Tasmanian temperate rain forests
- Tasmanian temperate rain forests
The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are an ecoregion of western Tasmania. This ecoregion is one of a small number of temperate rain forests in the world, characterized by cool and mild temperate climates with a strong oceanic influence, high year-round rainfall, and the presence of west-facing coastal mountains.
etting
The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are part of the Australasia ecozone, which includes Tasmania and Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and adjacent islands.
Flora
Tasmanian temperate rain forests are home to the Antarctic flora. Low elevation rainforests on fertile soils are predominantly broadleaf evergreen forests dominated by Myrtle Beech ("Nothofagus cunninghamii") and Southern Sassafras ("Atherosperma moschatum"). Rainforests on poorer soils, higher elevations, and riparian rainforests are mixed forests with tasmanian endemic conifers. [Reid et al. "Vegetation of Tasmania." 2005.] Conifers include the Huon Pine ("Lagarostrobos franklinii"), and King Billy pine ("Athrotaxis selaginoides"). Neither tree is actually a pine ("Pinus"); the Huon pine is a member of the southern hemisphere Podocarp family ("Podocarpaceae"), and the King Billy pine is a member of the Cypress family ("Cupressaceae"). Both trees are known for their height and great age. Both are also fine, if slow growing, timber trees, and have been reduced considerably by fire, mining and logging.
Fauna
The Tasmanian temperate rain forests have many of the Marsupial mammals characteristic of Australia, including the Tasmanian Devil.
People
The areas associated with the Tasmanian rainforests are sparsely populated.
Conservation and threats
In 1982, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the northern portion of the ecoregion a World Heritage Site.The Huon Valley boasts a landcare cooperative that has purchased and conservation covenanted forested land in order to protect the ecological value of the area. See http://www.huonbushretreats.com/index2.htm for a discrption of this very intelligent way of taking conservation matters in to the hands of the people.
ee also
* Tarkine
References
External links
* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/aa/aa0413_full.html Tasmanian temperate rain forests (World Wildlife Fund)]
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