New research a game changer for fox control
Wed, 03 Apr 2019Red foxes are one of the greatest threats to Australia’s native mammals and pose a major risk to livestock. To combat this, Australia spends more than
$16 million per year on red fox control, with much of that money directed to poison baiting.
But recent research by the University of Melbourne led by Dr Bronwyn Hradsky has found that when control programs aren’t strategic, fox numbers can
quickly recover.
“The point of controlling foxes for conservation is not to kill foxes but to protect our native wildlife, so fox control programs need to be as strategic, effective and efficient as possible.
“To achieve this, land managers need tools to help them understand how fox populations grow and behave and how they can best manage these populations.
CEC Ecologist Mark Le Pla handling a southern brown bandicoot. Image: Lauren Halstead
"Protecting native wildlife from foxes in places like the Great Otway National Park is a major priority for Parks Victoria,” said Dr John Wright, the Manager of Terrestrial Ecosystem Science at Parks Victoria.
Contact Jaana Dielenberg, Science Communication Manager, TSR Hub, 0413 585 709, j.dielenberg@uq.edu.au
Top image: Fox in the Otways. Image: Mark Le Pla
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The little things count too: Prioritising recovery efforts for fire-affected invertebrates
Wed, 09 Sep 2020Professor John Woinarski of Charles Darwin University discusses the importance of averting extinctions of less charismatic animals.
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Fire and post-fire impacts on wildlife groups, and priority conservation responses
Wed, 02 Sep 2020The 2019–20 wildfires have severely impacted animals of all major species groups. Here, national experts on mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs and freshwater fish and crayfish present some of the key challenges for each group and how these will influence management and research priorities in the aftermath of the fires.
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Cultural fire: Listening to and caring for Country with fire
Tue, 01 Sep 2020Cultural fire management is the way that Indigenous people have used fire to care for Country for thousands of years, and it continues today. The devastation wreaked by the 2019–20 bushfires across millions of hectares was a wake-up call for Australia and the world. Oliver Costello from the Firesticks Alliance explains how the fires demonstrated the need to listen to and care for Country.
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Plants in the ashes: Prioritising Australian flora after the fires
Tue, 01 Sep 2020Australia has one of the highest rates of plant endemism of any country globally. After the catastrophic fire season of 2019–20, Dr Rachael Gallagher and Professor David Keith are leading two teams to find out which species and ecological communities are most in need of immediate recovery.
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Prioritising action for animal species after the fires
Tue, 01 Sep 2020The 2019–20 bushfires burnt over 12 million hectares of south-eastern and south-western Australia, causing abrupt losses of biodiversity at a scale never seen before. Over a billion animals were estimated to have died, but the figure is likely much higher. The Australian Government’s Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel is guiding the work of prioritising species and ecological communities for emergency interventions and determining what those actions should be. Hub Deputy Director and Expert Panel member Professor Sarah Legge takes us though the hows and whys of this prioritisation, and some of its challenges.
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