A life of fragmentation
What do you say to a man whose list of conservation awards reads like a Star Wars film intro, who has introduced terms like the ‘hyperdynamism hypothesis’ to the field of ecology, and whose...
View ArticleSome scary stats about agriculture and biodiversity
Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming the eminent sustainability scientist, Professor Andrew Balmford of the University of Cambridge, to our humble Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series here at...
View ArticleThe European Union just made bioenergy worse for biodiversity
Extending the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) on solid and gaseous biomass is being used to roll back sustainability requirements. This is the wrong path.
View ArticleWhat is a ‘mass extinction’ and are we in one now?
(reproduced from The Conversation) — For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of...
View ArticleInfluential conservation ecology papers of 2019
As I’ve done for the last six years, I am publishing a retrospective list of the ‘top’ 20 influential papers of 2109 as assessed by experts in F1000 Prime (in no particular order). See previous years’...
View ArticleThe state of global biodiversity — it’s worse than you probably think
I often find myself in a position explaining to non-professionals just how bad the state of global biodiversity really really is. It turns out too that even quite a few ecologists seem to lack an...
View ArticleSouth Australia is still killing dingoes
As we did for Victoria, here’s our submission to South Australia’s proposed changes to its ‘wild dog’ and dingo policy (organised again by the relentless and venerable Dr Kylie Cairns): 14 April 2020...
View ArticleExtinction Anxiety
Earlier this week, the SBS show The Feed did a short segment called ‘Extinction Anxiety’ where I talked with host Alice Matthews about biodiversity extinctions. Given that it has so far only been...
View ArticleA brief history of environmentalism in Australia since European invasion
A (heavily) modified and updated excerpt from our 2015 book Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie — The Australian awakening to its environmental dilemmas was a little more sluggish than...
View ArticleGrand Challenges in Global Biodiversity Threats
Last week I mentioned that the new journal Frontiers in Conservation Science is now open for business. As promised, I wrote a short article outlining our vision for the Global Biodiversity Threats...
View ArticleTime for a ‘cold shower’ about our ability to avoid a ghastly future
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,’ said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do...
View ArticleWorried about Earth’s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists...
Daniel Mariuz/AAP Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University; Daniel T. Blumstein, University of California, Los Angeles, and Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University Anyone with even a passing interest in the...
View ArticleRecreational hunting, conservation and livelihoods: no clear evidence trail
Enrico Di Minin, University of Helsinki; Anna Haukka, University of Helsinki; Anna Hausmann, University of Helsinki; Christoph Fink, University of Helsinki; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University;...
View ArticleThe 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...
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