area was dry land, rising sea levels flooding Shark Bay between BP and BP. A considerable number of aboriginal midden sites have been found, especially on Peron Peninsula and Dirk Hartog Island which provide evidence of some of the foods gathered from the waters and nearby land areas. An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616, becoming the second group of Europeans known to have visited Australia. (The crew of the ''Duyfken'', under Willem Janszoon, had visited Cape York in 1606). T ...
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Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The Sea has played a central role in the history of Western civilization. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about , representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa—is only wide. The Mediterranean Sea ...
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Dugong
The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas''), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century. The dugong is the only sirenian in its range, which spans the waters of some 40 countries and territories throughout the Indo-West Pacific. The dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows, with the largest dugong concentrations typically occurring in wide, shallow, protected areas such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters. The northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay are believed to be the dugong's contemporary stronghold. Like all modern sirenians, the dugong ...
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Seagrasses Of Western Australia
The Seagrasses of Western Australia are submerged flowering plants found along the coast, around islands, and in Estuaries of Western Australia. The region contains some of the largest seagrass meadows in the world, and is the most diverse in the number of species. The variety of habitats along its western and southern coasts is often soft sands in shallow subtropical waters, ideal for these plants. Description Marine grasses are flowering plants that evolved from terrestrial grasses to habitat in coastal waters. In contrast to seaweeds, usually found on rocks, seagrass colonises sandy ocean beds to form dense stands and meadows. The Western Australian coastline, along with its islands, is over 20,000 km long. These tropical to temperate waters extend from latitudes 32-34°S to 12°S. The great diversity of habitat in these coastal regions of Western Australia are occupied by seagrasses, frequently 'engineering' habitat through colonisation of shallow ocean floors. These plants ...
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Wooramel River
The Wooramel River is an ephemeral river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The river rises near McLeod Pyramid and flows in a westerly direction, joined by six tributaries including the Wooramel River North, Bilung Creek, One Gum Creek and Nyarra Creek. The river is crossed by the Carnarvon-Mullewa Road near Pandara, through the Carandibby Range, and crossed by the North West Coastal Highway near the Wooramel Roadhouse, then discharging into Shark Bay and the Indian Ocean near Herald Loop. The catchment area has been approximately 40% cleared. The river descends over its course. The river has a non-pristine estuary that has been mostly unmodified. The estuary contains the seagrass ''Ruppia megacarpa ''Ruppia megacarpa'' is a submerged herb species in the genus '' Ruppia'' found in shallow brackish waters. It is a common on Australasian coasts, including Australia ( NSW; SA; Vic; WA and New Zealand (type locality).Jacobs, S.W.L. and M.A. ...'' and is natura ...
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Protected Areas Of Western Australia
Western Australia is the second largest country subdivision in the world. It contains no fewer than separate Protected Areas with a total area of (land area: – 6.30% of the state’s area). Ninety-eight of these are National Parks, totalling (2.14% of the state’s area). Protected areas of Western Australia Conservation Parks As of 2014, the following 58 conservation parks are listed as part of the National Reserve System with a total area of . *Blackbutt * Boyagarring * Brooking Gorge *Burra *Camp Creek *Cane River * Coalseam *Dardanup *Devonian Reef *Geikie Gorge *Goldfields Woodlands * Gooralong *Hester *Kerr *Korijekup * Lane Poole *Laterite *Len Howard *Leschenault Peninsula * Leschenaultia * Lupton *Monte Bello Islands *Mount Manning - Helena And Aurora Ranges *Muja * Penguin Island *Rapids * Rowles Lagoon * Shell Beach *Totadgin *Unnamed WA01333 *Unnamed WA17804 *Unnamed WA23088 *Unnamed WA23920 *Unnamed WA24657 *Unnamed WA28740 *Unnamed WA29901 *U ...
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Seagrass
Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the order Alismatales (in the clade of monocotyledons). Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants which recolonised the ocean 70 to 100 million years ago. The name ''seagrass'' stems from the many species with long and narrow leaves, which grow by rhizome extension and often spread across large "meadows" resembling grassland; many species superficially resemble terrestrial grasses of the family Poaceae. Like all autotrophic plants, seagrasses photosynthesize, in the submerged photic zone, and most occur in shallow and sheltered coastal waters anchored in sand or mud bottoms. Most species undergo submarine pollination and complete their life cycle underwater. While it was previously believed this pollination was carried out without pollinators ...
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