Journal ArticleDOI
Biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropics
David M. J. S. Bowman,Gillian K. Brown,Gillian K. Brown,Michael F. Braby,Josephine R. Brown,Lynette Gai Cook,Michael D. Crisp,Fred Ford,Simon Haberle,Jane Hughes,Yuji Isagi,Leo Joseph,John L. McBride,Gareth Nelson,Pauline Y. Ladiges +14 more
TLDR
The Australian monsoon is a component of a single global climate system, characterized by a dominant equator-spanning Hadley cell, and future palaeoecological and phylogenetic investigations will illuminate the evolution of the AMT biome.Abstract:
Aim This paper reviews the biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropical
biome to highlight general patterns in the distribution of a range of organisms
and their environmental correlates and evolutionary history, as well as to identify
knowledge gaps.
Location Northern Australia, Australian Monsoon Tropics (AMT). The AMT
is defined by areas that receive more than 85% of rainfall between November
and April.
Methods Literature is summarized, including the origin of the monsoon
climate, present-day environment, biota and habitat types, and phylogenetic and
geographical relationships of selected organisms.
Results Some species are widespread throughout the AMT while others are
narrow-range endemics. Such contrasting distributions correspond to presentday
climates, hydrologies (particularly floodplains), geological features (such as
sandstone plateaux), fire regimes, and vegetation types (ranging from rain forest
to savanna). Biogeographical and phylogenetic studies of terrestrial plants
(e.g. eucalypts) and animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) suggest that distinct
bioregions within the AMT reflect the aggregated effects of landscape and
environmental history, although more research is required to determine and
refine the boundaries of biogeographical zones within the AMT. Phylogenetic
analyses of aquatic organisms (fishes and prawns) suggest histories of associations
with drainage systems, dispersal barriers, links to New Guinea, and the existence
of Lake Carpentaria, now submerged by the Gulf of Carpentaria. Complex
adaptations to the landscape and climate in the AMT are illustrated by a number
of species.
Main conclusions The Australian monsoon is a component of a single global
climate system, characterized by a dominant equator-spanning Hadley cell.
Evidence of hot, seasonally moist climates dates back to the Late Eocene, implying
that certain endemic elements of the AMT biota have a long history. Vicariant
differentiation is inferred to have separated the Kimberley and Arnhem Land
bioregions from Cape York Peninsula/northern Queensland. Such older patterns
are overlaid by younger events, including dispersal from Southeast Asia, and
range expansions and contractions. Future palaeoecological and phylogenetic
investigations will illuminate the evolution of the AMT biome. Understanding the
biogeography of the AMT is essential to provide a framework for ecological
studies and the sustainable development of the region.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary
Michael D. Crisp,Geoffrey E. Burrows,Lynette Gai Cook,Andrew H. Thornhill,David M. J. S. Bowman +4 more
TL;DR: It is predicted that epicormic resprouting could make eucalypt forests and woodlands an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric CO(2) compared with biomes with similar fire regimes in other continents.
Journal ArticleDOI
Decline of a biome: Evolution, contraction, fragmentation, extinction and invasion of the Australian mesic zone biota
Margaret Byrne,Dorothy A. Steane,Leo Joseph,David K. Yeates,Gregory J. Jordan,Darren M. Crayn,Ken Aplin,David J. Cantrill,Lynette Gai Cook,Michael D. Crisp,J. Scott Keogh,Jane Melville,Craig Moritz,Nicholas Porch,J. M. Kale Sniderman,Paul Sunnucks,Peter H. Weston +16 more
TL;DR: The aims are to review and refine key hypotheses derived from palaeoclimatic data and the fossil record that are critical to understanding the evolution of the Australian mesic biota and examine predictions arising from these hypotheses using available molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographical data.
Journal ArticleDOI
Spatial patterns and temporal dynamics in savanna vegetation phenology across the North Australian Tropical Transect
Xuanlong Ma,Xuanlong Ma,Alfredo Huete,Qiang Qiang Yu,Natalia Restrepo Coupe,Kevin Davies,Mark Broich,P. Ratana,Jason Beringer,Lindsay B. Hutley,James Cleverly,Nicolas Boulain,Derek Eamus +12 more
TL;DR: This study investigated biogeographical and inter-annual patterns in savanna phenology along a 1100 km ecological rainfall gradient, known as North Australian Tropical Transect (NATT), encompassing humid coastal Eucalyptus forests and woodlands to xeric inland Acacia woodlands and shrublands and found good convergence between MODIS EVI and tower GEP, thereby confirming the potential to link these two independent data sources to better understand savanna ecosystem functioning.
Journal ArticleDOI
A sub-continental scale living laboratory: Spatial patterns of savanna vegetation over a rainfall gradient in northern Australia
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted a multidisciplinary program examining carbon, water and energy fluxes as a function of climate and vegetation change along a sub-continental environmental gradient.
Journal ArticleDOI
How Was the Australian Flora Assembled Over the Last 65 Million Years? A Molecular Phylogenetic Perspective
TL;DR: Using molecular phylogenies to test hypotheses derived from the fossil record, this work reviews the principal forces that transformed the ancestral Gondwanan rainforest through the Cenozoic.
References
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Evolutionary rates analysis of leguminosae implicates a rapid diversification of lineages during the tertiary
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Seasonal Relationships between Australian Rainfall and the Southern Oscillation
John L. McBride,Neville Nicholls +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, correlations between indices of the Southern Oscillation (SO) and areal average rainfall for 107 Australian rainfall districts for the period December 1932 to November 1974 have been calculated.