Is Australia weird? A cross-continental comparison of biological, geological and climatological features

Australia’s distinctive biogeography means that it is sometimes considered an ecologically unique continent with biological and abiotic features are not comparable to those observed in the rest of world. This leaves some researchers unclear as whether findings from Australia apply systems elsewhere (or vice-versa ), which has consequences for development ecological theory application management principles. We analyzed 594,612 observations spanning 85 variables describing global climate, soil, geochemistry, plants, animals, ecosystem function test if broadly different other continents compare how each mean. found significant differences between Australian none 15 climate variables, only seven 25 geochemistry three 16 soil five 12 plant trait four 11 animal one variables. Seven these remained when we adjusted multiple hypothesis testing: high pH, concentrations sodium strontium, a proportion nitrogen-fixing low leaf nitrogen concentration, annual production rate birth mammals, marine productivity. Our analyses reveal numerous similarities Africa highlight dissimilarities northern vs. southern hemispheres. ranked most 26 more often than Europe (15 variables), (13 Asia (12 each), South America (11 variables) or North (8 variables). was range conditions traits, few bird mammal tending sit at extreme end variation related resource availability. However, combined revealed that, overall, significantly mean Africa, America, Europe. In conclusion, while does have features, this also true continents, data do support idea overall outlier its biotic characteristics.