Australia

Quantifying costs and benefits of buffel grass

Buffel grass is a major environmental weed with the potential to establish in over 60% of mainland Australia.
It is also highly prized by many pastoralists as an exotic pasture grass for livestock. Within these two conflicting views there is a spectrum…

Optimising management of core mesquite infestations in Australia

We conducted a three-year field study to test whether the invasiveness of mesquite, and its response to biological control, differs with taxa and climate (between region and years). Permanent study sites were set up and monitored in the core infestations

Biological control and ecology of alligator weed

The goal of this project was to improve management of alligator weed in Australia. This was to be accomplished through; 1) testing the host specificity of two herbivorous insects for potential use as biological control agents

Making the most of scant environmental flows

Presents findings from a Land & Water Australia PhD study undertaken on the Lower Murray Valley floodplain in South Australia. Primary study sites covered the region from Morgan in the west to Chowilla on the NSW border.

Pathway risk analysis for weed spread within Australia

This project is designed to ascertain the ways in which weeds spread once in Australia and to assess the relative risks or threats from different pathways of weed spread. This will enable better targeting of efforts to reduce the movement of high risk…

Modelling climate change impacts on sleeper and alert weeds

This project will model the change in distribution of sleeper and environmental alert species due to climate change and will assist in preparing a climate change weed risk map for natural resource management regions across Australia.

Climag Magazine 16

With climate change predictions pointing to Australia’s climate becoming even more variable, farmers are looking for more accurate seasonal forecasts that can be interpreted to help them better make decisions about planting, sowing, harvesting and stockin

Targeting endocrine disruptors in Australia's waterways

When the media reported the intriguing story of ‘gender bending’ chemicals causing fish in UK streams to develop male and female sex organs, research teams began to investigate the cause. The gender benders, actually endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), were mainly natural and man-made hormones excreted by humans, and some industrial chemicals. Even in trace amounts, the EDCs alter levels of hormones and specific proteins. This in turn causes intersex (both (more)...

Sustainable Development of Tropical Australia: R&D for Management of Land, Water and Marine Resources

Drought, the "creeping disaster"

As a general phenomenon to cover most situations, drought is difficult to define, though basically a drought is due to a severe, abnormal deficit in the rainfall of a region. Four major types of drought are recognised: meteorological drought, agricultural drought, hydrological drought and socio-economic drought. This report is mainly concerned with hydrological drought, which is manifested in both the availability of surface water and the levels of groundwater. There are numerous indices for drought (more)...