Fragile Ecosystem
The Simpson Desert-By Dylan Lu
Introduction
The waterless Simpson Desert is about 176,500 sqkm of land.It is a remote arid landscape,with more than a thousand red sand dunes,spinfex and canegrass.It is also Australia's fouth largest desert.
Location
The Simpson desert is about (176,500 sqkm),mainly in central Australia.It stretches across Queensland,NT and SA borders.It is mostly covered in red sand dunes,spinfex and canegrass.
Flora
Flora found in the Simpson desert includes poaeae (grasses),chenpodiacea (salt bushes and bluebushes),Asterace (dasies or comostites),Fabaceae,(with pea-like flowers).There are also cactuses,spiny fanflower,Eremophila obovata,sandhill canegrass,parrot bush and spinifex dune.
The spinifex dune is a perenniai grass that can be found throughout the dunes on the northern part of the desert.This grass contains waxy,which is a curled foilage that stops water dripping through the leaves.The exterior of this plant has spikes which protect small animals that hide in the grass from it's preadtors.
Fauna
Fauna includes Biliby,Kowari,water-holding frog,spinflex hoping mouse,grey grass wren,sand sliding skink,mulgara,yellow-face whip snakes,thorny,devil,Red Kangeroo and dingos.
TThe Red Kangeroo is a mammal and is a herbivore,it is also the worlds largest marsupial is the Red Kangeroo.The females can only have on e baby at a time.At birth baby kangeroos are smaller than cherry.After birth baby kangeroos will not emerge from the mothers pouch for 2 months.Until they are at least 2 months old,they will be called joeys and will quickly dive into their mothers pouch for saftey.As joeys grow older you can often see their heads and tails hanging out of their mothers pouch.Red kangeroos will hop on their powerful hind legs at speeds of over 36 miles (56 km) an hour.The bouncing gate allows them to pounce 25 feet (8m) in a single leap and can jump 6 feet (1.8) metres high.Compared to a male females are smaller,lighter and therefor faster than males.Females also have a boast blue-hued coat,many Australians call them ''blue fliers''.Larger male kangeroos are powerfully built,like many other animals,male kangeroos will sometimes fight each other over females.They will lean on their sturdy tail and fight each other like boxers.They can also bite and weild their sharp claws,which may occur in battle with an ememy like a dingo.Red kangeroos live in Australian deserts and open grassland,in groups called mobs.For centuries Aboriginal and European Australians have been claering open tracks of land and establishing water sources,they both are boons to kangeroo populations.Each year millions of Red Kangeros are killed for their skin and meat.The Kangeroo can live up to 23 years,weigh 90 kg and cangrow from 90 to 110cm tall.
Tourist Attractions
Tourism attractions include ruins mound springs,Purine Bore wetlands,Approd in Attora Rnoll,poppel corner Aboriginal art centre,Rainbow Valley,chamber pillars,Ewaninaga Rock carvings conservation and Aboriginal landmarks.
Rainbow Valley is the scenic sandstone buffs and cliffs.The reason that this is place such a big torist attraction is weathering erosion has made the valley into rock faces and squared towers,and many people come to enjoy and have a good time.Many things to see include recreational activities incuding camping,picknicking and walking tracks,scenic and cultral features include rock engravings or petroglyphs and paintings,Plants and animals include spinfex and interconecting claypans,Ranger Guided Tours include walks and talks.
Threats or dangers
Threats or dangers to the Simpson desert incude fires,mining,chopping cactuses and selling it for money,wheels of 4WD's damage desert soil,when it happens 7 foot deep holes can be left in the ground and can take from 100 to 1000 years to recover from.
Mining in the simpson desert will threaten it.Miners get coal using methods like coal steam gas/and fracking underground coal gasification.These methods pose signifigant contamination risks to underground water sources,including the Great Artesian Basin.
Interesting facts
Simpson desert is one of the most several deserts in Australia,it is one of the deserts in Australia,it is the fourth largest deserts in Australia,there are no maintained roads but numberous 4WD tracks.
Bibliography
Answers,National Geographic,Simpson desert Australia,Ultramarithon,Australia:The time where land began,Garden Guides,Northern Territory,Wilderness.Org,Desert plants and animals