VicForests just won a landmark Federal court case against the local community, throwing light on an outdated definition of sustainability. Ironically, the judge ruled in favour of over 20 individual …
Megafauna
Killing kangaroos destroys Australia’s environment. It makes no sense!
At a time when much of the world is busy rewilding, some Australia’s conservationists want to kill millions of kangaroos including Red Kangaroo, the country’s largest remaining megafaunaThe largest animals …
For obvious reasons, there is a lot of talk at the moment about the risk of getting diseases from animals. We degrade habitatsWhat is habitat for animals and people? Habitat, …
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 …
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 richnessThe number of species within a given area. Note, this is often confused with …
What is a keystone species? Animals stabilise ecosystems, not drive them
What is a keystone species? The term was coined by American zoologist Robert Paine in 1969 as meaning an animal that has disproportionate effect on its surroundings. Conservationists will often use …