Disjunct faunal species were defined as those with populations separated by a substantial geographic distance from other populations, such that non-flying taxa are unlikely to interbreed with other populations. These species are often evidence of past distributions or biogeographic events and therefore demonstrate past processes, as required by National Estate criterion A1: Importance in the evolution of Australian flora, fauna, landscapes or climate. Vagrant species were excluded from consideration.
As is the case for flora, the fact that Tasmania is an island and its extreme southerly position in Australia mean that many faunal species are necessarily at the edge of their biogeographic range in the region or have disjunct populations across Bass Strait.
This database is a digital polygon coverage of Tasmania (captured at 1:500 000 scale) detailing disjunct fauna populations. Disjunct fauna polygons are given a unique code, the relevant National Estate values and criteria, and cleared land status.
This is an archived dataset jointly owned by the Commonwealth and the Tasmanian Governments under the Tasmania-Commonwealth Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) data agreement of 8th November 1997.This data is available to the public under licence from the Department as part of the Commonwealth Spatial Data Access and Pricing Policy.
Any reproduction of this dataset must carry the following statement:
Copyright Commonwealth of Australia and Tasmanian Government 1998.
Departmental Deed