A new study led by Macquarie University has found we need to provide more safe havens for wildlife and plant species to survive under climate change in New South Wales’ west.
Along the Great Dividing Range, the vulnerable spotted-tailed quoll will be forced to move into higher habitats as the climate changes, but can find sanctuary in protected areas like Kosciuszko National Park.
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The flooded gum or rose gum (Eucalyptus grandis). Photo: Geoexplore
This finding could have important implications for restoring ecosystems and climate-proofing forestry, as the number of hot days and heatwaves increase due to climate change.
A fully developed pyrocumulus cloud, formed from the smoke plume of the Grampians fire in February 2013. Credit: Randall Bacon
Firestorms are a nightmare for emergency services and anyone in their path. They occur when a bushfire meets a ‘perfect storm’ of environmental conditions and creates a thunderstorm.
Dr Rachel Badlan and Associate Professor Jason Sharples are part of a team of experts from UNSW Canberra and ACT Emergency Services that has found the shape of a fire is an important factor in whether it will turn into a firestorm.
Fires that form expansive areas of active flame, rather than spreading as a relatively thin fire-front, are more likely to produce higher smoke plumes and turn into firestorms, the researchers found.
This finding is being used to underpin further development of a predictive model for firestorms. The model was trialed in the 2015 and 2016 fire seasons by the ACT Emergency Services Agency and the NSW Rural Fire Service, and now forms part of the national dialogue around extreme bushfire development.
Australian marine scientists have found the first evidence that coral itself may play an important role in regulating local climate.
They have discovered that the coral animal—not just its algal symbiont—makes an important sulphur-based molecule with properties to assist it in many ways, ranging from cellular protection in times of heat stress to local climate cooling by encouraging clouds to form.
These findings have been published in the prestigious weekly science journal Nature.
And I think that’s all the science news we have for this week. Next week we’ll be talking supernovae, quantum computers and nanotech in the run up to the national physics congress in Sydney… [continue reading…]
Climate change will affect how we farm, but we’re not at the point of ‘adapt or die’. Right now the meme is ‘adapt and profit’.
Today’s stories from the agriculture and climate change conference range from farmers sharing practical, on-the-ground experiences, to CSIRO’s take on how ready the industry as a whole is looking. Also: a story about changing fisheries and it’s not good news for the Christmas lobster; prizes announced; and methane – agriculture versus permafrost. [continue reading…]
Sydney Harbour’s natural beauty is thanks to its healthy ecosystem, say Sydney researchers—and it’s one of the most diverse harbour ecosystems in the world.
The three L’Oréal Fellows for 2011 have been busy since they were announced on 23 August 2011.
Eve McDonald-Madden is in France, working with researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research to develop new strategies for the management of the impacts of climate change.
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