After posting 22 articles earlier today, youd think thered be no more?! Just a few more! (7) Hundreds of animals disappear as humans multiply As the number of humans on Earth has nearly doubled over the past four decades, the number of bugs, slugs, worms and crustaceans has declined by 45 per cent, say researchers. Meanwhile, the larger loss of wildlife big and small across the planet may be a key driver of growing violence and unrest, said another study in the journal Science as part of a special series on disappearing animals. abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/07/25/4053825.htm Quokkas take fox poison Ninety-five per cent of baits intended for feral foxes are taken by native species including quokkas a Murdoch University researcher has found. Postdoctoral research fellow Shannon Dundas from Murdoch’s School of Veterinary and Life Sciences used cameras and regular visits to monitor seven sites in southwestern Australia that were ground-baited at high densities on a monthly basis over nine months. Dr Dundas found that 99 per cent of camera monitored baits were taken by species other than foxes, with 95 per cent taken by native fauna and five per cent taken by introduced pigs and black rats. Only a single monitored bait was taken by a fox, the target species of the baiting program. oneperth.au/2014/07/28/fox-baits-wa/ New way of measuring biodiversity could help protect Earths most vulnerable species An international team of researchers has come up with a more effective way to measure biodiversity and identify areas that are in most desperate need of conservation help. The new technique analyses the genetic connections between species, rather than simply counting the number of individual species in an area, in order to look at the biodiversity on a deeper level. The researchers, including scientists from the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra in Australia, have published the new technique in Nature Communications. sciencealert.au/news/20142407-25918.html CSIRO: Australia’s biodiversity, how is it tracking? Australia’s Biodiversity series – Part 3: Status and Trends csironewsblog/2014/07/30/australias-biodiversity-how-is-it-tracking/ More on the shooting tragedy in NSW: Elderly man charged with murder of Environment and Heritage worker near Moree smh.au/nsw/elderly-man-charged-with-murder-of-environment-and-heritage-worker-near-moree-20140730-zycl2.html also: abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/nrn-farmer-shooting-death-30-07-14/5635446 ABC: Bow and arrow attacks on wild animals on the rise, prompting call to restrict compound bows (video) abc.net.au/news/2014-07-29/bow-and-arrow-attacks-on-wildlife-on-the-rise/5633590 Australias vast solar resources closer to being tapped in a big way Australia’s largest solar plant moves one step closer to completion with the first of 1.35 million solar photovoltaic (PV) modules being installed on Wednesday at AGL’s Nyngan Solar plant in central NSW. Located on a 250-hectare site about 550 km north-west of Sydney, the $290 million plant will have a capacity of 102 megawatts, or enough to power about 33,000 homes. The plant is expected to be completed by next July and generate an estimated $137 million for the regional economy over its 30-year life span, said Scott Thomas, AGL’s general manager power development. Read more: smh.au/environment/climate-change/australias-vast-solar-resources-closer-to-being-tapped-in-a-big-way-20140730-zy7dc.html#ixzz38wKhf5XY
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 08:52:04 +0000