Invasion biology and ant-plant systems in Australia

Abstract

[Extract] Australia is a continent known for its ecological idiosyncracies. It goes well beyond the abundance of furry animals with pouches and diversity of creatures that can kill you. Australia's geologically long period of geographic isolation has translated to remarkable floral and fuanal endemicity; some 92 percent of its vascular plants and over 80 percent of its frogs, reptiles, and mammals are found nowhere else (Chapman, 2009). It spans 35 degreees in latitude, and although much of it is desert and xeric shrublands, it also comprises seven other ecoregions including Mediterranean forests and woodlands, temperate grasslands, and tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests (Environmental Resources Information Network, 2012) that also contribute to its plant and invertebrate diversity. It is the flattest and driest of the continents, and its old soils are notable nutrient poor (Orians & Milewski, 2007).