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https://theconversation.com/species-dont-live-in-isolation-what-changing-threats-to-4-marsupials-tell-us-about-the-future-200990>
"Conserving native wildlife is a challenging task and Australia’s unenviable
extinction record shows us we urgently need more sophisticated and effective
approaches.
Too often we focus on saving individual threatened species. But in the wild,
species do not live neatly in isolation. They are part of rich ecosystems,
relying on many other species to survive. To save species often means saving
this web of life.
Our new research models what’s likely to happen to four well-known Western
Australian marsupials in the biodiversity hotspot of south-western Australia,
by identifying key drivers of their populations over time.
In the past, these species were most at risk from habitat loss. But when we ran
our models forwards, we found all four species would be at more risk from
climate change, which is bringing heightened fire risk and a drying trend to
the region. Even better control of foxes – a major predator – did not offset
the trend fully.
Our work adds further weight to efforts to protect ecosystems in all their
complexity. The way species – including feral predators – interact takes place
against a changing climate, fire regimes, and human-made change, like logging
and grazing.
To give native species their best chance of survival, we have to embrace
ecosystem-based conservation, rather than focusing on rescuing individual
species."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
