REPRINT
The vegetation of Tasmania, like that of any other region of the world, is imperfectly known, but this book synthesises our knowledge, covering all the major terrestrial vegetation types as well as introducing the climate, geology, ecological processes and general environment of Tasmania, the plant fossil record, endemism and conservation imperatives. Most of the chapters deal with the living vegetation, but always underlying that theme is the historical significance of the processes that shaped it.
Tasmania is one of the few very significant land masses in the Southern Hemisphere with a vegetation that, if properly understood, provides clear insight into the history of a much larger part of the world.
Tasmania was once part of the supercontinent Gondwana, and lay alongside Antarctica for millions of years while this entire landmass shifted its position across tens of degrees of latitude and longitude (the Gondwanic waltz).
Although some elements of the extant Tasmanian flora may have been in place prior to the arrival of the angiosperms, it was no doubt this event that made the major impact. Tasmania was one of the first parts of Australia to receive the newly arriving angiosperms that were migrating across what is now Antarctica during the Cretaceous. Following the final separation of Tasmania from Antarctica, and the increasingly rapid northward movement of Australia, the climate became cooler and drier, and the Tasmanian vegetation began to evolve towards its modern form.
The periodic glaciations of the last two million years also profoundly affected the landscape, carving huge glacial valleys and forcing the vegetation into rapid adaptation or extinction.
Mostly recently, human influence, firstly of the Tasmanian Aborigines and then the Europeans, has produced the vegetation patterns of today.
About this book
Book series
Flora of Australia Supplementary Series Number 8
Publishers
Australian Biological Resources Study
Year
1999
Editors
J.B.Reid
R.S.Hill
M.J.Brown
M.J.Hovenden
ISBN-10
0 642 56801 4
ISBN-13
978 0 642 56801 4
ISBN-10 (reprint)
0 646 44512 X
ISBN-13 (reprint)
978 0 646 44512 0
Size
297 × 210 mm (A4)
Number of pages
xx + 456 pages
index, bibliography
Binding
Softcover
section stitched
Illustrations
39 colour plates
115 black and white plates including maps
Reprint available from
School of Plant Science
University of Tasmania
Private Bag 55
Hobart TAS 7001
Ph: (03) 6226 2603
Fax: (03) 6226 2698
School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania (UTAS)
International
Ph: 613 6226 2603
Fax: 613 6226 2698
Key
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