Diversity in Australian Environments
...nimals, for example, tropical rain forest or desert. A biome is composed of many ecosystems—smaller communities of plants and animals and their habitats (the physical parts of their environment that affect them). Whereas the boundaries of a biome are determined by climate, the boundaries of ecosystems are physical features, such as ridges or riverbanks, which separate one community from another. The ecosystems of a particular biome tend to have plants with similar growth forms and animals with similar feeding habits. Some of the components of ‘Cultural diversity’ are ethnic origin, language, beliefs, customs, traditions and religion. Culture refers to the body of beliefs, attitudes, skills and tools by which communities structure their lives and interact with the environment. One of the major components of culture is language. In most countries an official language is used all around, such as in television, radio, newspapers, books, magazine and so forth. People would tend to speak the language in places like the office and school. Within many counties of the Asian-Pacific region several different languages are spoken. For example in Singapore the official languages are Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English but the national language is Malay. Dialects can also exist within language groups. A dialect is a regional variety of a language, with differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Many languages were introduced to countries through colonization by Europeans from the fifteenth century onwards. Religion is also another distinctive aspect of culture. Customs and ceremonies, such as marriage and the role of the family, are often closely linked to religion. All of the world religions are represented in Asia-Pacific region. Within major religions there are often significant variations too. The way in which people organize and interact is an important part of culture. There are various scales at which different communities organize aspects of their lives. For example in many parts of rural Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia people live in villages and many aspects of their daily lives are organized at this local level. Many important decisions are made at this level and social and political organization is very much at the local scale. There is also great diversity in technology throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In the more technologically advance countries like Australia and Japan highly sophisticated equipment is used in the production process. Hill tribes in Cambodia and Laos rely on simple technology like digging sticks to till their land for cultivation. Other different aspects are also part of culture such as clothing, food, housing styles and particular customs and practices. ‘Economic’ diversity refers to the size of economies and types of economies. There was a rapid economic growth in many countries in the latter part of the twentieth century. Asia has especially had a rapid growth in its economy, taking an example of Japan and China who took there places amongst the largest economies in the world. The speed of growth of these Asian countries was referred to as the ‘Asian miracle’. The United States faced a gradual shift of economic importance away from the east coast to the west. Other economies however have changed very little or have stagnated such as North Korea which showed little growth and remains very poor. The size of economies is calculated and shown as the Gross national produce (GNP) per capita which gives an indication average standard of living in the courtiers being compared. There is also a calculation of the GDP...