Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert
Near Coober Peddy, South Australia Photograph by Gerhard Ortner
The Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert is an ecoregion within Australia, which is classified within the Deserts & Xeric Shrublands biome. The extent of the Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert amounts to a land area of approximately 145,500 square miles. During the austral summer, maximum temperatures can attain values of 50 degrees Celsius. Correspondingly, the core of the ecoregion is essentially devoid of human population.
There are a significant number of threatened bird species present in the Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert; furthemore, there are several special status mammal and reptile taxa within this ecoregion.
Contents
Location and general description
The Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert is essentially a landlocked ecoregion, with only a small southern tip nearing the Indian Ocean. This ecoregion contains the gibber plains (desert pavement) and red sands of the expansive Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert. The Tirari Desert is a disparate unit found to the north, with the Flinders Ranges and Gawler Ranges at the south. The Tirari Desert is comprised of more sand sea expanse than the Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert and boasts significant important Fossil holdings. There are few towns within the ecoregion, one notable such habitation being the opal mining centre of Cooper Pedy, noteworthy for its underground human habitation sites.
Biodiversity features
The Australian bustard. Source: Glen Fergus In addition to large extents of stony plain and sands, the Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert exhibits areas of chenopod, mallee and acacia (mulga) wooded scrubland. The region manifests a gamut of wildlife that has successfully adapted to the hot and arid conditions, notably including wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax), the Near Threatened yellow-footed rock-wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus) and western gray kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) within the Flinders Ranges. Endemic species of the ecoregion are represented by the Houston's dragon (Ctenophorus vadnappa)
In addition to the yellow-footed rock-wallaby, other threatened mammals in the ecoregion include the Endangered sandhill dunnart (Sminthopsis psammophila), the Vulnerable dusky hopping mouse (Notomys fuscus), the Vulnerable fawn hopping mouse (Notomys cervinus), the Vulnerable plains mouse (Notomys australis) and the Near Threatened little pied bat (Chalinolobus picatus).
Notable reptiles found in the Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert include the Endangered endemic acacia knobtail gecko (Nephrurus deleani), the Endangered woma (Aspidites ramsayi), the Vulnerable snakehead lizard (Ophidiocephalus taeniatus), the Near Threatened Bardick snake (Echiopsis curta) and the Near Threatened Flinders Ranges worm-lizard (Aprasia pseudopulchella).
Special status birds of this ecoregion include the Endangered plains wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus), Near Threatened Alexandra's parrot (Polytelis alexandrae), the Near Threatened Australian bustard (Ardeotis australis), the Near Threatened black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), the Near Threatened buff-breasted sandpiper (Tryngites subrificollis), the Near Threatened bush thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius), the Near Threatened chestnut-breasted whiteface (Aphelocephala pectoralis), the Near Threatened desert firetail (Stagonopleura guttata), the Near Threatened flame robin (Petroica phoenicia), the Near Threatened letter winged kite (Elanus scriptus), the Near Threatened grey falcon (Falco hypoleucos), the Vulnerable fairy tern (Sterna nereis), the Vulnerable great knot (Calidris tenuirostris), the Vulnerable malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) and the Vulnerable painted honeyeater (Grantiella picta).
Current status
The Tirari-Sturt stony desert ecoregion is classified under the conservation status of Vulnerable; however, it is not given G200 standing. That is, this ecoregion is not considered by the World Wildlife Fund to be one of the highest priorities for ecoregion protection. This ecoregion is designated as unit AA1309 by the World Wildlife Fund.
Coober Pedy, Australia. Photograph by Dr. Tim Berra
Types and severity of threats
The fringe of this ecoregion has a certain amount of sheep livestock grazing.
Justification of ecoregion delineation
The Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert includes four entire Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia units {IBRA units): Stony Plains, Gawler, Flinders and Olary Ranges, and Broken Hill Complex (Thackway and Cresswell 1995). The Tirari-Sturt Stony Desert is a vast region of chenopod shrublands, belah and mallee open woodlands, and mulga woodlands and scrubland with extensive gibber plains in the Sturt Stony Desert.
References
- C.Groves. 2005. Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
- R.Thackway and I.D.Cresswell. editors. 1995. An Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia: a framework for establishing the national system of reserves, Version 4.0. Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra.
- South Australian Arid Lands Biodiversity Strategy Draft. The Department for Environment and Heritage (Federal Government of Australia) and South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board
A portion of the Justification of ecoregion delineation section was prepared by Angas Hopkins of the World Wildlife Fund.
