australian alps habitat

Snow lies on Australia's highest mountains, in the south-east corner of the mainland, for about 120 days each year. The area has been subjected to millions of years of uplifts and erosion while the area around Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko (2228 m), was further shaped by permanent ice between 35000 to 10000 years ago. The resultant landform is undulating plateaus with glacial lakes and steep sided river valleys.

It is too cold for trees to grow in the highest parts of the alps so the vegetation consists of herbfields, grasslands and heath which produce spectacular displays of flowers each summer. The Kosciuszko alpine area is home to 21 species of plants which live nowhere else in the world. The lower slopes support forests of snow gums, mountain gums, peppermints and alpine ash.

The large range in altitude (300m to 2228m above sea level), rainfall and temperatures means that the alps support many different plant communities and therefore animals habitats. The extreme climatic conditions means that some plants and animals can only live in the alps.

Further information about this habitat can be found at these sites:

• Australian Alps National Parks
• Australian Institute of Alpine Studies
• Environment ACT
• Environment Australia
• Landcare Australia
• NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
• Parks Victoria

• Broad-toothed Rat
• Corroboree Frog
• Kosciuszko Grasshopper
• Mountain Pygmy-possum

Climate change - could alter weather patterns including temperatures and precipitation. The sea level may rise.