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The environmental impacts of eradicating dingoes from the landscape are visible from space, a new study shows.
Researchers studied 32 years of satellite imagery along the dingo fence which stretches across Queensland, NSW and South Australia.
They found that areas without dingoes on the south side of the fence had poorer long-term growth than vegetation in areas with dingoes. Dingoes indirectly affect vegetation by controlling numbers of kangaroos and small mammals, ecologist Mike Letnic said on Wednesday. The differences in grazing pressure on each side of the fence were so pronounced they could be seen from space.
With few dingoes preying on them, kangaroo numbers increased, leading to overgrazing, Prof Letnic said.
MOUNT ETNA was rocked by an eruption last night, sending columns of smoke and fountains of lava into the sky for the fifth time in the space of a week - but where is Mount Etna in Italy?
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IMAGE: Penn State researchers, who continue to monitor the bobcat population on Cumberland Island National Seashore, also conducted a study comparing and contrasting the Cumberland Island bobcats to a population of. view more
Credit: Jim Jordan/Town of Kiawah Island
The reintroduction of 32 bobcats to an island off the coast of Georgia more than three decades ago created an ideal experiment to examine the accuracy of a genetic-modeling technique that predicts extinction of isolated wildlife populations.
That s the conclusion of Penn State researchers who continue to monitor the bobcat population on Cumberland Island National Seashore, and who conducted a study comparing and contrasting the Cumberland Island bobcats to a population of bobcats on Kiawah Island off the coast of South Carolina.
Battle over Wyangala Dam and its downstream impacts is just beginning
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On a summer’s evening, as the setting sun paints a flock of straw-necked ibises a glowing pink as they wing their way over Lake Cowal, it’s not hard to imagine Mal Carnegie has landed a dream job.
As manager of a conservation centre monitoring NSW’s largest inland natural freshwater lake, the 56-year old gets to introduce visitors to one of Australia’s greatest “boom-bust” wildlife systems that has thrilled him all his life.
Unique study of isolated bobcat population confirms accuracy of extinction model scienceblog.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scienceblog.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.