ABSTRACT
The alpine vegetation of Australia is highly variable in its floristic composition and structural attributes with most of the variation being in the island state of Tasmania. There are several recognised centres of local endemism within alpine Australia. Throughout glacial periods in the northern hemisphere large ice sheets have covered most of the area occupied by alpine and tundra vegetation during interglacials, making alpine and tundra vegetation more extensive in interglacials than glacials. The chapter examines correlates of localised distributions of obligate alpine species within Australia. Vascular plant species lists were obtained from 75 alpine habitat islands throughout the range of alpine vegetation in Australia. There is no indication that the long-term major disjunction between the Tasmanian and mainland Australian alpine areas has had a major effect on species composition beyond that occasioned by environmental distance.
