Wilson's Promontory National Park, Australia Photograph by Peter Sundstrom   Southeastern Australia Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests   105,100 square miles (272,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Wisconsin and Alabama combined Critical/Endangered

· Scribbly Gum and Stringybark
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Scribbly Gum and Stringybark

The trees of this ecoregion are as interesting as their names. Among many eucalyptus trees found here, the scribbly gum stands out. This crooked, gnarled tree has uneven branches. Its smooth bark falls off in flakes, leaving behind scribbly lines from insect larvae. White stringybark, another interesting tree, is medium-sized and fast-growing with fragrant white blossoms. As the name implies, the rough, thick bark has stringy fibers, giving it an appearance similar to that of a coconut husk.

Special Features

Located on the populated southeastern tip of Australia, this ecoregion stretches from the mountains to the sea. Many eucalyptus trees grow here over an understory of banksias (native wildflowers) and grevilleas (small shrubs with beautiful blossoms). In wet areas, the trees may grow up to 82 feet (25 m), and the forests are thick with foliage. Although infrequent, fires can be extremely destructive to these areas--converting lushly vegetated forests into barren tracts of land dominated by acacia trees. In drier areas, the trees are only 16 to 32 feet (5-10 m) tall and widely spaced out. This ecoregion is mostly degraded, having been used for logging and farming.

	The male superb lyrebird is dark brown with long, filmy white tail feathers that are used in its courtship displays. This chicken-sized bird possesses great singing skills. During the male’s courtship, he perches on a high mound of dirt and sings for the female. His repertoire contains mimicry of other bird songs, as well as any noises he might hear, such as car horns.

Wild Side

Among the many interesting wildlife species that live here is the duck-billed platypus, which roams along this ecoregion’s rivers and coastline. The platypus is a monotreme, an unusual mammal that lays eggs. The spotted tail quoll is just one of several marsupials that call this ecoregion home. (Marsupials are mammals that give birth to premature young, which then mature in the mother’s pouch.) The southern brown bandicoot, wombat, eastern gray kangaroo, swamp wallaby, common wallaroo, and koala are other marsupials found here. The koala sticks to forests of eucalyptus trees, whose leaves provide the stocky animal with its main food source. Birds here are diverse and include honeyeaters, pilotbirds, cockatoos, pied currawongs, white-winged choughs, and laughing kookaburras, the largest kingfisher in Australia. Closer to the forest floor you might find the eastern snake-necked turtle, oak skink, eastern tiger snake, red-bellied black snake, marbled gecko, and eastern brown snake.

Cause for Concern

Fire, clearcutting, selective logging, exotic pine plantations, and sheep- and cattle-grazing are all persistent threats to this ecoregion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.