ecosystem
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They Might Not Have a Spine, but Invertebrates Are the Backbone of Our Ecosystems
Many of Australia’s natural places are in a poor state. While important work is being done to protect particular species, we must also take a broader approach to returning entire ecosystems to their former glory – a strategy known as “rewilding”. Rewilding aims to restore the complex interactions that make up a functioning ecosystem. It…
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Extinction Crisis: Native Mammals Are Disappearing in Northern Australia, but Only a Few People Are Watching
At the time Australia was colonised by Europeans, an estimated 180 mammal species lived in the continent’s northern savannas. The landscape teemed with animals, from microbats to rock-wallabies and northern quolls. Many of these mammals were found nowhere else on Earth. An unidentified account from the Normanton district of Northwest Queensland, dating back to 1897,…
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Giant Panda Conservation is Failing to Revive the Wider Ecosystem
At a time when we crave good news, the giant panda is a beacon of environmental optimism. Since becoming an icon for the conservation movement in the 1980s, 67 panda reserves and countless wildlife corridors have been created in the bamboo forested mountain ranges of central China. The most recent census suggests all that effort…