Biodiversity Hotspots: Southwest Australia

The Southwest Australia Hotspot takes over an area of around 356,717 km squared around the southwestern ed of Australia. This hotspot is one of the 5 Mediterranean type ecosystems in the world. The summers in this area are usually dry while the winter months are characterized by rain. Further inland, rainfall decreases even more and the length of rain seasons decrease.


Southwest Australia is attributed to millions of years of isolation from the rest of Australia by the country's central deserts. Extreme climate shifts and poor soils also promoted specialization of the region's flora. Out of more than 5,570 species of vascular plants found in this hotspot, nearly 2,950 are endemic, making up about 53 percent. A significant number of genera at this hotspot are also endemic as 12.5 percent are found nowhere else in the world. 

Over 280 native bird species occupy the region, 12 of which are endemic. The level of endemism is slightly higher than in other Mediterranean-type hotspots, and the region is considered an Endemic Bird Area.

The region is home to 22 parrot species; three endemics, including Carnaby's black-cockatoo, the noisy scrub-bird, which earned its name through the loud vocalizations of its males, which was presumed extinct until a small population was rediscovered in 1961. Several other bird species are near threatened or rapidly declining in the face of habitat loss, modification and fragmentation and inappropriate fires.

The greatest human impact in Southwest Australia has been the clearing of native vegetation for agriculture. Agricultural development began in 1829, with the arrival of the first European settlers, but because of the poor soils, development progressed slowly until the 1890s, when phosphate fertilizers were introduced. Today, most usable private land in this area is farmed, although it requires the application of phosphate, with zinc, copper, cobalt, and molybdenum. Because of the region's long dry seasons, bush fires have traditionally been used for hunting and clearing land. Even though native plants are highly adapted to fire, the alteration or intensification of fires can dramatically change the composition and condition of the natural vegetation.

There are a number of conservation programs and projects currently operating in Southwest Australia. The Western Shield Program, run by the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is working to bring at least 13 native fauna species back from the brink of extinction by controlling introduced predators, such as the fox and feral cat. The Eden Project project uses innovative techniques to eradicate feral herbivores and predators and rejuvenate 105,000 hectares of arid zone habitation Peron Peninsula at Shark Bay for threatened native fauna, and, to promote their reintroduction into the area (Conservation International).

Work Cited

Caley, Kevin J., ed. “Biological diversity in Southwest Australia.” The Encyclopedia of Earth. N.p., 22 Aug. 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150629/>.

Learning About Food Webs and Energy Pyramids Summary

In order for one to understand what a food web is, he or she must first know what a food chain is. A food chain shows the movement of energy and nutrients from one organism to another when the first organism is eaten by the second, who's in turn eaten by a third and so on (Environmental Issues and Solutions Module Curriculum Guide). And so the type of food that each organism in a food chain eats determine its Trophic level. Therefore Trophic levels or feeding levels include a producer, a primary consumer, a secondary consumer, a tertiary consumer, and a decomposer. This is the order whereby organisms feed in a food chain: Producers produce their own food, then primary consumers eat the producers. The primary consumers are then eaten by a secondary consumer who is later eaten by a tertiary consumer. Producers are also known as an autotrophs because they are self feeders, meaning that they make their own food while all consumers who can't produce their own food are heterotrophs because they eat autotrophs or other heterotrophs (Environmental Issues and Solutions Module Curriculum Guide). Within food chains exist Energy Pyramids which tell us that at every Trophic level to which energy is transferred, 90 percent of the energy being transferred is lost. This means that when a primary consumer eats a producer, they only acquire 10 percent of the producer's energy, and when a secondary consumer eats a primary consumer, only 10 percent of the energy is acquired. So, a food web is a network of interconnected food chains.

The biome for my food web is the ocean because all the creatures in the food web reside in the ocean. The first food chain consists of a marine fungi, a tiger shark, a lantern fish, an oysters and a sargassum. And so this is a food web because it consists of a network of interconnected food chains. In this case, the sargassum is the autotroph/producer because it produces its own food then the oysters, being the primary consumer eats the sargassum. As a result, the lantern fish(secondary consumer) eats the oyster, then the tiger shark(tertiary consumer) eats the lantern fish. Lastly, when the tiger shark dies, the marine fungi decomposes its remains. This is a food web because these food chains in the picture are interconnected meaning that a primary consumer from one food chain like the sea turtle man consume a sargassum instead of the producer in its food chain.

Work Cited

Frey Scientific. Environmental Issues and Solutions Module Curriculum Guide. Nashua, New Hampshire: Frey Scientific, 2013. Print

Ecological Footprint Summary

Ecological Footprint is known as the measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates (Glossary). In other words, the Ecological Footprint of a population, person or activity measures the demand it has on nature and in accordance, how much unharvested, pure land is needed to regenerate the resources we use. This measurement exists because through our daily activities, humans consume resources and in return produce waste, so the Ecological Footprint basically tells us whether the earth/nature can keep up with our waste.

Extra Credit:
According to the trends on the Ecological Footprint site, in 2010, Brazil had an Ecological Footprint of approximately 0.5 Global Hectares per person in comparison to its biocapacity of approximately 10 Global Hectares per person which means that in 2010, Brazil had less impact on the earth that its environment permitted. This could be a result of great amount of arable land in Brazil, or the people's environmental awareness.  Japan on the other hand, had an Ecological Footprint of approximately 4.2 Global Hectares per person with a biocapacity of about 0.5 Global Hectares per person which means that every Japanese wasted about 3.7 Global Hectares worth of unrecoverable resources according to their country's capacity unlike Brazil which wasted much less resources than its arable land was capable or regenerating (Trends). This difference in Japan's Ecological Footprint and biocapacity could be due to the lack of arable land to keep up with possible increased industrial activities.

Works Cited

"Glossary." Global Footprint Network. Global Footprint Network, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/>.

"Trends." Global Footprint Network. Global Footprint Network, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/>.