Murray Darling Depression


The Murray Darling Depression , also known as the Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee, is a biogeographic region and an ecoregion in southeastern Australia consisting of a wooded plain through which flow two of Australia's biggest rivers, the Murray and the Darling.

Location and description

The plains have a dry Mediterranean climate with more rainfall in the south than in the drier north. Fires are common in the hot dry summers.

Flora

The original vegetation of the basin was mallee eucalyptus woodlands with thicker black box and river red gum woodland on riverbanks but most has been cleared for wheat farming and pasture. The flora of the plain need to be adapted to renew itself after the summer droughts and accompanying fires.

Fauna

Wildlife of the area includes large numbers of lizards, ants, and honeyeater birds. Lizards include species of skink. Ants include species of Iridomyrmex, carpenter ants, and Melophorus. Endangered species include the black-eared miner bird and the malleefowl.

Threats and preservation

Although much of the plain was cleared in the past, this is now carefully controlled and areas of protected natural vegetation remain, especially in the large Ngarkat Conservation Park - Big Desert Wilderness Park on the South Australia-Victoria border. Threats to habitats today come from introduced weeds, over-salination of rivers as water is drawn off for irrigation, over-use of fire to remove dry shrubs and prevent forest fires and overgrazing by introduced goats and rabbits.