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Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically , physiogeographically , philologically , and ecologically , where the term ...
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. [N 5] It has a total area of 7,688,287 km 2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania.
In his 1879 book Australasia, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace commented that, "Oceania is the word often used by continental geographers to describe the great world of islands we are now entering upon" and that "Australia forms its central and most important feature."
The boundaries of Oceania are defined in a number of ways. Most definitions include parts of Australasia such as Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, and parts of Maritime Southeast Asia. [5] [6] [7] Ethnologically, the islands of Oceania are divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. [8]
The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. [1] Heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. [2] The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissue, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs. [3]
Temperate Australasia is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of Australia and New Zealand, including both the Indian Ocean and Pacific coasts of the continent and adjacent islands. Temperate Australasia is a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's ocean basins.
The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul (/ s ə ˈ h uː l /), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia, [1] [2] [3] is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres. [4]
From an ecological perspective the Australasian realm is a distinct region, parts of which have a common geologic and evolutionary history. The entire area has experienced a long period of biological isolation from other regions, and thus harbors a great many unique plants and animals.