Hampton is an interim Australian bioregion located in southeastern coastal

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, with a small portion (4%) extending into adjacent

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 ...

. It has an area of . The Hampton bioregion is part of the Coolgardie woodlands

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

Geography

The bioregion includes a coastal plain, known as the

Roe Plains The Roe Plains is a coastal plain in the southeastern corner of Western Australia. The Roe Plains are predominantly marine dunes on a coastal plain. The plains are bounded on the south by the Great Australian Bight. They are bounded on the west ...

, covered by extensive marine dunes, with a limestone escarpment, known as the

Hampton Tableland Hampton Tableland is a feature that is found at the northern side of the current alignment of the Eyre Highway between Madura and Eucla in Western Australia, at the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain. Earlier trans-Nullarbor tracks were loca ...

or Hampton Range, emerging to the north of the dune fields. The bioregion is bounded on the north by the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

, and on the south by the

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 Hydrog ...

.Sandra Gilfillan, Malcolm Grant, Sarah Comer, Sarah Barrett, Klaus Tiedemann and Lawrie Anderson (2001).
Hampton (HAM)
, in ''A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002''. Department of Conservation and Land Management. Accessed 7 May 2022. The escarpment is an outcrop of the

Eucla Basin The Eucla Basin is an artesian depression located in Western Australia and South Australia. The onshore-offshore depression covers approximately 1,141,000 km² and slopes southward to an open bay known as the Great Australian Bight. It ext ...

, a sedimentary geologic basin that extends under the entire region as well as the Nullarbor Plain to the north and under the sea to the south. Erosion of the Eucla Basin's limestone by rainwater and groundwater has created a karst landscape, with extensive underground sinkholes and caverns. The region has a semi-arid

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

, with mild to hot summers and cool to mild winters. The bioregion receives about 250mm of rainfall annually, mostly during the winter months.Hampton
. Natural Resources, Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges, Government of South Australia. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Flora and fauna

The plant communities of the bioregion include mallee woodlands and shrublands on scree slopes, limestone pavements, and dunes. They are characterised by mallee, shrubs or trees, generally

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

s, with multiple stems rising from an underground woody base called a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. An endemic subspecies of coastal white mallee, ''Eucalyptus diversifolia hesperia'', is a common mallee species. Mallee with patches of acacia scrub, featuring ridge-fruited mallee (''

Eucalyptus angulosa ''Eucalyptus angulosa'', also known as the ridge fruited mallee or southern ridge fruited mallee, is a eucalypt that is native to Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the tree as quarral or kwaral. Description The mallee typically grows ...

''), coastal wattle (''

Acacia cyclops ''Acacia cyclops'', commonly known as coastal wattle, cyclops wattle, one-eyed wattle, red-eyed wattle, redwreath acacia, western coastal wattle, rooikrans, rooikrans acacia, is a coastal shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. Native to Au ...

''), ''

Calothamnus quadrifidus ''Calothamnus quadrifidus'', commonly known as one-sided bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The common name alludes to the arrangement of the flowers in the infloresce ...

'', and granite bottlebrush (''

Melaleuca elliptica ''Melaleuca elliptica'', commonly known as the granite bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. The Noongar name for the plant is gnow. It is commonly grown in gardens because of ...

''), is found on coastal dunes. Yorrell (''

Eucalyptus gracilis ''Eucalyptus gracilis'', commonly known as yorrell, snap and rattle, red mallee, white mallee or kong mallee, is a species of mallee or small tree endemic to Australia, where it is found in south-western New South Wales, Victoria, South Australi ...

'') is found on limestone and lime sands.Beard, J. S.; Beeston, G. R.; Harvey, J. M.; Hopkins, A. J. M.; and Shepherd, D. P. (2013) "The vegetation of Western Australia at the 1:3,000,000 scale. Explanatory memoir. Second edition." ''Conservation Science Western Australia''; October 2013, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p1-152, 153p. There are eucalypt woodlands, and open low woodlands of western myall (''

Acacia papyrocarpa ''Acacia papyrocarpa'', commonly known as western myall, is a tree in the family Fabaceae native to arid areas of central and western Australia. Description Western myall typically grows as a shrub or an upright tree to a height of but can ...

'') over bluebush (''

Maireana ''Maireana '' is a genus of around 57 species of perennial shrubs and herbs in the family Amaranthaceae which are endemic to Australia. Species in this genus were formerly classified within the genus ''Kochia''. The genus was described in 1840 ...

'' sp.), on the alluvial and calcareous plains below the escarpment. The

hemiparasitic A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

desert quandong or native peach (''Santalum acuminatum'') is found in the woodlands. Low dune vegetation, including ''

Scaevola crassifolia ''Scaevola crassifolia'' is a shrub in the family Goodeniaceae, native to Western Australia and South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most ar ...

'' and ''

Atriplex cinerea ''Atriplex cinerea'', commonly known as grey saltbush, coast saltbush, barilla or ''truganini'', is a plant species in the family Amaranthaceae. It occurs in sheltered coastal areas and around salt lakes in the Australian states of Western Aust ...

'', are found on more recent dune deposits. Native birds include the

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

(''Leipoa ocellata'') and western subspecies of

grey currawong The grey currawong (''Strepera versicolor'') is a large passerine bird native to southern Australia, including Tasmania. One of three currawong species in the genus ''Strepera'', it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie o ...

(''Strepera versicolor plumbei'') and

slender-billed thornbill The slender-billed thornbill (''Acanthiza iredalei'') is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species: * ''A. i. hedleyi'' * ''A. i. iredalei'' * ''A. i. rosinae'' This thornbill can be found in shrublands and salt marshes, ...

(''Acanthiza iredalei iredalei''). The dunes are home to three endemic species of reptiles, '' Pseudemoia baudini,

Lerista arenicola The bight slider (''Lerista arenicola'') is a species of skink found in South Australia and Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia ...

'', and ''

Lerista baynesi ''Lerista baynesi'', also known commonly as Baynes' lerista and Bayne's slider, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Etymology The specific name, ''baynesi'', is in honor of Alexande ...

'', along with one endemic sub-species ('' Ctenotus brooksi euclae''). Several species of cave fauna are endemic to the cave systems of the bioregion, which extend under the adjacent Nullarbor Plain. These include the spiders '' Tartarus mullamullangensis'' and '' Tartarus nurinensis''.

Threats

Threats to the bioregion include overgrazing by sheep, invasive animals like foxes, wild dogs, feral cats, starlings, camels, horses and rabbits, and invasive plants like Ward's weed ('' Carrichtera annua'') and sea spurge (''

Euphorbia paralias ''Euphorbia paralias'', the sea spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, native to Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. The species is widely naturalised in Australia. It invades coastal areas, displacing local ...

'').

Protected areas

Protected areas include

Nuytsland Nature Reserve Nuytsland Nature Reserve is a protected area of Western Australia in the south-eastern part of the state, on the south coast. Geography Nominally located at 32° 18' S 125° 52' E, it has an area of 6,253.44 km², and takes in over 500&nbs ...

and

Eucla National Park Eucla National Park is a national park in Western Australia, east of Perth. The southern edge of the park borders a section of the Great Australian Bight. Other notable features of the park include Wilson Bluff and Delisser sandhills. The area ...

in Western Australia, and Nullarbor National Park which protects the entire South Australian section. The

Eyre Bird Observatory Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway, to the north. It is in the Hampton bioregion, which is ...

is located in coastal mallee woodland in Nuytsland Nature Reserve. It was established in 1977, and includes a natural history library and a small museum.Eyre Bird Observatory
. Parks and Wildlife Service, Government of Western Australia. Accessed 8 May 2022.

Geography

Flora and fauna

Threats

Protected areas

References

Further reading