Research

Richard Segal. The Lord Howe currawong is one of the most recognisable and commonly encountered native bird species on Lord Howe Island. They are often curious about people and always keen for a sultana or two. Until recently, little was known about the currawong, including where they prefer to nest and how many of them are breeding. For example, do all birds nest each year or only some of them? Do they nest across the island, or do they favour certain areas?

In southern Australia, whether native forests are subject to harvesting or left untouched, if appropriate landscape scale forest fuel management is not undertaken, high intensity bushfires at a mega scale can occur in any summer, particularly when there are two or more years of below average rainfall. Any climate change effects are a reason to do more mitigation by fuel reduction.

We have a fire problem in Australia that is not being addressed. And it has nothing to do with climate change. Nor is logging a major contributing factor since very small areas are available for harvesting each year. It is about the decisions in the 1990s across most states, but particularly in NSW and Victoria to lock up millions of hectares of forest into national parks and manage them by benign neglect and allow the fuel levels to build up.

Frog scientists are concerned about a large number of sick, dying or dead frogs across eastern Australia. The mass deaths in NSW, Queensland and Victoria may be an indicator of a known fungal pathogen or a new strain.

The study, published in Ecosphere, analysed the severity of Australia's 2019-2020 bushfires by examining the amount of damage to vegetation. Co-author Professor David Lindenmayer said weather had a large effect on the fires. "However, forests also burned at very high severity when they were between 10 to 40 years old. Young forests regenerating after logging were particularly susceptible to very high severity fire," he said.

A new resource is available to queen bee breeders to help improve stock of queens, leading to more productive and profitable hives.

Developing a blood test to predict the stress of aquatic species and help industry develop a more sustainable fish economy is the focus of a new research project at The University of Western Australia in collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Covid-19 has focused our attention on a serious underlying fragility that goes well beyond health. This fragility stems from the fact that our health, energy, finance, and food systems are all connected. There are clear lessons to be learned for Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector about how supply chains that cross multiple borders are vulnerable to a host of intersecting economic, social and environmental risks associated with Australia’s participation in global systems, markets and supply chains.

John O'Donnell. Real data gathered from almost 60 years of historical data from the forests of south west WA unequivocally shows that when the area of prescribed burning trends down, the area of uncontrolled bushfires (wildfires) trends up. There is a simple explanation: bushfires are more difficult to put out in long unburnt, heavy fuels ... New technology is assisting in increasing the safety and efficiency of prescribed burning programs.

Australia could turn carbon dioxide waste into a valuable revenue stream according to a new report from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

Excellent seasonal conditions and strong prices are fuelling a positive outlook for Australia’s cotton sector, with expectations next year’s crop could be one of the largest on record, according to  agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank.

While a truly catastrophic disaster is by definition unmanageable, emergency managers can still help reduce loss of life and property and assist in sustaining the continuity of affected communities.  

An extra-terrestrial parcel of Australian Golden wattle seeds has returned safely to earth and is undergoing biosecurity screening following its journey into space.  

Local businesses need to adapt and innovate to keep up with the constantly changing world and build resilience into their business. Advance Rockhampton is teaming up with key players in the business innovation and AI industries to show how emerging technologies can help Rockhampton businesses thrive.

Grain growers in Victoria’s Mallee region are being urged to ‘walk through paddocks’ to check for signs of mouse activity and crop damage and apply bait where necessary to help drive down numbers before spring.

Climate change has already cost every farm across Australia $30,000 each year in profit over the past two decades, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, and profits could slashed in half by 2050 due to ongoing environmental changes.

The latest ABARES Water Market Outlook report indicates water allocation prices in the southern Murray-Darling Basin are likely to remain low in 2021–22.

Crocodile populations in Queensland continue to recover after the reptiles were almost hunted to extinction before being protected in the 1970s, a new state government survey shows ... “The population recovery has been relatively slow and highly variable across the ranges of species since the unregulated hunting of estuarine crocodiles for their skins was banned,” says Dr Matt Brien.

Softs stole the show in July, as frost hit the heart of the Brazilian arabica coffee belt and also impacted sugar. The worst frost in 27 years led to ICE Arabica jumping by 27% and Robusta by 12% so far in July (coffee trees are very susceptible to frost damage), while sugar jumped 4.7%.

Collection significance assessment - In June, Melanie Piddocke from Queensland Museum visited the Island to undertake a Collection Significance Assessment of the collections held at the Lord Howe Island Museum. Cataloguing online - The Museum committee has also commenced cataloguing the artefacts held in the collection on a web-based system called eHive. Signal archive accessible at the museum - the museum now has a very accessible digital archive of all issues of the Island newspaper, The Lord Howe Island Signal.

A new paper reviewing the science behind claims that forest management and timber harvesting worsened the 2019/20 bushfires has been welcomed by the professional association representing some 1,000 scientific and professional forest land managers in Australia.