The Unique Australian Environment

Bunurong Coast

Elizabeth Broughan

Biological Isolation

Over the past 40 million years since Australia was separated from the rest of Gondwana, it has meant that we were able to establish our own identity. The flora and fauna have had to deal with the isolation and evolve to cope with being cut off from the rest of the world, and I’m sure many species would have perished being unable to adapt.The Bunurong coast has very diverse marine habitats, including many intertidal rock ledges, which are often covered in algae, shells, and barnacles. The waters just off the coast often contain large quantities of a sea grass known as sea nymph, this sea grass helps improve the water quality for many other species.

Geological StabilityAustralia has a relative stable geology. We have no active volcanoes, and all our glaciers melted many years ago. But due to the little geological activity we receive the land is slowly dying. The soils are all old and over used, and all the nutrients is gone, the wind and rain also erode the land causing it to become hard and tough. This type of soil affect the type of flora that grow in our country.The Bunurong coast is surrounded by rugged sandstone cliffs, and small secluded sandy beaches. The little beach coves were created due to erosion by the wind and waves. The location of the Bunurong coast makes it unique, it would be very difficult to find any other secluded areas anywhere else in Australia.

Climatic Variations

Australia has a very erratic climate. In many country's it easily predictable what will happen next, where as here, we could have blistering drought one year and then painful flooding the very next. These two extremes can continue on for many years, in some cases more than 10 years. This type of climate has affected the reproductive nature of the flora and fauna here.Due to the raising global temperature, water temperature is increasing, causing many flora and fauna that are very vulnerable to warmer waters to either flee the Bunurong area, or die. Since they cannot adapt fast enough to be able to survive and flourish.