Richards (2016) questioned whether offsets were sufficiently transparent of know whether they were achieving their objectives and whether they were value for money, Lindemayer et al. (2017) reported offsets of a nest box program where ineffective, Maron et al. (2012) concluded that many of the expectations set by current offset policy for ecological restoration remain […]

Last year the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (2017) published guidelines for surveys to detect the presence of bilbies, and assess the importance of habitat in Western Australia and this guide includes the following information for the preferred Bilby search method of 2ha searches: The standardised 2ha sign plot method provides systematically quantified data […]

Killifish (families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae) are egg-laying fish that are mostly adapted to living in ephemeral waters, many with eggs able to survive out of water and for periods of partial dehydration. They are found in fresh and brackish water on the Americas, southern Europe and much of Africa, middle-east, but they […]

I was reading yesterday about New Zealand’s effort to eradicate rats on an off-shore island and remembered the success story from South Georgia on our trip through Antarctica last year. South Georgia is in the southern Atlantic Ocean approximately 1,900km east of the southern end of South America and 1,500km east of the Falkland Islands. […]

Brooke Richards (2016) submitted an honours thesis titled ‘Do Environmental Offsets Deliver for Carnaby’s Cockatoo?’ and we thought the findings of this thesis may be of interest to a wider audience. Environmental offsets are applied when there is a significant residual environmental impact for a proposed development (Government of Western Australia 2011). The Western Australian […]

This time last year Graham and I were lucky enough to have spent about three weeks visiting the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. The scenery is fantastic, and we saw thousands of breeding penguins, lots of seals, whales and sea birds. However, one of the most significant observations and lasting memories is […]

Between 2013-2016, Terrestrial Ecosystems posted a weekly blog, however, during 2017 we stopped the blog because we got too busy at work and thought it wasn’t being viewed. As it turns out lots of people read our blog and many people have asked why it stopped. Some of the previous blog topics included: Is the […]

In the United Kingdom, as is the case elsewhere in the world, landholders/owners have some ownership rights over native fauna on their land. In short, there are three ways of qualified ownership of native fauna (ref ): Tame and reclaimed animals – Where a person lawfully takes, tames, or reclaims a living wild animal, they […]

The Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) is regarded as either a pest of agriculture or an unwanted organism in New Zealand, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. On the east coast it inhabits rainforests, coastal bush and woodland areas. In Western Australia, the Rainbow Lorikeet is a declared […]

Wildlife or conservation detection dogs are now widely used in Australia and overseas to locate native and feral animals, their scats and retreats. They are also used to find particular plants and for locating drugs and explosives (Wasser et al. 2004, Smith et al. 2005, Arnett 2006, Long et al. 2007, Cablk et al. 2008, […]