Mallee “refers to any short tree with a large underground
stem fused with the main root, called a lingnotuber” ("Wildworld Ecoregion Profile"). Esperance
mallee has many small eucalyptus tress and shrubs because it is indeed a
scrubland. There is very little rainfall in this region of Australia and the
soil is not very fertile. Mallee covers a majority of this ecosystem that is
known is Esperance Mallee.
Historically the nullarbor plains xeric shrublands was “a
former shallow seabed, as indicated by the presence of bryozoans, foraminifera,
echinoids, and red algae calcareous skeletal that make up limestone. The theory
is that the whole area was uplifted by crustal movements in the Miocene, and
since then erosion by wind and rain has reduced its thickness” (Webb and
James).
http://awsassets.panda.org/img/l_leong_sw_oz_14_359739.jpg
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