Old climatically-buffered infertile landscapes - evolution and conservation of biodiversity
Hakea victoria (Proteaceae), Fitzgerald River National Park in the Southwest Australian Floristic Region. Photo: © S.D. Hopper
By accident of remoteness, difficulty of access or history, some of the least understood biotas on earth occupy old, climatically-buffered, infertile passive continental margins and their hinterlands – here termed OCBILs. Attempts to interpret these biotas have come from theory developed for better-studied organisms of young post-glacial, climatically dynamic and often mountainous, fertile landscapes. Such attempts to transfer theory have not been altogether satisfactory and have rarely been critically scrutinized from an OCBIL perspective. This situation has significant consequences for understanding both evolution and conservation of OCBIL organisms. A few authors have recognised the need for new theory for the biotas of OCBILs, but their work has been selective and piecemeal. There has yet to be a synthesis in the manner attempted in this project, which aims to contribute towards an integrated understanding of the special biogeographic, evolutionary and conservation aspects of OCBILs.
Special focus is on the Southwest Australian Floristic Region, the Greater Cape Floristic Region and the Pantepui upland region of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Work is in progress on revising the phytogeography and strategic conservation assessment of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region. A popular book is also in early stages of planning.
Project Team
Directorate
Stephen Hopper, Rhian Smith
Project Partners and Collaborators
Australia
Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia
The University of Western Australia
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
South Africa
South African National Botanical Institute