page_title: Brisbane
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Brisbane / Geography and environment / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Jacarandas in New Farm Park October 2006
context_page_description: Brisbane is the capital of and the most populated city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2.5 million, and the South East Queensland metropolitan region, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3.6 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the historic European settlement and is situated inside a peninsula of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay, a bay of the Coral Sea. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges. It sprawls across several of Australia's most populous local government areas —most centrally the City of Brisbane, which is by far the most populous LGA in the nation. The demonym of Brisbane is "Brisbanite", whilst common nicknames include "Brissy", "River City" and "Brisvegas".
  One of the oldest cities in Australia, Brisbane was founded upon the ancient traditional lands of the Jagera people, including the Turrbal group, who named the area Meanjin.
context_section_description: Brisbane is located within the South East Queensland biogeographic region, and is home to numerous Eucalyptus varieties. Trees considered iconic to Brisbane include the Moreton Bay fig, a very large evergreen banyan with imposing buttress roots named for the region which are often lit with decorative lights in the inner city, as well as the jacaranda, a subtropical tree native to South America which line avenues and parks throughout Brisbane and bloom with purple flowers during October, referred to locally as 'jacaranda season'. Other trees common to the metropolitan area include Moreton Bay chestnut, broad-leaved paperbark, poinciana, weeping lilli pilli and Bangalow palm. Some of the banks of the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay are home to mangrove wetlands.
  Brisbane is home to numerous bird species, with common species including rainbow lorikeets, kookaburras, galahs, Australian white ibises, Australian brushturkeys, Torresian crows, Australian magpies and noisy miners. Common reptiles include common garden skinks, Australian water dragons, bearded dragons and blue-tongued lizards. Common ringtail possums and flying foxes are common in parks and yards throughout the city, as are common crow butterflies, blue triangle butterflies, golden orb-weaver spiders and St Andrew's Cross spiders. The Brisbane River is home to many fish species including yellowfin bream, flathead, Australasian snapper, and bull sharks. The waters of Moreton Bay are home to dugongs, humpback whales, dolphins, mud crabs, soldier crabs, Moreton Bay bugs and numerous shellfish species.
caption: Jacaranda trees in bloom at New Farm Park
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