<
https://theconversation.com/from-the-coasts-to-the-plains-bird-flu-could-threaten-not-just-birds-but-their-homes-289709>
"Yesterday, I woke to a cold, damp Canberra morning – and silence. The trees
around my home were empty of feathered silhouettes. Even the usual bright-eyed,
warble-voiced magpies were absent.
The next morning, they were back. I don’t know why they went AWOL. But their
absence felt like a taste of what might come as the lethal H5N1 strain of bird
flu spreads in Australia, affecting both birds and mammals.
Conservationists once asked: what is a bird without a tree to nest in?
This year, we may well wonder the grim inverse – what is a tree without a bird
to nest in it? I can tell you. A tree without a bird is a miserable thing – and
in a broader ecological sense, a tree without a bird could be in trouble.
In Australia, birds act in many roles that mammals or insects might fill
elsewhere, from pollinating flowers to spreading seeds to keeping trees free of
sap-sucking insects.
Bird flu doesn’t just threaten birds and mammals – it could well affect entire
ecosystems."
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
