The Western Australian Mulga shrublands cover a vast stretch of inland Western Australia, spanning the Gascoyne and Murchison country within the state's arid interior. As its name suggests, the landscape is dominated by mulga trees (Acacia aneura), a wattle adapted to heat and drought through long tap roots that reach scarce groundwater, often interspersed with Eriachne grassland, spinifex (Triodia), and poverty bush (Eremophila). The climate is hot and dry with little and highly variable rainfall and no reliable groundwater, conditions that shape every plant and animal here. The region supports emus, Australian bustards, red kangaroos, and honeyeaters, along with arid-zone specialists such as the mulgara and the mallee fowl, with Kennedy Range, Collier Range, and Mount Augustus National Parks among its protected areas. For dryland gardeners, the local flora is a showcase of tough Australian natives, including the many Acacia wattles and the flowering Eremophila emu bushes that thrive on so little water.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 26.6°S, 119.2°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-12a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-12b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.5°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
Realm
Australasia
Approximate area
178,742 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome
Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 52
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other deserts & xeric shrublands ecoregions to explore: