| Yalgoo Western Australia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||
 The interim Australian bioregions, with Yalgoo in red | |||||||||||||||
| Area | 50,875.77 km2 (19,643.2 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Yalgoo is an interim Australia bioregion located in Western Australia. [1] It has an area of 5,087,577 hectares (12,571,680 acres). [2] 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. [3]
The Yalgoo bioregion extends southeastwards from the southern end of Shark Bay on Australia's west coast nearly to Lake Barlee in the interior of Western Australia.
The western portion, known as the Edel subregion, includes the Edel Land peninsula and Dirk Hartog, Bernier, and Dorre islands, which enclose Shark Bay on the west. It also includes the coastal plain south of Shark Bay nearly to Kalbarri, where it transitions to the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion. The Edel subregion rests on the Carnarvon and Perth sedimentary basins. The Zuytdorp Cliffs line the coast from the northern end of Edel Land to the mouth of the Murchison River. Soils are generally white sands along the coast, and pale red quaternary sands further inland. [4]
The Tallering subregion includes the Toolonga Plateau, part of the Carnarvon basin, and extends southeastward across the Yilgarn Craton, an uplifted block of ancient crystalline rock. [5]
In the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) system it has the code of YAL, and it has two sub-regions.
| IBRA regions and subregions: IBRA7 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBRA region / subregion | IBRA code | Area | States | Location in Australia |
| Yalgoo | YAL | 5,087,577 hectares (12,571,680 acres) | WA |  |
| Edel | YAL01 | 1,588,634 hectares (3,925,600 acres) | ||
| Tallering | YAL02 | 3,498,943 hectares (8,646,080 acres) | ||
Earlier versions of the IBRA included the Edel subregion in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion. 2004's version 6.1 of the IBRA added the Edel subregion to the Yalgoo bioregion, and re-designated the original Yalgoo bioregion as the Tallering subregion. [6]
The bioregion has a semi-arid Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild winters. Most rainfall is in the winter months. Yalgoo bioregion is in the transitional region, or interzone, between the Mediterranean climate Southwest Australia and the deserts of central Australia. [4]
Common plant communities in the Edel subregion include tree-heaths dominated by members of the Proteaceae plant family, and Acacia–Casuarina thickets. [4] The vegetation of the Tallering subregion is characterised by woodlands, dominated by species of Eucalyptus, Acacia , and Callitris . Plant communities include Callitris–Eucalyptus salubris woodlands, mulga ( Acacia aneura ) woodlands, and bowgada (Acacia ramulosa) open woodlands and scrub. The Tallering subregion is particularly rich in herbaceous ephemeral plants. [5]
Native mammals include the boodie (Bettongia lesueur), rufous hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus), banded hare-wallaby (Lagostrophus fasciatus), western barred bandicoot (Perameles bougainville), and Shark Bay mouse (Pseudomys fieldi). [4] These mammals' current range is mostly limited to the Edel subregion, although some formerly had a wider range.
Native birds include the malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) and western grasswren (Amytornis textilis). [4] A subspecies of purple-backed fairywren, Malurus assimilis bernieri, is found only on Bernier and Dorre islands, and the black and white fairy wren (Malurus leucopterus leucopterus), a subspecies of white-winged fairywren, is found only on Dirk Hartog Island.
The sandhill frog (Arenophryne rotunda) is a limited-range species found in the Edel subregion and the northern Geraldton Sandplains bioregion. [4]
The predominant land use is livestock pasturing on natural vegetation. [4] [5]
12.53% of the Yalgoo bioregion is in protected areas. [7]
Much of the Edel subregion is within the Shark Bay World Heritage area. [8] 32.28% of the subregion is protected, and protected areas include Shark Bay Marine Park, Dirk Hartog Island National Park, Zuytdorp Nature Reserve, and Toolonga Nature Reserve. [7]
Only 3.56 of the Tallering subregion is in protected areas. [7]
Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The 23,000-square-kilometre (8,900 sq mi) area is located approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's official listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage Site reads:
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.
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna.
The Murchison is an interim Australian bioregion located within the Mid West of Western Australia. The bioregion is loosely related to the catchment area of the Murchison River and has an area of 281,205 square kilometres (108,574 sq mi). Traditionally the region is known as The Murchison.
The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of 9,517,104 hectares. It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.
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.
Hampton is an interim Australian bioregion located in southeastern coastal Western Australia, with a small portion (4%) extending into adjacent South Australia. It has an area of 1,088,198 hectares. The Hampton bioregion is part of the Coolgardie woodlands ecoregion.
The Northern Kimberley, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia, comprising 8,420,100 hectares.
The Ord Victoria Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 12,540,703 hectares.
The Central Western Shelf Province, also known as the Shark Bay marine ecoregion, is a biogeographic region of Australia's continental shelf and coastal waters. It includes the subtropical coastal waters of Western Australia.
The Brigalow Belt is a wide band of acacia-wooded grassland that runs between tropical rainforest of the coast and the semi-arid interior of Queensland, Australia. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) divides the Brigalow Belt into two IBRA regions, or bioregions, Brigalow Belt North (BBN) and Brigalow Belt South (BBS). The North and South Brigalow Belt are two of the 85 bioregions across Australia and the 15 bioregions in Queensland. Together they form most of the Brigalow tropical savanna ecoregion.
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 Southwest Australia savanna is an ecoregion in Western 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.
Burt Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, and comprises 7,379,719 hectares.
Central Mackay Coast, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in Queensland, and comprises 1,464,208 hectares.
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.
Gawler is an interim Australian bioregion located in South Australia. It has an area of 12,002,883 hectares. Gawler bioregion is part of the Tirari–Sturt stony desert ecoregion.