How did life begin? I was inspired by a video posted online [1] that accompanies a new paper showing tectonic plate movement over the last billion years. It’s always interesting …
AmplificationAnimal ImpactBiodiversity processesConservation principlesFood securityForestsNutrient transferRewildingWhy animals are important
The massive impact of animals on forest nutrients
A study recently published in the journal of Functional Ecology shows us how large fruit-eating animals can be responsible for massively enhancing forest nutrientA substance that contains the raw materials …
Animal ImpactAustraliaBiodiversity processesChaos reductionFood securityOceansRewildingSharks and RaysWhy animals are important
How do you reduce shark attacks? Try increasing shark numbers
Ecology is a complex science and so often, our simplest assumptions about how things work, don’t hold up in practice. Take sharks for example. How do you reduce shark attacks? …
Animal ImpactBiodiversity processesConservation principlesExtinctionHumans as animalsNature-based Solutions
Humans and mass extinction: who is the real victim?
It’s inevitable that at some stage, someone will say to me “why are you making animal conservation all about humans?” I sympathise with this view. When I see the suffering …
During the last ice-age 20,000 years ago, there was a particularly cold period. Scientists have thought this might have had to do with an influx of iron into the Southern …
Animal ImpactAustraliaBiodiversity processesBirdsConservation principlesRewildingWhy animals are important
A single lyrebird moves 350 tonnes of soil a year
Lyrebirds will make a few appearances in my forthcoming book. Mostly because they are are an outstanding and visible indicator of animal impact and the origin of most of the …
Animal ImpactBiodiversity processesBirdsFood securityNature-based SolutionsRarityRewildingSustainability
Using species’ potential range as an indicator of conservation importance
A new paper published in the journal Ecological Indicators proposes that we use indices of species’ potential range to inform conservation status (Mason et al, 2021). Findings like these should …
Animal ImpactBiodiversity processesChaos reductionClimate stabilityConservation principlesFood securityMegafaunaNature-based SolutionsRewilding
Biodiversity Conservation and the Earth System
A recent paper published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution sets out the increasing evidence that loss of large vertebrates in particular, is having massive impacts on ecosystem processes. The …
New research shows the impact of climate change on forests is to “scramble the biological clock of the forest floor“. The study shows how the change in timing of various …
Animal ImpactBiodiversity processesBirdsConservation principlesFood securityGrasslandInvertebratesMegafaunaMigrationNature-based SolutionsRewildingWhy animals are important
Addressing the rapid decline of insects means having more insect-eating birds
The life-histories of insects and vertebrates are coupled. Predator and prey cannot exist without one-another. Species richness is higher in systems with predators [1] because they perform a function of …