Some scary stats about agriculture and biodiversity
Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming the eminent sustainability scientist, Professor Andrew Balmford of the University of Cambridge, to our humble Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series here at...
View ArticleMinister, why is the dingo no longer ‘fauna’?
So, a few of us have just submitted a letter contesting the Western Australia Government’s recent decision to delist dingoes as ‘fauna’ (I know — what the hell else could they be?). The letter was...
View ArticleInfluential conservation ecology papers of 2018
For the last five years I’ve published a retrospective list of the ‘top’ 20 influential papers of the year as assessed by experts in F1000 Prime — so, I’m doing so again for 2018 (interesting side...
View ArticleWe need a Revegetation Council
As I have discussed before, the greatest threatening process to biodiversity in South Australia today is past and ongoing clearing of native vegetation. So, arresting further vegetation clearing, and...
View ArticleThe dingo is a true-blue, native Australian species
(reproduced from The Conversation) Of all Australia’s wildlife, one stands out as having an identity crisis: the dingo. But our recent article in the journal Zootaxa argues that dingoes should be...
View ArticleHow to improve (South Australia’s) biodiversity prospects
If you read CB.com regularly, you’ll know that late last year I blogged about the South Australia 2108 State of the Environment Report for which I was commissioned to write an ‘overview‘ of the State’s...
View Article“Overabundant” wildlife usually isn’t
Late last year (10 December) I was invited to front up to the ‘Overabundant and Pest Species Inquiry’ at the South Australian Parliament to give evidence regarding so-called ‘overabundant’ and ‘pest’...
View ArticleNothing like a good forest
Our history and culture are intimately tied to the planet’s forests and the services they provide to all living beings. In modern times, forests also help combat the impacts of anthropogenic climate...
View ArticleThe Great Dying
Here’s a presentation I gave earlier in the year for the Flinders University BRAVE Research and Innovation series: There is No Plan(et) B — What you can do about Earth’s extinction emergency Earth is...
View ArticleVictoria, please don’t aerial-bait dingoes
Here’s a submission to Victoria’s proposed renewal of special permission from the Commonwealth to poison dingoes: 08 October 2019 Honourable Lily D’Ambrosio MP Minister for Energy, Environment and...
View ArticleFour decades of fragmentation
I’ve recently read perhaps the most comprehensive treatise of forest fragmentation research ever compiled, and I personally view this rather readable and succinct review by Bill Laurance and colleagues...
View ArticleTiny, symbiotic organisms protect corals from predation and disease
Corals could have some unexpected allies to cope with the multi-faceted threats posed by climate change. In a new study published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Montano and colleagues...
View ArticleInfluential conservation ecology papers of 2017
As I have done for the last four years (2016, 2015, 2014, 2013), here’s another retrospective list of the top 20 influential conservation papers of 2017 as assessed by experts in F1000 Prime. More than...
View ArticleBring it back
Restoration of lost habitats and ecosystems hits all the right notes — conservation optimism, a can-do attitude, and the excitement of seeing biologically impoverished areas teem with life once more....
View ArticleOffshore Energy & Marine Spatial Planning
I have the pleasure (and relief) of announcing a new book that’s nearly ready to buy, and I think many readers of CB.com might be interested in what it describes. I know it might be a bit premature to...
View ArticleOur global system-of-systems
I’ve just read an excellent paper that succinctly, eloquently, and wisely summarised the current predicament of our highly interconnected, global, complex adaptive system (i.e., our environment). If...
View ArticlePenguins cheated by ecosystem change
Thermal microhabitats are often uncoupled from above-ground air temperatures. A study focused on small frogs and lizards from the Philippines demonstrates that the structural complexity of tropical...
View ArticleWhat Works in Conservation 2018
This book is free to download. This book contains the evidence for the effectiveness of over 1200 things you might do for conservation. If you don’t have a copy, go and download yourself a free one...
View ArticleInfluential conservation ecology papers of 2019
As I’ve done for the last six years, I am publishing a retrospective list of the ‘top’ 20 influential papers of 2109 as assessed by experts in F1000 Prime (in no particular order). See previous years’...
View ArticleSouth Australia is still killing dingoes
As we did for Victoria, here’s our submission to South Australia’s proposed changes to its ‘wild dog’ and dingo policy (organised again by the relentless and venerable Dr Kylie Cairns): 14 April 2020...
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