Bioregions of Victoria

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This section of the VRO website is a collaborative effort between the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) (external link) and Department of Primary Industries (DPI). DSE has wide ranging responsibilities for the management of plant and animal issues across Victoria, including the conservation of native flora and fauna, and the control of pest plants and animals. Visit the Plants and Animals section of DSE's website (external link) for up to date information. Biodiversity conservation and management is a fundamental part of DSEs integrated programs - find out more on DSE's Biodiversity page (external link) - including information on: Natural Landscapes, Bushfire Recovery, Rivers and Wetlands, Natural Seascapes, Rural Landscapes, Urban Landscapes and Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy.

Below is a list of Victoria's Bioregional Landscapes

Victorian Mallee (external link) Lowan Mallee Murray Mallee Wimmera	Glenelg Plain (external link) Glenelg Plain	Victorian Volcanic Plain (external link) Victorian Volcanic Plain
Victorian Riverina (external link) Victorian Riverina	Coastal Plains (external link) Gippsland Plains Otway Plain Warrnambool Plain	Victorian Midlands (external link) Dundas Tablelands Greater Grampians Goldfields Central Victorian Uplands
Northern Inland Slopes (external link) Northern Inland Slopes	East Gippsland (external link) East Gippsland Lowlands East Gippsland Uplands	Wilson's Promontory (external link) Wilsons Promontory
Victorian Highlands (external link) Highlands - Southern Fall Highlands - Northern Fall Otway Ranges	Victorian Alps (external link) Victorian Alps	Bridgewater Murray Scroll Belt Robinvale Plain Murray Fans Strzelecki Ranges Monaro Tablelands

Bioregions are the broadscale mapping units for biodiversity planning in Victoria and have been adopted under Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy (1997) (external link) and the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999). Bioregions capture the patterns and ecological characteristics in the landscape.

Native flora and fauna are inherently diverse and exist within complex systems. There is need for a framework which can both simplify this complexity and connect us more directly to the biodiversity assets and challenges in our own neighbourhoods and working environments. Biogeographic regions (Bioregions) capture the patterns of ecological characteristics in the landscape or seascape, providing a natural framework for recognising and responding to biodiversity values. As bioregions reflect underlying environmental features, they can also be related to the patterns of use of land and sea. Five bioregions occur in Victorian waters. The 12 national terrestrial bioregions have been broken down into 27 Victorian Bioregions.

Related Links

Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia - information on the Environment Australia website (external link).

The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a framework for conservation planning and sustainable resource management within a bioregional context. IBRA regions represent a landscape based approach to classifying the land surface from a range of continental data on environmental attributes. In 1999-2000, IBRA version 5 was developed. 85 bioregions were delineated across Australia, each reflecting a unifying set of major environmental influences which shape the occurrence of flora and fauna and their interaction with the physical environment.

Information on Bioregions of NSW on the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service website (external link).

Victoria's Bioregions

Bioregions are broadscale mapping units that capture the patterns and ecological charcateristics in the landscape. They provide the broader strategic framework used for Biodiversity Action Planning in Victoria. Victoria's Bioregions are shown on this map and can be clicked on to reveal relevant information (including strategic overview documents relating to Biodivesity Action Planning as they become available).