8.5 Evolution of Australian Biota

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Crustal plates and continental drift	Gondwana species and the megafauna
Australian species and the ecosystem - scientists' changing ideas	Huxley-Wilberforce debate
Mitosis and meiosis	Australian biota and biodiversity

Evolution of Australian Biota - Museum in a Box, books, specimens, teacher's notes and more from Australian Museum
http://www.austmus.gov.au/museum_box/boxes/biota.htm

It's Just a Theory - a WebQuest produced by UniServe Science on the Theory of Plate Tectonics
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/quests/plattect.html

The Great Continental Drift Mystery - from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1991/6/91.06.05.x.html

Gondwana and continental drift - from Dinosaur Dreaming, Monash University
http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm

Plate Tectonics - from the Online Journey Through Astronomy, The University of Tennessee
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/tectonics.html

When the Earth Moves - from Beyond Discovery, The National Academy of Sciences
http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.article.asp?a=229

Evidence for Plate Tectonics - from the Online Journey Through Astronomy, The University of Tennessee
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/evidence.html

All About Plate Tectonics: Earth's Plates and Continental Drift - from Enchanted Learning
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml

The Dynamic Earth: the Story of Plate Tectonics - from United States Geological Survey
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html

FOUR MONTHS IN AUSTRALIA- A Study of National Parks, Animals, and Species: A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN BIOTA - from Australia/New Zealand Down Under Travel
http://anztravel.com/itin/sAndJ4MonthsInAU.html

Dispersal of Gondwanaland - from Leeds University - outline maps show position of continents at different times. Use Print Screen key to capture images.
http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/~greg/Gond.html

Continental Drift - Fossils - in an Introduction to Plate Tectonics from Volcano World
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/plate_tectonics/part3.html

Fossil corelations - from Mag-Tec, University of North Dakota
http://www.und.edu/instruct/mineral/101intro/slides/mag-tect/slide16.htm

Continental Drift - Rock Sequences - in an Introduction to Plate Tectonics from Volcano World, University of North Dakota
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/plate_tectonics/part4.html

Topography of Ocean Floor - from Mag-Tec, University of North Dakota - slide show - list of files
http://www.und.edu/instruct/mineral/101intro/slides/mag-tect/index.htm

Global Topography- with zoom in features
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~small/GDEM.html

Plate Tectonics: Earth Like a Puzzle - from Scripps Institution of Oceanography
http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/voyager/earth_puzzle/

Plate tectonics animations - from Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html

Plate Tectonics online text from Earth Science Australia
http://earthsci.org/teacher/basicgeol/platec/platec.html

Salient Features in the Geological History of Australia with Special Reference to Changes of Climate - from Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ABS@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/3396ef5639aca277ca2569e3001e8a78!OpenDocument

Australia's Megafauna - a WebQuest produced by UniServe Science on the Australia's megafauna and possible causes for its extinction
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/quests/mgfauna.html

Stephen Wroe: Popular articles - an archive of popular articles written by Stephen Wroe, from The University of Sydney, articles are available to download in pdf format
http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/staff/swroe/popular.htm

Fossil Sites of Australia - from The Australian Museum with links to Riversleigh, Murgon, Bluff Downs, Lightning Ridge and Naracoorte fossil locations
http://www.amonline.net.au/fossil_sites/

karoo reptiles and the ancient supercontinent, gondwanaland - from South African Museum
http://www.museums.org.za/sam/resource/palaeo/cluver/gondwana.htm

THE STORY OF GONDWANA - from Hobart District Group of The Australian Plants Society - Tasmania Inc - includes timeline with illustrations from flora from Australian and other Gondwana land masses
http://www.trump.net.au/~joroco/gondwanastory.htm

Monotremata: Fossil Record - from Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/monotremefr.html

Common Fossils of the Sydney Basin - a Fact Sheet from The Australian Museum
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/common_fossils.htm

Australia’s Ancient Sea Monsters - pdf file from Australian Science Magazine
http://www.control.com.au/bi2005/264Kear.pdf

Australia's Fossil Past - from Australian Culture and Recreation Portal
http://www.acn.net.au/articles/1998/07/fossils.htm

Australia's animals not so isolated - from the Lab, ABC Online
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s21304.htm

New dinosaur species named after Qantas - from the Lab, ABC Online
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s60284.htm

THE FOSSILS OF RIVERSLEIGH - from Australian Wildlife
http://www.australianwildlife.com.au/features/riversleigh.htm

Victoria's Fossils - from Museum Victoria
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/fossils/

The rise of the modern flora and fauna - from Museum Victoria
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/dinosaurs/lifetime-modern.html

Southern hemisphere plants - from Blue Mountains Information Site and Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens
http://www.bluemts.com.au/MountTomah/southhemi.htm

Coal Resources - a pdf lecture presentation includes location and environment of Australia coal and peat resources, from University of Melboure
http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/TeachingSupport/2000%20PDF%20Files/102%20Lect%2029BW.pdf

Lost Valley Pines - from The Big Island Gazette
http://www.big.com.au/tree.html

Wollemi Pine: The Dinosaur Tree! - from the Royal Botanic Gardens, NSW
http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/html/Wollemi.html

Proteaceae - from Western Cape School's Network (Zambia)
http://www.wcape.school.za/mickle/Wildflowers/page2.htm

Dinosaurs of Ancient Queensland - from Queensland Museum
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/nature/dinosaurs/onlinedino.html

Australia's Lost Kingdoms - from Australian Museum, in association with the Australian Museum's exhibition of the same name
http://www.lostkingdoms.com/

The extinction of the Megafauna: Extinction Patterns - a Fact Sheet from The Australian Museum
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/megafauna.htm

The extinction of the Megafauna: The People Theory - a Fact Sheet from The Australian Museum
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/megafauna_extinction.htm

The Australian Megafauna - from Museum Victoria
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/mammals/australia.html

Animals at Cuddie Springs - from The University of Sydney
http://www.archaeology.usyd.edu.au/research/cuddie/animals_cuddie.html

Dinnertime at Cuddie Springs: hunting and butchering megafauna? - from The University of Sydney
http://www.archaeology.usyd.edu.au/research/cuddie/cuddie.html

The Natural History of Marsupials - from Talk.Origins
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/marsupials.html

Creationism and the Platypus - from Talk.Origins
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/platypus.html

New evolution theory leaves platypus and echidna out on a limb - an article on current research published in uniNews, The University of Sydney
http://www.usyd.edu.au/publications/news/010309News/9.3.evolution.html

Monotremata (Platypus and echidna) - from The University of Tasmania
http://www.healthsci.utas.edu.au/medicine/research/mono/monotremehp.html

State Library of NSW HSC Resources - The Platypus
http://infocus.sl.nsw.gov.au/res/srchrslt.cfm?Criteria=platypus&sylName=BIOLOGY

The Platypus: A Very Special Australian - from Australian Platypus Conservancy, see Life in Water section for adaptations to environment
http://totalretail.com/tr/tr_plat.nsf/Frame?OpenForm

Platypus Fact Sheet - from Australian Museum

http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/platypus.htm also in pdf from http://www.austmus.gov.au/pdf/platy.pdf

Fossilised Hot Cross Bun Discovered - from Australian Museum
http://www.austmus.gov.au/platypus/

Fascinating Animal Fact: Platypus - from Australia's Lost Kingdoms
http://www.lostkingdoms.com/facts/factsheet53.htm

Kangaroos - from the Virtual Zoo at exZOOberance
ttp://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20walk/kangaroo/kangaroo.htm

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) - from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of California Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/thuxley.html

Wilberforce and Huxley: A Legendary Encounter - from Oxford University
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/legend.html

Charles Darwin - from No Answers in Genesis! web site
http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/charles_darwin.htm

The Huxley File - from Clark University
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/toc.html

Karikaturen: T. Huxley, R. Owen und Bischoff Wilberforce - Caricatures of Huxley, Owen and Wilberforce, from University of Hamburg
http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/biologie/b_online/d36/karikat.htm

Meiosis and mitosis

The Cell Cycle & Mitosis Tutorial - The Biology Project, The University of Arizona
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/cell_cycle/main.html

The Cell Cycle & Mitosis Tutorial - UniServe Science mirror of The Biology Project, The University of Arizona
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/mirror/biolproject/cell_bio/tutorials/cell_cycle/main.html

Mitosis Animations

Mitosis - from Cells Alive!
http://www.cellsalive.com/mitosis.htm

Mitosis - animation needing Shockwave from California State University
http://www.csuchico.edu/~jbell/Biol207/animations/mitosis.html

Mitosis animation from About - from About Biology
http://biology.about.com/library/blmitosisanim.htm

Mitosis Animation - from California State University Chico
http://www.csuchico.edu/~jbell/Biol207/animations/mitosis.html

Mitosis: Labeled Diagram - from Access Excellence
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/GG/mitosis.html

Stages of Mitosis - from University of North Carolina at Charlotte
http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/biol1110/Stages.htm

Mitosis World - from University of North Carolina, including movies but beware lengthy download time
http://www.unc.edu/depts/salmlab/mitosis/mitosis.html

Mitosis - onion root tip cells -from the Molecular Expressions Photo Gallery, Florida State University
http://www.microscopy.fsu.edu/micro/gallery/mitosis/mitosis.html

Interactive Mitosis Tutorial - from San Diego State University - needs Shockwave plugin
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/multimedia/mitosis/

Meiosis Animation - from California State University Chico - needs Shockwave plugin
http://www.csuchico.edu/~jbell/Biol207/animations/meiosis.html

Meiosis - from Access Excellence
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/GG/meiosis.html

Comparison of Meiosis and Mitosis - from Access Excellence
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/GG/comparison.html

CELL DIVISION: BINARY FISSION AND MITOSIS - from Estrella Mountain Community College - excellent notes well illustrated
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookmito.html

Fact Sheets on Australian flora - from Australian Museum Online including Eucalypts, Mountain Tops and Biodiversity, Plants in Australian called Proteaceae and Schlerophyll Forests
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/

Fact Sheets on Australian fauna - from Australian Museum Online including Platypus
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/

Native animal factsheets - from National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW including Kangaroos and Wallabies, Platypus, Echidnas and Emus
http://www.npws.nsw.gov.au/wildlife/factsheets/

Reproductive adaptations of Australian Flora

What is an Australian Plant? - from Australian National Botanic Gardens- describes six common australian plant families
http://www.anbg.gov.au/PLANTFAM/AUST1A.HTM

Reproduction of Native Australian Plants - from Australian Society for Growing Australian Plants
http://farrer.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/APOL19/sep00-8.html

Spreading the Genes - from Australian Society for Growing Australian Plants
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/APOL14/jun99-6.html

Plant Reproductive Ecology - Dr Glenda Vaughton's personal home page with details of some of her research into the reproductive adaptations of Australian flora
http://www.une.edu.au/botany/vaughton/gvres.htm

Desert Refuge - from Life and Adaptation to Water, SA Museum Online, includes Emu Bush select Plague Rat from pull-down menu
http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/water/tesref1.htm

A Few Proven Magnets - from Australian Society for Growing Australian Plants
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/APOL27/sep02-6.html

Flowering Plants and Ferns of New South Wales Plates - hand drawn images from J H Maiden Botanical Works Images, University of Sydney Library
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/pubotbin/toccer-new?id=botany.sgml&images=acdp/gifs&data=/usr/ot&tag=uslhistory&part=1&division=div1

BIRDS AND FLOWERS - from Peter Metcalfe, The University of New England
http://fehps.une.edu.au/f/s/curric/pMetcalfe/DOCS/NatureNotes/BirdsAndFlowers.html

Bush Smells - from Peter Metcalfe, The University of New England
http://fehps.une.edu.au/f/s/curric/pMetcalfe/DOCS/NatureNotes/BushSmells.html

The National Plant Photographic Index - photographs of many Australian native flowers, mainly flowers, from National Botanical Gardens
http://www.anbg.gov.au/images/photo_cd/

Blowing In The Wind Seeds & Fruits Dispersed By Wind - from Wayne's World, Palomar College
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb99.htm

Needlebushes - Hakea - includes details of pollinators and seed dispersal, from Protea Atlas Project, South Africa
http://protea.worldonline.co.za/needle.htm

Silky Oaks - Grevillia - includes details of pollinators and seed dispersal, from Protea Atlas Project, South Africa
http://protea.worldonline.co.za/silkyoak.htm

Banksia - includes details of pollinators and seed dispersal, from Protea Atlas Project, South Africa
http://protea.worldonline.co.za/banksia.htm

Reproductive adaptations of Australian Fauna

Marsupial Mammals - from The Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/marsupial/marsupial.html

Student Work from Anderson's Creek Public School - includes images of joeys in pouch
http://teachit.acreekps.vic.edu.au/animals/commonwombat.htm

Image of early pouch joey - from Melbourne University
http://www.zoology.unimelb.edu.au/images/research/reprodev.jpg

KANGAROOS: THE MAKING OF A JOEY - a series of student presentations from The Australian National University
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/kangaroos/home.html

Metatheria - from University of Michigan
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/chordata/mammalia/metatheria.html

The Placental Mammal and Reproduction - from The Earth Life Web
http://www.earthlife.net/mammals/reproduction.html

Changes in distribution and abundance of species and the environment in Australia over millions of years

The Dangerous Dream of a Great Australia - from the Lab, ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/flannery/story.htm

Australian Natural Resources Atlas - from national Resources and Water Audit
http://audit.ea.gov.au/ANRA/atlas_home.cfm

Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 - from Environment Australia
http://audit.ea.gov.au/ANRA/vegetation/docs/Native_vegetation/nat_veg_contents.cfm

AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION - course notes from James Cook University
http://www.tesag.jcu.edu.au/subjects/ge2402/_notes/Australian_Veg.html

Vegetation Map of Australia - from Australian Natural Resources Atlas
http://audit.ea.gov.au/ANRA/docs/summary_reports/native_vegetation/_SR_23.html

Vegetation Maps of some areas of NSW - Southern Maps include Sydney Area - files are in .pdf form
http://www.dipnr.nsw.gov.au/nativeveg/mapping/index.shtml

Australia's Biodiversity - from Australian Museum Online
http://www.amonline.net.au/biodiversity/

Australian Biodiversity - from Environment Australia
http://www.ea.gov.au/biodiversity/

Australian Community Biodiversity Network - from Nature Conservation Council of NSW
http://www.nccnsw.org.au/member/cbn/projects/EducationCentre/AboutBiod.html

Biodiversity - from Department for Environment and Heritage, SA
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/biodiversity/

Biodiversity - from CSIRO
http://www.biodiversity.csiro.au/

The Native Vegetation of New South Wales - Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales, Australia
http://www.nccnsw.org.au/veg/context/background.html

Australian Vegetation - course notes from James Cook University
http://www.tesag.jcu.edu.au/subjects/ge2402/_notes/Australian_Veg.html

This content was removed in the syllabus revision published in October 2002

Adaptations that assist plants and animals to cope with variations in temp and water

Life and Adaptation to Water - (Virtual exhibition, South Australian Museum) includes adaptation to lack of water in an Australian desert.
http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/water/teshead.htm

Regeneration of Australian bushland following a bushfire - a virtual field trip to Royal National Park and Heathcote National Park after the Black Christmas fires
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/sciweek/2002/regen/

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