Planting strips of native prairie grasses on a farm in Iowa provides habitat for pollinators and protects soil and water.
Omar de Kok-Mercado/Iowa State University
The Earth is losing plants and animals at rates not seen in millions of years. Ecologists explain how protecting habitat on working lands – farms, forests and ranches – can help conserve species.
The invasive species was likely brought to Australia unintentionally by ship. Now found in every state and territory, the wasps are decimating our ecosystems.
Paul Weston, Charles Sturt University and Theo Evans, The University of Western Australia
Wet and bulky cattle dung is very unlike marsupial dung that Australian dung beetles are adapted to deal with, meaning native dung beetles tend to leave it alone. But help from abroad is at hand.
Feral horses are a growing problem for the NSW government.
Shutterstock/Constantin Stanciu
Rewilding is gaining popularity around the world, as a means to restore ecosystems to their ancient state. But just like Vegemite, Australian rewilding projects need to have a unique flavour.
The government’s target to kill 2 million feral cats sounds impressive, but lacks scientific rigour.
The plan to kill 2 million feral cats nationwide by 2020 makes for good headlines. But it’s also a simplistic goal that won’t necessarily deliver conservation benefits to native species.
The dingo, Australia’s largest mammalian carnivore, has a broad diet that varies across the continent.
Judy Dunlop
A survey of 32,000 samples of dingo droppings and stomach contents reveal that this predator’s appetite is as wide-ranging as Australia’s landscapes. But medium and large mammals are top of the menu.
Mature trees have horizontal branches that are attractive to wildlife and birds.
from shutterstock.com
The ecological value of old trees is irreplaceable for native Australian fauna. Identifying and preserving these trees in cities through smarter planning strategies is important for local wildlife.
A feral cat snapped by a remote camera in the wild.
NT government
The average Australian feral cat kills 225 reptiles a year, which adds up to 596 million in total, according to a new estimate. Pet cats, meanwhile, kill a further 53 million.
Research suggests there is no “safe number” of brumbies that will avoid harm to mountain ecosystems.
Jimmyvanderwall/Wikimedia Commons
Failing to cull feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park may end up promoting environmental destruction while actually increasing the horses’ suffering.
On the prowl in the outback.
Hugh McGregor/Arid Recovery
For the first time, researchers have estimated the toll taken by feral and pet cats on Australia’s bird life - and the numbers are high enough to push several species towards extinction.
Scottish beeches – the slowest invasion in history?
Angus Clyne
Beeches are ‘non-native’ to Scotland because they got there less than 7,000 years ago. No, really.
These migratory pied imperial-pigeons in Far North Queensland, like many of Australia’s 22 species of native pigeons and doves, play an important role in our ecosystems but may be at risk from emerging viruses in domestic pigeons.
Dejan Stojanovic
Two recently emerging viruses in domestic pigeons in Australia may pose a significant threat to Australia’s 22 species of native pigeons and doves, many of which have crucial ecosystem roles.
Seed-eating birds like this male king parrot enjoy birdbaths - but they like food even more.
Glenn Pure
Is providing birds with food and water making them too dependent? Or are gardens just the new frontier of Australia’s urban landscape? New research aims to find out.
Some of the many species in the Australian National Insect Collection.
CSIRO/Alan Landford
At least 100,000 insects are among the many Australian species still to be formally identified. That’s a problem for any biosecurity experts who need to be able to spot potentially invasive bugs.
The fate of this koala could depend on some clever computer modelling.
Shutterstock/Dudarev Mikhail