Coober Pedy, Australia Photograph by Dr. Tim Berra   Southern central Australia Deserts and Xeric Shrublands   145,500 square miles (376,900 square kilometers) -- about the size of Montana Vulnerable

· Red Stony Earth
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Red Stony Earth

The Stony Desert extends into the horizon, an endless landscape of arid stony plains and gibber. Gibber refers to the rock and pebble-littered silica deposits formed by weathering. Sparse saltbush scrubs dot the landscape and are an important sheep fodder. They thrive in dry, salty environments and are covered with small, succulent leaves. To the south, the Flinders and Gawler Ranges are covered with native cypress, black oak, small eucalyptus woodlands, and saltbush shrublands.

Special Features

The Stuart Stony and Tirari deserts are both characterized by immense gibber plains, red soil, and sand dunes. The Tirari Desert is especially known for its large sand dunes, and important fossil deposits have been discovered in this desert. Farther south, the Gawler Range Volcanics are majestic, rounded hills. And rugged mountain scenery is found in the Flinders Range, complete with steep forested gorges. The mountain ranges are more hospitable than the deserts, but rainfall is still infrequent.

	Coober Pedy is an important opal-mining location in South Australia. Almost half this town’s inhabitants live in underground houses to escape soaring heats that can reach 122° F (50° C) in the summer.

Wild Side

The hot, arid deserts have a unique range of animals from small marsupials to invertebrates, all of which have evolved remarkable adaptations to the harsh environment. Shield shrimp rely on temporary ponds filled by heavy downpours of rain. The shrimp will eat detritus and mate until the ponds dry out. Adults are eaten by birds as the ponds dry out, while their eggs, remarkably resistant, remain viable for several years. Sheltering in thick clumps of cane grass is the brown-and-white eryean grasswren, a rare bird that excretes extremely concentrated urine to conserve water loss. The white-winged fairy wren is another desert bird, although somewhat easier to spot. Males are bright blue with white wings, while females are buff and white with a blue tail. In the Flinders Range, wedge-tailed eagles soar through the skies, while rare yellow-footed rock wallabies smoothly negotiate rock ledges and western gray kangaroos bound through the rugged wilderness in search of coarse grasses and other vegetation to graze on.

Cause for Concern

Since the more arid regions are not suitable for grazing or agriculture, these are not serious threats. Yet outside these areas, land is used for sheep-grazing. Overgrazing and feral and introduced animals are serious concerns.

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