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Shark Bay
► Shark
Bay is a world heritage
site in the Gascoyne region of
Western Australia. It is an area
centered approximately on
25°30′S 113°30′E
► 800 kilometres north of Perth,
on the westernmost point of
Australia. An expedition led by
Dirk Hartog happened upon the
area in 1616, becoming the
second group of Europeans
known to have visited Australia.
Shark Bay was named by
William Dampier, in 1699.
► The
area has a population
of fewer than 1,000 people
and a coastline of over
1,500 kilometers. The half
dozen small communities
making up this population
occupy less than 1% of the
total area.
► The
bay itself covers an area of 10,000 km²,
with an average depth of 10 metres. It is
divided by shallow banks and has many
peninsulas and islands. The coastline is over
1,500 km long. It is located in the transition
zone between three major climatic regions
and between two major botanical provinces.
► Dirk
Hartog Island is of major
historic significance due to early
explorers landing upon it. In 1616
Dirk Hartog landed at Inscription
Point on the north end of Dirk
Hartog Island and marked his
discovery with a plate, which he
inscribed with the date and nailed
to a post. This plate was then
replaced by a later explorer and
returned to Holland. It is now
kept in the National Museum of
Holland. A replica can be found in
the Shark Bay Discovery Centre in
Denham.
► Bernier
and Dorre islands in the
north west corner of the Heritage
area are locations of some last
remaining habitats of some
Australian mammals threatened
with extinction. They are used, as
well and numerous smaller islands
throughout the marine park, to
release threatened species that are
being bred at Project Eden in
Francois Peron National Park.
These islands are feral-free and so
provide a safe haven of pristine
environment on which to restore
species that are threatened on the
mainland.
► The
Australian Wildlife
Conservatory are guardians of
Faure Island off Monkey Mia.
Seasonally, turtles come here to
nest and in conjunction with
DEC studies can be conducted
on this sheltered island.
► Stromatolites
in Hamelin Pool
are ancient structures that are
built by microbes.
►
Shark Bay is an area of major
zoological importance. It is
home to about 10,000
dugongs (sea cows), around
10% of the world's
population, and there are
many Indo-Pacific bottlenose
dolphins, particularly at
Monkey Mia. The area
supports 26 threatened
Australian mammal species,
over 230 species of bird, and
nearly 150 species of reptile.
It is an important breeding
and nursery ground for fish,
crustaceans, and
coelenterates. There are over
323 fish species, with many
sharks and rays.
► Some
Bottlenose Dolphins in Shark Bay exhibit
the only known case of tool use in marine
mammals (outside of sea otters): they protect
their nose with a sponge while foraging for
food in the sandy sea bottom.
► Shark
Bay has the largest known area of seagrass, with
seagrass meadows covering over 4000 km² of the bay.
It includes the 1030 km² Wooramel Seagrass Bank, the
largest seagrass bank in the world. Shark Bay also
contains the largest number of seagrass species ever
recorded in one place; twelve species have been found,
with up to nine occurring together in some places. The
seagrasses are a vital part of the complex environment
of the bay. Over thousands of years, sediment and shell
fragments have accumulated in the seagrasses to form
vast expanses of seagrass beds. This has raised the sea
floor, making the bay shallower. Seagrasses are the
basis of the food chain in Shark Bay, providing home
and shelter to various marine species and attracting the
dugong population.
► In
Shark Bay's hot, dry climate, evaporation
greatly exceeds the annual precipitation rate.
Thus, the seawater in the shallow bays
becomes very salt concentrated, or
'hypersaline'. Seagrasses also restict the tidal
flow of waters through the bay area,
preventing the ocean tides from diluting the
sea water. The water of the bay is 1.5x to 2x
more salty than the surrounding ocean waters.
► Shark
Bay was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in
1991. The site covers an area of 23,000 square
kilometres. It includes many protected areas and
conservation reserves, including Shark Bay Marine
Park, Francois Peron National Park, Hamelin Pool
Marine Nature Reserve, Zuytdorp Nature Reserve
and numerous protected islands.
► Denham
and Useless Loop both fall within the
boundary of the site but are specifically excluded
from it. Shark Bay was the first to be classified on
the Australian World Heritage list.
► The
information was taken
from:
► wikipedia