Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands
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The Victorian Volcanic Plain Grasslands are a critically endangered
temperate grassland Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The predominant vegetation in this biome consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from semi-arid to semi ...
s that occur in the Australian state of
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
, stretching from Hamilton in the northwest to the city of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. Part of the Southern Volcanic Plain and bordering the
Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland The Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland is an ecological community, ecological temperate grassland community located in the Gippsland region in southern Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Stretching from Bairnsdale, Victoria, Bairnsdale in the ...
to the east, the grasslands sit on Cainozoic volcanic deposits. In 2011, the
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
had reserved 15,000 hectares of land to protect the critically endangered community.The Western Grassland Reserves
Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
Only less than 5% of the pre-European concentration of the
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
s remain.Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts was an Australian Government department that existed between December 2007 and September 2010. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocatio ...
. Retrieved 3 September 2022. Text was copied from this source, which is available unde
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License


Geography

The Victorian grasslands stretch west, from Melbourne (around Doreen) in the east, to Portland in the southwest, reaching the border of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, on a flat to mildly undulating country at low altitudes, where they feature a belt around wide, covering approximately 20,000 square kilometres. The soils in the grassland are susceptible to cracking during
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and being miry in wet periods.
Grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
and
bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
have an impact as well. The grasslands also include the ''Natural Damp Grassland of the Victorian Coastal Plains''. The grasslands were once a large vegetation zone on the volcanic plain, but they have since been reduced to a small, highly divided remnants in a landscape that has been mostly cleared for agriculture. The area is dominated tussock grass alongside
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...
s (which make up 50% of the total landcover), with very few trees and shrubs. The grasslands feature dry warm summers and cool, wet winters. Annual rainfall ranges from to a year.


Biodiversity

In addition to
Kangaroo grass } ''Themeda triandra'' is a species of perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and re ...
, Plume grass, Wallaby-grasses and Spear grasses, the area includes Spiny Rice flower, common tussock grass, Hoary Sunray, Eryngium ovinum, Acaena echinata, Button Wrinklewort, Leptorhynchos squamatus,
purple clover ''Purple Clover'' is an English language news and lifestyle online magazine aimed at an audience 50 years and older. It is owned by Whalerock Industries. The website was launched in 2013. Background ''Purple Clover'' was launched in July, 2013 ...
, Convolvulus angustissimus, Schoenus apogon and as well as native orchids, lilies, daisies and peas. In wetter places, such as in the west, species that are more prevalent include Microtis unifolia and Drosera peltata. In drier regions, Chrysocephalum apiculatum and Calocephalus citreus are more common. Native animals include Striped Legless Lizard, Tussock Skink, Common Dunnart, Southern Grass Skink,
Eastern Barred Bandicoot The eastern barred bandicoot (''Perameles gunnii'') is a nocturnal, rabbit-sized marsupial endemic to southeastern Australia, being native to the island of Tasmania and mainland Victoria. It is one of three surviving bandicoot species in the g ...
, Golden Sun Moth,
Growling Grass Frog The growling grass frog (''Ranoidea raniformis''), also commonly known as the southern bell frog, warty swamp frog and erroneously as the green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to southeastern Australia, ranging from sout ...
, eastern grey kangaroo and grassland earless dragon.Victorian Volcanic Plains
by
Greening Australia Greening Australia is an Australian environmental organisation, founded in 1982, the International Year of the Tree, to protect, restore and conserve Australia's native vegetation. Greening Australia was formed by the United Nations Association ...
. Retrieved 3 September 2022.


References


External links


Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregionNatural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain
{{Australasia grasslands navbox Geography of Melbourne Grasslands of Australia Remnant urban bushland Vegetation of Australia Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Environment of Victoria (Australia) Endangered Ecological Community