Culture is the thread that binds a population to its country through survival. For Australian First Nations people, their aboriginality is a 65,000 year contract with nature. But nature is …
Conservation principles
Here are some of the various subjects I’ve been reading about lately. Three articles on animal autonomy, whale personhood and eating rats. All are very enlightening ideas that relate to …
Whale sharks are massive energy-crunching behemoths that, ironically, spend their lives in the most nutrient-poor oceans. Why? Here’s the first paradox of ecology that stumps most people. The richest, most …
This week, a paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (de Kock et al 2023) [1]. The researchers found that generations of turtles had been …
Why are cuckoos important?
Common Cuckoos are an intercontinental migrant that join a throng of other European birds making their biannual journey to and from Africa. Hearing the first spring cuckoo call is always emotional. …
What was thrilling about reading Wohlleben’s The Power of Trees was to expand on a notion I covered in a recent blog. That unlike animals, the ‘brain’ of trees – …
Conversations about my book often come around to the question of: ‘What to do about introduced species?’ (especially in Australia). Or, about the benefits (or otherwise) of tree-planting. Here are …
In the last few days, three people have separately sent me this new climate paper Schmitz et al. (2023), just published in the journal Nature [1]. Like the study I …
It’s common that I’m asked, ‘Are ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when …
We recently visited the Mount Rothwell Sanctuary in Melbourne’s west. Originally created by John Wamsley, this 420 hectare predator-proofed sanctuary was bought in 2004 and is currently operated by the …