Animals from the Coastal Temperate Region Littoral spider Bark grasshopper Southern emu-wren Common jolly-tail Amphipod Platypus Red-bellied black snake

 

Coastal temperate

This area has regular rainfall patterns and mild temperatures. It is dry and warm in summer but wet and cool in winter.

Bushfires and strong winds with salt spray are both important in this environment.

Here animals have plenty of food and water. However they compete with each other for safe living areas.

Animals that live well in this environment have ways to beat other animals to the best living areas or they have complex ways of sharing and helping each other.

The scrub at Aldinga.
Photo: Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium

Deep Creek enters the sea.
Photo: T Peters, 1995

Animals that live in coastal temperate areas

• can usually find water
• can usually find enough salt
• have lots of competition for their food and homes.

Vegetation Woody plants are common and more closely spaced here than in drier regions. The low canopy is often dominated by gums, wattles and she-oaks. Below this layer are understorey shrubs which can be scattered in dry sites or form dense, impenetrable scrub in wetter sites. Plants here have the ability to quickly regrow, or regenerate, after fire. On the coast, plants are lower and more dense than those further inland. Plants with water-storing leaves or fleshy stems can be found near more exposed coastal areas.