Queensland tropical rain forests

The Queensland tropical rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion located in northeastern Australia and belonging to the Australasian ecozone. The forest contains the world's best living record of the major stages in the evolutionary history of the world’s land plants. The history of the evolution of marsupials and songbirds is also well represented.

The ecoregion covers 32,700 square kilometers (12,600 sq mi) of northeastern coastal Queensland, from the coast up a series of plateaus and tablelands to the mountains behind the coast. The ecoregion comprises three separate sections. The northern area, which includes Cairns, is the largest, from 15°30’ to 19°25’ south latitude. This northern section is also known as the Wet Tropics bioregion.

The Queensland tropical rain forests are designated one of the Global 200 ecoregions. The ecoregion is the largest remnant of Australia's rain forest flora, home to ancient assemblage of plants, called the Antarctic flora, presently characteristic of New Zealand and southern Chile. Fossil pollen records indicate closed forest covered most of Australia between 50 to 100 million years ago. These forests represent the closest living remnant of the vegetation type from which all of Australia's unique marsupials developed. The vegetation remained across Australia and Antarctica until about 15 million years ago.

Conifers of the southern hemisphere family Araucariaceae are the characteristic tree species. In the northern section of the ecoregion, Kauri commonly form the forest canopy, with Agathis robusta most common at lower elevations, and A. microstachya and A. atropurpurea predominant at higher elevations. In the southern sections, Araucaria cunninghamii is predominant, with Araucaria bidwillii dominant in two small areas. Conifers in the family Podocarpaceae are also present, including genera Podocarpus and Sundacarpus. The forests are thick with vines, ferns, epiphytes, and palms.

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