Habitats
Find a habitat
About thirty everyday names for the places plants and animals live, from rainforest to seagrass. Each one leads down to the official types that governments and scientists use, and to the places where they're mapped.
30 habitats
Land
Forests, woodlands, heaths and grasslands.
Alpine
Snow country above the treeline: herbfields, grasses and low shrubs.
No places on the record yet
Forest
Tall trees, mostly eucalypts, growing close enough that their crowns touch or nearly touch.
No places on the record yet
Grassland
Open country of native grasses and wildflowers with few or no trees.
On the record at 2 places
Heath
Dense low shrubs, often flowering, on sandy or poor soils near the coast or in the hills.
No places on the record yet
Rainforest
Closed, shady forest with a dense canopy, ferns and vines, usually in wet gullies or high rainfall.
No places on the record yet
Rocky outcrop and cliff
Exposed rock, scree and cliffs with plants in the cracks.
On the record at 1 place
Woodland
Trees spaced apart with grass or shrubs between them, like a red gum or box woodland.
On the record at 1 place
Inland waters
Rivers, creeks, lakes, salt lakes and inland wetlands.
Freshwater wetland
Swamps, marshes and floodplains that hold fresh water for part or all of the year.
On the record at 1 place
Salt lake
Inland lakes that are salty, often dry for years between fillings.
No places on the record yet
Coast
Where land meets sea: beaches, saltmarsh, mangroves, mudflats and estuaries.
Beach and dune
Sandy shores and the dunes behind them, held together by grasses and shrubs.
On the record at 3 places
Mangrove
Salt-tolerant trees and shrubs growing in the tidal zone of sheltered shores.
On the record at 3 places
Sea
Seagrass, reefs, kelp and the open sea.
Sandy and muddy seabed
Soft sea floor of sand or mud below the low-tide mark.
Shaped by people
Farms, plantations, parks and built water bodies. Not natural habitats, but many species use them.
Farmland and pasture
Paddocks, crops and sown pasture, with scattered trees and dams.
No places on the record yet
Parks and urban green space
Parks, gardens, street trees and reserves in towns and cities.
No places on the record yet
The everyday names and their descriptions are a PLOT draft, written with AI help and waiting for a person to review them. The official lists they lead to are imported as published.