Australia: Climate, Natural Vegetation, Wildlife; Forest and Minerals
ICSE Class 7 · Geography · Chapter 17
What this chapter covers
- What shapes the climate of Australia
- Climatic regions of Australia
- Natural vegetation of Australia
- Unique wildlife of Australia
- Forest resources of Australia
- Mineral resources of Australia
- Case study: sheep rearing in Australia
Key definitions
Climate is the average weather of a place, worked out over a long period of about 30 years or more.
Natural vegetation is the plant life that grows in a place on its own, without being planted or cared for by people.
Marsupials are mammals whose young are born very small and then grow inside a pouch on the mother's body.
Monotremes are unusual mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.
Bauxite is the ore from which the metal aluminium is obtained.
Merino is a breed of sheep, first brought from Spain, that produces very fine, soft and long wool.
Shearing is the cutting of the woollen fleece from a sheep's body.
Key points
- The Tropic of Capricorn divides Australia into a tropical north and a temperate south, and its seasons are the reverse of India's.
- The south-east trade winds bring heavy rain to the east coast, while the interior lies in the rain shadow of the Great Dividing Range.
- The main climatic regions are tropical monsoon (north), hot desert (interior and west), grassland (around the deserts), Mediterranean (south-west and south) and temperate (south-east and Tasmania).
- Natural vegetation follows rainfall: rainforests in the wet north-east, eucalyptus forests in the east, south-west and Tasmania, grasslands in a wide belt, and scrub in the dry interior.
- Eucalyptus and acacia (wattle) are the typical Australian trees; jarrah and karri are valuable hardwoods.
- Australia's long isolation produced endemic animals such as marsupials (kangaroo, koala, wombat) and monotremes (platypus, echidna), and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra.
- Animals brought from outside, such as rabbits and cane toads, have harmed native wildlife and farmland.
- Forests are few but supply hardwood, softwood and eucalyptus oil, and many are now protected.
- Australia is rich in iron ore (Pilbara), coal (New South Wales and Queensland), bauxite (Weipa), gold (Kalgoorlie), lead and zinc (Broken Hill, Mount Isa), uranium, nickel and opals.
- Sheep rearing on large sheep stations in the grassland belt makes Australia the world's leading producer of fine Merino wool, but drought, pests and overgrazing are constant problems.
Questions answered
Why are Australia's seasons the reverse of India's?
Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere. When the Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, from December to February, it is summer there and winter in India.
Explain why the east coast of Australia receives heavy rain while the interior is dry.
The moist south-east trade winds blow onto the east coast and rise over the Great Dividing Range, where they cool and drop their rain. By the time they cross to the west, they are dry, so the interior lies in a rain shadow.
What is a rain shadow area?
A rain shadow area is a region on the sheltered side of a mountain range that receives little rain because the winds have already dropped their moisture on the other side.
Name the climate found around Perth and describe its seasons.
Perth has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters.
Give two ways in which plants of the Australian desert survive the dry conditions.
They have long roots that reach water deep in the ground, and small, spiny or leathery leaves that lose little water. Some, like spinifex, grow in tight clumps.
What are marsupials? Name two Australian marsupials.
Marsupials are mammals whose young are born very small and then grow in a pouch on the mother's body. The kangaroo and the koala are two examples.
Why are the platypus and the echidna unusual among mammals?
They are monotremes, which means they lay eggs, but they still feed their young on milk.
Why does Australia have so many endemic animals?
Australia was separated from the other continents for millions of years, so its animals developed on their own and are found nowhere else.