Soils for life

Land clearing and modern farming practises have devastated Australia’s fragile soils, but recognising our land as a national asset and adopting new techniques to boost, rather than deplete soil carbon, could help the agricultural industry secure its own future.

Humid enough for you?

We were all warned to expect a hot dry summer, but in reality it’s proven warm and wet, especially down Australia’s humidity ridden east coast.

Parklife

Recent tragedies in our national parks highlight the crucial need to reevaluate visitor management strategies to protect people from the wild – and themselves.

The green Sahara

Eccentricities in Earth’s orbit help explain why the Sahara desert has waxed and waned over the course of millions of years.

An eye on Australia’s ‘seafood basket’

A biologically rich region that provides much of the country’s seafood will be the first site in Australia to test the effectiveness of CSIRO’s AquaWatch technology.

Why biodiversity matters

A year on from the COP15 summit of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a new book by UQ ecologist Nigel Dudley builds a case for “Why Biodiversity Matters” and why we should care if species go extinct.

Farming carbon

Farmers have cleared much of Australia’s natural vegetation over the last two hundred years, and while carbon credits have been exploited for private gain rather than public good, replanting schemes can help restore our land and atmosphere to a more sustainable balance.

Amphibian apocalypse

Forty percent of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction according to a global study published in the scientific journal Nature.

A new tool to tackle seafood fraud

A new handheld scanner uses nuclear methods and mathematical models to determine the origin and production of seafood.

Farming the sea

Floating sea farms could help feed the world in the future, according to a new study by University of South Australia researchers.

By gum

As climate change intensifies, city planners are looking for resilient street trees able to provide cooling shade in a hotter climate such as the Spotted Gum.

More food with fewer emissions

Agriculture generates about a quarter of the world’s total greenhouse emissions but new research shows it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, agriculture could become not carbon neutral, but carbon negative in a couple of decades.