The Oceania ecozone is one of the World Wildlife Fund-WWF ecozones, and is unique in not including any continental land mass. It is the smallest in land area of the WWF ecozones.
This ecozone includes the islands of the Pacific Ocean in: Micronesia, the Fijian Islands, the Hawaiian islands, and Polynesia (with the exception of New Zealand).
New Zealand, Australia, and most of Melanesia including New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia are included within the Australasia ecozone.
Oceania is geologically the youngest ecozone. While other ecozones include old continental land masses or fragments of continents, Oceania is composed mostly of volcanic high islands and coral atolls that arose from the sea in geologically recent times, many of them in the Pleistocene. They were created either by hotspot volcanism, or as island arcs pushed upward by the collision and subduction of tectonic plates. The islands range from tiny islets, sea stacks and coral atolls to large mountainous islands, like Hawaii and Fiji.
The climate of Oceania's islands is tropical or subtropical, and range from humid to seasonally dry. Wetter parts of the islands are covered by Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, while the drier parts of the islands, including the leeward sides of the islands and many of the low coral islands, are covered by Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. Hawaii's high volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, are home to some rare tropical Montane grasslands and shrublands.
Since the islands of Oceania were never connected by land to a continent, the flora and fauna of the islands originally reached them from across the ocean (though at the height of the last ice age sea levels were much lower than today and many current seamounts were islands, so some now isolated islands were once less isolated). Once they reached the islands, the ancestors of Oceania's present flora and fauna adapted to life on the islands.
Larger islands with diverse ecological niches encouraged floral and faunal adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species evolved from a common ancestor, each species adapted to a different ecological niche; the various species of Hawaiian honeycreepers (Family Drepanididae) are a classic example. Other adaptations to island ecologies include gigantism, dwarfism, and among birds, loss of flight. Oceania has a number of endemic species; Hawaii in particular is considered a global 'center of endemism', with its forest ecoregions having one of the highest percentages of endemic plants in the world.
Land plants disperse by several different means. Many plants, mostly ferns and mosses but also some flowering plants, disperse on the wind, relying on tiny spores or feathery seeds that can remain airborne over long distances notably Metrosideros trees from New Zealand spread on the wind across Oceania. Other plants, notably coconut palms and mangroves, produce seeds that can float in salt water over long distances, eventually washing up on distant beaches, and thus Cocos trees are ubiquitous across Oceania. Birds are also an important means of dispersal; some plants produce sticky seeds that are carried on the feet or feathers of birds, and many plants produce fruits with seeds that can pass through the digestive tracts of birds. Pandanus trees are fairly ubiquitous across Oceania.
Botanists generally agree that much of the flora of Oceania is derived from the Malesian Flora of the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea, with some plants from Australasia and a few from the Americas, particularly in Hawaii. Easter Island has some plants from South America such as the totora reed.
Dispersal across the ocean is difficult for most land animals, and Oceania has relatively few indigenous land animals compared to other ecozones. Certain types of animals that are ecologically important on the continental ecozones, like large land predators and grazing mammals, were entirely absent from the islands of Oceania until humans brought them. Birds are relatively common, including many seabirds and some species of land birds whose ancestors may have been blown out to sea by storms. Some birds evolved into flightless species after their ancestors arrived, including several species of rails. A number of islands have indigenous lizards, including geckoes and skinks, whose ancestors probably arrived on floating rafts of vegetation washed out to sea by storms. With the exception of bats, which live on most of the island groups, there are few if any indigenous mammal species in Oceania.
Many animal and plant species have been introduced by humans in two main waves.
Malayo-Polynesian settlers brought pigs, dogs, chickens and polynesian rats to many islands; and had spread across the whole of Oceania by 1200 CE. From the seventeenth century onwards European settlers brought other animals, including cats, cattle, horses, small Asian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus), sheep, goats, and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). These and other introduced species, in addition to overhunting and deforestation, have dramatically altered the ecology of many of Oceania's islands, pushing many species to extinction or near-extinction, or confining them to small islets uninhabited by humans.
The absence of predator species caused many bird species to become 'naive', losing the instinct to flee from predators, and to lay their eggs on the ground, which makes them vulnerable to introduced predators like cats, dogs, mongooses, and rats. The arrival of humans on these island groups often resulted in disruption of the indigenous ecosystems and waves of species extinctions (see Holocene extinction event). Easter Island, the easternmost island in Polynesia, shows evidence of a human-caused ecosystem collapse several hundred years ago, which contributed (along with slave raiding and European diseases) to a 99% decline in the human population of the island. The island, once lushly forested, is now mostly windswept grasslands. More recently, Guam's native bird and lizard species were decimated by the introduction of the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) in the 1940s.
See original here:
Oceania ecozone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Pope Francis to visit Asia and Oceania in September - Crux Now - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- EY Weighs Another 100 Job Cuts in Oceania, The Australian Reports - Bloomberg - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises Announces New 2025-2026 Tropics and Exotics Collection - Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Pope Francis to visit 4 nations across Asia and Oceania in September - Vatican News - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises Announces New 2025-26 Tropics and Exotics Collection - Cruise Industry News - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Pope Francis will head to Asia and Oceania in September for his longest foreign trip yet - America: The Jesuit Review - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises Announces New Tropics and Exotics Collection for 2025-2026 - Porthole Cruise and Travel - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Per Berth Prices Rise for Oceania and Regent Newbuilds - Cruise Industry News - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Pope Francis to embark on tour of Southeast Asia, Oceania in longest papal trip - Bakersfield Now - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Pope will take his longest trip: to Asia-Oceania in September - Aleteia - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Asia/Oceania I: Korea, Republic maintain perfect record with another 3-0 win - Billie Jean King Cup - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Highlights of Billie Jean King Cup 2024 tennis tournament Asia-Oceania - Xinhua - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises Announces New Tropics and Exotics Collection - Recommend Magazine - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- VATICAN Pope Francis will be in Southeast Asia and Oceania from 2 to 13 September - AsiaNews - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Triathlon continental titles on the line in Taupo this weekend World Triathlon - World Triathlon - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- DHL Express introduces dedicated flight between Sydney and Hong Kong to cater to Oceania-North Asia trade demand - payloadasia.com - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Vatican announces long-awaited papal visit to Asia and Oceania - Macao News - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- EY confirms 148 jobs gone in mass redundancy round across Oceania - The West Australian - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Hosts Tonga launch campaign with dominant victory against American Samoa - Oceania Football Confederation - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises unveils 2026 around the world voyage on Vista - TTG Asia - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Sea Control 501 Multilateral Approaches to Maritime Security in Oceania with Zach Ota | Center for International ... - CIMSEC - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Oceania set to open booking for $60K, 180-day around-the-world cruise - Business Insider - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Oceania Cruises Announces 2026 Around the World Voyage Aboard Its Newest Ship, Vista - PR Newswire - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- The Oceania Vista will sail the world in 2026 - Travel Weekly - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Oceania Announces 2026 Around the World Voyage Aboard Vista - Cruise Industry News - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Oceania Championships: Record-breaking Samoan Opeloge and Australia's Elliott make moves in Olympic rankings - International Weightlifting Federation... - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- Hawaii-based 'Indo-Pacific Support Cutter' focused on Oceania is on its first Pacific deployment - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- PNG and Vanuatu to participate in inaugural FIFA Series - Football in Oceania - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Escalation is feared after tribal conflict: The only way to avoid it is on-site dialogue - Agenzia Fides - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- Brazil claim record-extending 6th FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup - Oceania Football Confederation - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- NMI's Aiden Gimed wins silver in Oceania Weightlifting Championships - Marianas Variety News & Views - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- Fiji U20s secures 39-25 win over Tonga at round 1 of Oceania Rugby U20s Challenge - Fijivillage - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- Vakuruivalu wins bronze in the senior men's 109kg category at the Oceania Weightlifting Championship - Fijivillage - February 27th, 2024 [February 27th, 2024]
- 5G subs in SE Asia & Oceania to hit 550M by 2029-end - Nation Thailand - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- AI image generator Stable Diffusion perpetuates racial and ... - University of Washington - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- APCO and AIP partner to strengthen Oceania packaging industry - Packaging Gateway - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Solomon Islands to host OFC Women's Champions League in March - Friends of Football - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Tahiti tournament next prize for Wellington Olympic or Auckland City - Friends of Football - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Gordon Treanor joins $3bn drinks giant Suntory Oceania - The Shout - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- LoL esports announces Japans LJL will join Oceania in PCS ... - Dexerto - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- NZ Festival of Squash in Tauranga attracts top world and Oceania ... - Bay of Plenty Times - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Sisters Stephanie and Caley McNair gain international smallbore ... - Hawkes Bay Today - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Australian Superbike: Herfoss Earns Pole Position At "The Bend" - RoadracingWorld.com - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- From boys' football to the Ferns in a year the rapid rise of winger ... - Friends of Football - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Global protein production expected to slow, but persist in 2024 - MEAT+POULTRY - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Catching up after the weekend? Heres all the top results and all on ... - Friends of Football - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- All Blacks Sevens chart new beginnings in the HSBC SVNS Series - allblacks.com - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- The Dominican Republic to host WBSC Americas U-15 Baseball ... - World Baseball Softball Confederation - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- XXX BFA Asian Championship starts Sunday, qualifies three teams ... - World Baseball Softball Confederation - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- Oceania - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- 5 Things You Should Know About: Oceania - WorldAtlas - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Oceania Healthcare (NZSE:OCA) Is Paying Out Less In Dividends Than Last Year - Simply Wall St - November 27th, 2022 [November 27th, 2022]
- 'Wingspan' Oceania Expansion Announced for Release Soon on iOS, Android, Switch, Xbox, and PC TouchArcade - Touch Arcade - October 30th, 2022 [October 30th, 2022]
- Oceania and Africa rising in university rankings - The PIE News - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- South Asia And Oceania Pea Fiber Consumption Is Expected To Grow By Nearly 2x By 2032 - openPR - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- PET Type Antiblock Masterbatch Market Size reach to 82.50 million USD in 2022-2027 With Impact of domestic and global market Top players: Review by... - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure launches on March 14, 2023 in North America; March 17 in Europe and March 24 in Oceania - RPG Site - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- A 5G-proficient workforce will be in high demand: Nitin Bansal, MD, India & Head Networks, South East Asia, Oceania And India, Ericsson - The... - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Being in India more critical than ever: Ericssons Mirtillo | Mint - Mint - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Sedin lands in Melbourne with Steve de Mamiel at the helm - ARNnet - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Heavy Machinery Maintenance & Repair Demand Is Set To Reach A Valuation of US$ 284 Bn Billion 2032; Owing To Technology Integration into Service... - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- WWII Ship Sunk In Oceania Shows Up In Dried-Up Californian Lake Officials Have No Idea How It Got There - IFLScience - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- EY Oceania Strengthens Transformation Capability Through The Business Acquisition Of Red Moki - The Balance - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- World University Rankings 2023: trends analysis - Times Higher Education - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- How Africa is still paying the most for the lowest-quality internet - Benjamindada.com - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Global population hits 8 billion soon, but shrinks by 2100 - Big Think - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Banana Genomes Hint at Hidden Species We Urgently Need to Find - ScienceAlert - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Boxing: Kiwi heavyweight Hemi Ahio ready for the spotlight - New Zealand Herald - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- An unbeatable moment to leverage: 2023 Womens World Cup must win hearts to change minds - The Guardian - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Architectural Services Sales Is Anticipated to Reach US$ 426.3 Bn by 2032; Rising Urbanization to Act as Key Drivers | Fact.MR's Study - GlobeNewswire - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Oceania unveils world cruise and other long voyages for 2025 - Travel Weekly - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Sailing to the Baltic Sea's top port cities with Oceania - Cruise Passenger - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Oceania Dairy tanker driver injured after truck rolls in South Cantebury - Stuff - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Study Highlights Wide Variation in Mortality of Spondyloarthritis, IBD Across the Globe - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Earth had its 6th-warmest August on record - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Humans have caused unprecedented changes to rivers - Earth.com - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- From boat to bike: Georgie Howe's rapid rise to the pro ranks - CyclingTips - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Turbulence not over: Asahi pushes canned beer and healthier innovation as cost pressures heighten - FoodNavigator-Asia.com - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Auckland City keep quadruple title hopes alive with Chatham Cup football final win - Stuff - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Cruise Lines That Don't Require a COVID-19 Vaccination - Cruise Fever - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]