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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 plant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estuaries Of Western Australia
The estuaries of Western Australia (also known as the Inlets of Western Australia) are located along the coastline of Western Australia. The coastline can be considered in three main sections: south, west, and Kimberley. Some estuarine features carry through all three regions. Wetlands and estuaries of the south west region have very similar ecologies and occurrences of biota. South The estuary/inlet names do not necessarily relate to the names of the rivers that flow into them. (This list is along the coast from the east near Esperance to the west near Cape Leeuwin.) * Barker * Stokes Inlet * Torradup * Oldfield Estuary * Jerdacuttup * Culham Inlet * Hamersley * Dempster * Fitzgerald * St Marys * Gordon Inlet * Wellstead Estuary * Beaufort Inlet * Cheyne * Waychinicup * Normans * Taylor Inlet * Oyster Harbour * Torbay Inlet * Wilson Inlet * Parry * Irwin Inlet * Nornalup Inlet * Broke Inlet * Gardner * Warren * Donnelly * Hardy Inlet West * Harvey Estuary * Peel Inle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shark Bay
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 160 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halophila Minor
''Halophila'' is a genus of seagrasses in the family ''Hydrocharitaceae'', the tape-grasses. It was described as a genus in 1806. The number of its contained species, and its own placement in the order Alismatales, has evolved. Description These oceanic herbs grow underwater and have creeping stoloniferous stems and leafy nodes. Unlike other seagrasses, the leaves of some species of ''Halophila'' do not have basal sheaths (i.e. the bases of the leaves do not wrap around the stem to form a sheath). The flowers are unisexual. The male flowers are borne on stems. The parts occur in multiples of three along a single row. The female flowers do not have stalks. They are divided into three segments. The single chambered ovary has a long beak. The three style are long and simple. The ovules are attached on top of three placentas. The fruit is included in the bract surrounding the inflorescence (the spathe) and crowned by a beak. They have many seeds and thick embryos. Distribution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halophila Decipiens
''Halophila decipiens'', commonly known as Caribbean seagrass or paddle grass, is a seagrass in the family Hydrocharitaceae. It grows underwater on sandy or muddy sea floors in shallow parts of tropical seas. Description ''Halophila'' is the only genus of seagrass that lacks basal sheaths on the leaf stems. ''Halophila decipiens'' has thin rhizomes that run along near the surface of sand or mud, with a root at each node to anchor the plant in place. The almost stemless leaves grow in pairs from the nodes with a pair of scales at their base. The leaves are paddle-shaped and have a finely serrated margin and are up to long and wide. Male and female flowers are found on the same spathe and a female flower can produce about 30 seeds. Flowering seems to be stimulated by a rise in water temperature above a certain threshold rather than day length. The plant is an annual. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halophila Australis
''Halophila australis'', the paddle weed, is a species of seagrass in the family Hydrocharitaceae Hydrocharitaceae is a flowering plant family including 16 known genera with a total of ca 135 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016), that including a number of species of aquatic plant, for instance the tape-grasses, the well known Canadian ..., native to southern Australia. Preferring calm waters, it is found on both mud and sand substrates from the low tide mark down to about . References australis Seagrass Endemic flora of Australia Flora of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1967 {{monocot-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enhalus Acoroides
''Enhalus'' is a monotypic genus of marine flowering plants. The sole species is ''Enhalus acoroides''. ''Enhalus'' is a large seagrass native to coastal waters of the tropical Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. It is the only species of seagrass that does aerial surface pollination in which the pollen and the styles remain dry.Phillips, R.C. and E.G. Meñez. 1988. Seagrasses. Smithsonian Contrib. Mar. Sci. 34, 104 pp. ''Enhalus'' is surface pollinated with male flowers that detach from the plant to float on the surface until they reach a female flower where pollination can occur. Enhalus acoroides is considered a slow-growing, " climax" species. Description ''Enhalus acoroides'' massive rhizomes (1.5 cm in diameter) help it stay anchored in soft mud substrates, withstanding wave action and tidal currents. it has long strap like leaves (30–150 cm) which make up a significant volume of total plant biomass of shallow water seagrass beds, because of the large structur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FloraBase
''FloraBase'' is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on 12,978 taxa, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details. 1,272 alien taxa (naturalised weeds) are also recorded. The system takes data from datasets including the Census of Western Australian Plants and the Western Australian Herbarium specimen database of more than 803,000 vouchered plant collections. It is operated by the Western Australian Herbarium within the Department of Parks and Wildlife. It was established in November 1998. In its distribution guide it uses a combination of IBRA version 5.1 and John Stanley Beard's botanical provinces. See also *Declared Rare and Priority Flora List The Declared Rare and Priority Flora List is the system by which Western Australia's conservation flora are given a priority. Developed by the Government of Western Australia's Department of Environment and C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrocharitaceae
Hydrocharitaceae is a flowering plant family including 16 known genera with a total of ca 135 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016), that including a number of species of aquatic plant, for instance the tape-grasses, the well known Canadian waterweed, and frogbit. The family includes both freshwater and marine aquatics. They are found throughout the world in a wide variety of habitats, but are primarily tropical. Description The species are annual or perennial, with a creeping monopodial rhizome with the leaves arranged in two vertical rows, or an erect main shoot with roots at the base and spirally arranged or whorled leaves. The leaves are simple and usually found submerged, though they may be found floating or partially emerse. As with many aquatics they can be very variable in shape – from linear to orbicular, with or without a petiole, and with or without a sheathing base. The flowers are arranged in a forked, spathe-like bract or between two opposite bracts. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alismatales
The Alismatales (alismatids) are an order of flowering plants including about 4,500 species. Plants assigned to this order are mostly Tropical vegetation, tropical or Aquatic plant, aquatic. Some grow in fresh water, some in marine habitats. Description The Alismatales comprise herbaceous flowering plants of often aquatic and marshy habitats, and the only monocots known to have green embryos other than the Amaryllidaceae. They also include the only marine angiosperms growing completely submerged, the seagrasses. The flowers are usually arranged in inflorescences, and the mature seeds lack endosperm. Both marine and freshwater forms include those with staminate flowers that detach from the parent plant and float to the surface. There they can pollinate carpellate flowers floating on the surface via long pedicels. In others, pollination occurs underwater, where pollen may form elongated strands, increasing chance of success. Most aquatic species have a totally submerged juvenile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panulirus Cygnus
''Panulirus cygnus'' is a species of spiny lobster (family Palinuridae), found off the west coast of Australia. ''Panulirus cygnus'' is the basis of Australia's most valuable fishery, making up 20% of value of Australia's total fishing industry, and is identified as the western rock lobster. Taxonomy ''Panulirus cygnus'' was previously classified under several taxonomic arrangements, the description as a new species was published in 1962. The Western Australian crayfish was identified in 1916 as '' Panulirus penicillatus'' (Olivier, 1791). This was reassessed at the British Museum by Isabella Gordon in 1936 as '' Panulirus longipes'' at the request of Ludwig Glauert, a diagnosis that was conserved, despite further doubts, due to its extensive use by the state's crayfishing industry and associated legislation. The author, Ray George, recognised the similarities to other species of ''Panulirus'' in a comparative study, but proposed the anatomical characteristics were of an un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
