Western Mallee

Largely cleared for intensive agriculture, it still retains patches of native vegetation, but these are under environmental stress from threats such as rising salinity, and are poorly managed.

There are a variety of soils, including clays and silts over kankar; sand; lateritic pavements; and granite outcrops.

What information is available has been gathered in the context of conservation assessment: The subregion contains many endemic plant species in the Eucalyptus, Acacia, Proteaceae such as Grevillea, Hakea and Banksia; and various Asteraceae.

It also supports a number of rare or endangered fauna, including some that fall within the critical weight range for predation by foxes.

The pig-footed bandicoot (Chaeropus ecaudatus) and crescent nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea lunata) previously occurred in the subregion, but both are now extinct.

Little information is available for management purposes, as the subregion has not had a thorough biodiversity survey, vegetation mapping is available only at 1:250,000 scale, and there are virtually no historical records of fires or other significant events.

The main threat, rising salinity, is completely unmanaged, despite having already caused widespread population declines and extinctions in lowland communities.

[1] The subregion was given a Continental Stress Class of 3 when measured against the criteria, but the authors of that assessment stated that it should more properly be rated at 2 or even 1, because of the poor connectivity of reserves within cleared areas.

[4] The Mallee, Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains regions together comprise Hopper's Transitional Rainfall Zone of Beard's South West Botanical Province.