ABSTRACT
Oceania is the name of the region consisting of island groups within the Central and South Pacifi c Ocean (Fig. 5.1). The term Oceania is often used more specifi cally to denote a continent comprising Australia and proximate islands or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone (Wallacea and Australasia) or the Pacifi c ecozone (Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia). It spans over 8.5 million square kilometres. Some of the countries included in Oceania are Australia, New Zealand, Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Palau, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Nauru. Oceania also includes several dependencies and territories such as American Samoa, Johnston Atoll and French Polynesia.
