Mulga (habitat)
Mulga is a type of habitat composed of woodland or open forest dominated by the mulga tree, Acacia aneura, or similar species of Acacia.[1]
Regions
[edit]It is found across Australia, covering 20% of arid regions,[2] including much of southwestern Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia.[3][4]
The Mulga Lands are an interim Australian bioregion located in northwestern New South Wales and southwestern Queensland in eastern Australia consisting of dry sandy plains with low mulga woodlands and shrublands that are dominated by mulga.[5] The Western Australian mulga shrublands is a large dry World Wildlife Fund ecoregion of inland Western Australia.[6]
Vegetation
[edit]
The vegetation type is associated with the extensive plains of the continent's interior and other arid regions with infrequent and irregular rainfall. Mulga country intersperses with other vegetation such as spinifex, dominated by low mounds of Triodia, and wattle scrub (Mimosaceae) or interrupted by granitic outcrops, salt lakes, and desert. The mulga itself is a mid-sized tree that is usually well-established in the open woodland, only occurring as young plants in disturbed areas, and is typically around 8 metres tall.
Stands of mulga trees are usually around the same age, eventually dying and replaced in a periodic regeneration cycle. The vegetation type is composed of these trees, shrubs such as saltbushes, poverty bushes, pea flowers, daisies and wattles with grasses at the understory. Large fields of annuals appear after rains, producing remarkable displays of colour against the usual grey-green of mulga country.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Nix, H. A. (Henry Allan); Austin, M. P. (Michael Phillip) (1973). "Mulga: a bioclimatic analysis". Tropical Grassland Society of Australia. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ Maslin, Bruce; Reid, Jordan (2009). "Understanding Mulga" (PDF). Science Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
- ^ "Description". Queensland Government. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- ^ Boyland, D. E (2006). "Sustainable harvesting of mulga for fodder in the Mulga Lands". s.n. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ Department of the Environment and Energy. "Mulga Lands bioregion" (PDF). Environment Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
- ^ "Western Australian Mulga shrublands". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ Erickson, R.; George, A.S.; Marchant, N.G.; Morcombe, M.K. (1986). Flowers & plants of western Australia (Rev ed.). Sydney: Reed. pp. 144, 205, 211. ISBN 0730101703.