Australia or Oceania is said to be a continent that is extremely diverse. It is the lowest, flattest and smallest landmass on Earth. The land is on top of a tectonic plate thus meaning that there are currently no active volcanoes. The terrain is described as having low desert plateaus, the largest coral reef in the world, and some mountainous land. The climatic zones in Australia are tropical rainforests, deserts, cool temperate forests, and snow covered mountains (Digital Transformation Agency 2015).
Due to the climate and location of the continent, plants and animals have been forced to evolve in an isolated environment. Australia is a continent with quite a few different indigenous marsupial species. Likewise, it is one of the only places that you will find either a platypus or an echidna (egg laying mammals). Also due to the fact that the continent is isolated, many of the species there are endemic to Australia. It is estimated that 10% of the Earth’s species reside in Australia thus making its ecology megadiverse (Hobbs 2005).
Extinction in Australia 