Australia’s threatened birds in crisis

Populations of Australia’s endangered birds have collapsed by half since 1985, according to Australia’s new Threatened Bird Index.

We may have hit ‘peak livestock’ if we want to reach our climate goals

We need to admit we’ve hit ‘peak livestock’ and cut back on meat consumption to reduce carbon emissions, according to a Harvard expert.

Why tropical trees die

Scientists have shed light on tropical tree deaths – with results predicted to have important implications for managing forest biodiversity.

Researching ways to restore Tasmania’s kelp forests

A new joint research project between IMAS and the Climate Foundation is studying the possibility of restoring Tasmania’s iconic giant kelp forests, which have almost disappeared over recent decades due to ocean warming.

Logging must stop in Melbourne’s biggest water supply catchment

The Thomson Catchment is the only one of Melbourne’s large water supply catchments open to logging. Given the critical importance of the Thomson Catchment, the Victorian government needs to cease logging and prioritise the supply of water to the people of Melbourne.

The ‘domino’ threat of global extinction

New research reveals the extinction of plant or animal species from extreme environmental change increases the risk of an ‘extinction domino effect’ that could affect and even end all life on Earth.

Fighting the drought with natural sequence farming

Slowing flows in rural creeks with “leaky weirs” may help reduce erosion and rehydrate the floodplain and more research on their effectiveness could help the nation’s farmers battle drought.

Crowdfunding aims to save the Tasmanian Devil

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched by the University of Adelaide to help save the Tasmanian devil, one of Australia’s most iconic but endangered animals.

Human activity threatens 25% of mammal species

Human impacts such as deforestation and hunting are the biggest risk factors in the possible extinction of a quarter of all land-based mammals, according to a University of Queensland study.

A ‘great and merciless thinning:’ the vanishing world of insects

Insect populations are plummeting around the world, due to pesticides, climate change and habitat loss, threatening the ecosystems which depend on them. Imagining the disappearance of species through literature can help motivate a real life fight for their survival.

Drugs in our waterways, the bugs and beyond

Medicines designed for humans are finding their way into our rivers and streams and are accumulating in insects and their predators with potentially damaging effects on the food chain.

Saving the last of the Earth’s wilderness

The world’s last wilderness areas are rapidly disappearing, and explicit international conservation targets critically needed to protect them.