| Great Sandy-Tanami desert | |
|---|---|
 Tanami desert, Australia | |
 Ecoregion territory (in purple) | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Australasian |
| Biome | deserts and xeric shrublands |
| Borders | |
| Geography | |
| Area | 823,784 km2 (318,065 sq mi) |
| Country | Australia |
| States | |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Relatively stable/intact |
| Protected | 260,900 km² (32%) [1] |
The Great Sandy-Tanami desert is a ecoregion of Western Australia extending into the Northern Territory. It is designated as a World Wildlife Fund region. [2] [3] [4] [5]
This very large ecoregion consists of the Little Sandy Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Tanami, and Davenport Murchison Ranges Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) regions. [6] [7] The landscape is desert sands with areas of wooded steppe and shrubby grassland. The Great Sandy Desert is a large area of red desert sand dunes, while the Tanami Desert to the east is flat sand broken up with areas of hills. One prominent landmark in the region is the large sandstone rock Uluru. The climate is hot and dry and the area is mostly uninhabited.
The vegetation is very thin and consists of spinifex grass and saltbush shrubs that are adapted to the desert conditions. There are also occasional acacias and desert oaks.
Much of the wildlife of this hot climate is nocturnal including the rabbit-sized marsupial the Bilby and the Rufous hare-wallabies of the Tanami Desert. The wildlife of these deserts includes communities of wild camels, descendants of animals brought here as transport in earlier times.
Protected areas in the ecoregion include Iytwelepenty / Davenport Range National Park, Karlamilyi National Park, and Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park.
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion, located in the northeast of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions and extending east into the Northern Territory. It is the second largest desert in Australia after the Great Victoria Desert and encompasses an area of 284,993 square kilometres (110,036 sq mi). The Gibson Desert lies to the south and the Tanami Desert lies to the east of the Great Sandy Desert.
The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost pristine state. It is about 155,000 square kilometres (60,000 sq mi) in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The Gibson Desert is both an interim Australian bioregion and desert ecoregion.
The Carnarvon xeric shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Western Australia. The ecoregion is coterminous with the Carnarvon Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregion.
Warren, also known as Karri Forest Region and the Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands ecoregion, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia. Located in the southwest corner of Western Australia between Cape Naturaliste and Albany, it is bordered to the north and east by the Jarrah Forest region. Its defining characteristic is an extensive tall forest of Eucalyptus diversicolor (karri). This occurs on dissected, hilly ground, with a moderately wet climate. Karri is a valuable timber and much of the karri forest has been logged over, but less than a third has been cleared for agriculture. Recognised as a region under the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA), and as a terrestrial ecoregion by the World Wide Fund for Nature, it was first defined by Ludwig Diels in 1906.
Coolgardie is an Australian bioregion consisting of an area of low hills and plains of infertile sandy soil in Western Australia. It has an area of 129,122.09 square kilometres (49,854.32 sq mi). It includes much of the Great Western Woodlands.
Gascoyne is an interim Australian bioregion located in Western Australia. It has an area of 180,752.57 square kilometres (69,788.96 sq mi). Together with Murchison bioregion to the south, it constitutes the Western Australian Mulga shrublands ecoregion, as assessed by the World Wildlife Fund.
Geraldton Sandplains is an interim Australian bioregion of Western Australia. It has an area of 3,142,149 hectares. The Geraldton Sandplains is part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion, as assessed by the World Wildlife Fund.
The Ord Victoria Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 12,540,703 hectares.
Yalgoo is an interim Australian bioregion located in Western Australia. It has an area of 5,087,577 hectares. The bioregion, together with the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions, is part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion as classified by the World Wildlife Fund.
The Eyre Yorke Block, also known as the Eyre and Yorke mallee, is an interim Australian (IBRA) bioregion and a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion covering part of the Eyre Peninsula and all of Yorke Peninsula as well as land to its immediate east in South Australia.
The Central Ranges xeric scrub is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Australia.
The Tirari–Sturt stony desert is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in central Australia.
The Western Australian Mulga shrublands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of inland Western Australia. It is one of Australia's two mulga ecoregions, characterized by dry woodlands of mulga trees interspersed with areas of grassland and scrub.
The Eremaean province is a botanical region in Western Australia, characterised by a desert climate. It is sometimes referred to as the dry and arid inland or interior region of Western Australia It is one of John Stanley Beard's phytogeographic regions of WA, based on climate and types of vegetation who, in "Plant Life of Western Australia" (p. 29-37) gives a short history of the various mappings.
The Cape York Peninsula tropical savanna is a tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northern Australia. It occupies the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, mainland Australia's northernmost point. It is coterminous with the Cape York Peninsula, an interim Australian bioregion.
Tanami is an interim Australian bioregion, comprising 25,997,277 hectares in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is part of the Great Sandy-Tanami desert ecoregion.
Davenport Murchison Ranges is an interim Australian bioregion located in the Northern Territory. It has an area of 5,805,108 hectares. The bioregion is part of the larger Great Sandy-Tanami desert ecoregion.
Flinders Lofty Block is an interim Australian bioregion located in South Australia. It has an area of 6,615,765 hectares, which includes the Mount Lofty Ranges and Flinders Ranges.
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