BIOL10001 Lecture 1: BIOL10001 Lecture 1 Notes
20 Sep 2018
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Document Summary
Australia"s diversity makes up 8% of the world"s species (mega-diverse) At least 21,000 species of owering plants at least 90% of australian species of owering plants are endemic. Early botanists and zoologists observed that related plants and animals occurred in australia as well as contrived in the southern hemisphere, linking the continents. Australia shares many plants and animal taxa with other countries in the southern hemisphere. Flightless birds (ratites) restricted to the southern hemisphere (emu, ostrich, kiwi etc) Nothofagus - owering plant, southern beach trees, wind pollinated. This is best explained by pangaea when all of the southern continents were connected before moving apart due to continental drift and plate tectonics (union of land masses now moved apart) A previous theory (until 1960s) was the idea that organisms such as ratites walked across land bridges connecting stationary continents over waterways.
