The biggest and slowest don’t always bite it first
For many years I’ve been interested in modelling the extinction dynamics of megafauna. Apart from co-authoring a few demographically simplified (or largely demographically free) models about how...
View ArticleEverything you always wanted to know about conservation (but were afraid to ask)
While some of us still might imagine the conservationist as a fancy explorer discovering new species in a remote corner of the world, or collecting samples while drowning in mud, a growing portion of...
View ArticleKilling (feral) cats quickly (and efficiently)
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a paper led by Kathryn Venning (KV) that was derived from her Honours work in the lab. Although she’s well into her PhD on an entirely different topic, I’m...
View Article… some (models) are useful
As someone who writes a lot of models — many for applied questions in conservation management (e.g., harvest quotas, eradication targets, minimum viable population sizes, etc.), and supervises people...
View ArticlePhD opportunity in control strategies of feral deer
In collaboration with Biosecurity South Australia, the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University is happy to announce a wonderful new PhD opportunity in feral deer control strategies for South...
View ArticleCartoon guide to biodiversity loss LXVIII
Here is the fifth set of biodiversity cartoons for 2021. See full stock of previous ‘Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss’ compendia here.
View ArticleAnd this little piggy went extinct
Back in June of this year I wrote (whinged) about the disappointment of writing a lot of ecological models that were rarely used to assist real-world wildlife management. However, I did hint that...
View ArticleFancy a pangolin infected with coronavirus? Apparently, many people do
The logic of money contradicts the logic of species conservation and human health. As illegal trade has driven pangolins to near extinction, their hunting and market value has kept increasing ― even...
View ArticleNeo-colonialist attitudes ignoring poachernomics will ensure more extinctions
No matter most people’s best intentions, poaching of species in Sub-Saharan Africa for horn and ivory continues unabated. Despite decades of policies, restrictions, interventions, protections, and...
View ArticleThe sixth mass extinction is happening now, and it doesn’t look good for us
Mounting evidence is pointing to the world having entered a sixth mass extinction. If the current rate of extinction continues we could lose most species by 2200. The implication for human health and...
View ArticleCan we resurrect the thylacine? Maybe, but it won’t help the global...
(published first on The Conversation) Last week, researchers at the University of Melbourne announced that thylacines or Tasmanian tigers, the Australian marsupial predators extinct since the 1930s,...
View ArticleA cascade of otters
Carnivores are essential components of trophic webs, and ecosystem functions crumble with their loss. Novel data show the connection between calcareous reefs and sea otters under climate change. For...
View ArticleBest and worst countries by different environmental indicators
I’ll preface this post with a caveat — the data herein are a few years old (certainly pre-COVID), so things have likely changed a bit. Still, I think the main message holds. Many years ago, I compiled...
View ArticleBetter codes of practice for control of feral animals
From time to time I turn my research hand to issues of invasive species control, for example, from manipulating pathogens to control rabbits, to island eradication of feral cats and pigs, to effective...
View ArticleAn unexpected journey (of eels)
The way that eels migrate along rivers and seas is mesmerising. There has been scientific agreement since the turn of the 20th Century that the Sargasso Sea is the breeding home to the sole European...
View ArticleOpen Letter: Public policy in South Australia regarding dingoes
08 August 2023 The Honourable Dr Susan Close MP, Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, South Australia The Honourable Claire Scriven MLC, Minister for Primary Industries and...
View ArticleHuman impact, extinctions, and the biodiversity crisis
Human overpopulation is often depicted in the media in one of two ways: as either a catastrophic disaster or an overly-exaggerated concern. Yet the data understood by scientists and researchers is...
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Small populations of Stone Age people drove dwarf hippos and elephants to...
Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University; Christian Reepmeyer, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut – German Archaeological Institute, and Theodora Moutsiou, University of Cyprus Imagine growing up...
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