Resources
ABC News
08 November 2013
Germaine Greer recently launched her new book - titled White Beech - to a capacity audience in Bega. Sub-titled 'The Rainforest Years', the book tracks her experiences over the last thirteen years since she bought 65 hectares of rainforest in south east Queensland. The land had been extensively damaged by logging, clearing, quarrying and large scale invasion by weed species. And so she began an ongoing, and expensive, rehabilitation project to restore the original forest. At her presentation in Bega she explained her motivation to rebuild a forest with bio-diversity based upon planting sub-species specific to the local area. Read more
ABC News
05 July 2013
A new study examining the effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef shows corals could start dissolving into the ocean within 100 years if nothing is done.
The University of Queensland research is measuring the effects of various climate change scenarios on carefully designed mini coral reef ecosystems built inside tubs. Read more
Gladstone Observer
31 October 2013
RESEARCH into coral on the Great Barrier Reef has shown the long-term effects of fertiliser run-off on the health of the reef.
Research by Dr Jennie Mallela, from Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences and the Research School of Biology, has shown that the levels of phosphorous in coral located close to shore have increased over recent decades. Read more
Cairns Post
22 October 2013
DNA samples collected from the hair and poo of the rare Lumholtz tree kangaroo could pave the way for better protection for the species which has puzzled researchers for years.
After successful trials using complex genetic sampling techniques to study tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea and koalas on Magnetic Island, James Cook University scientists are now turning their attention to native tree kangaroo and possum species. Read more
The University of Queensland
09 January 2014
Green turtle populations have expanded so much in Indonesia’s east coast islands marine protected areas that they are adopting new feeding habits, degrading the ecosystem and threatening their own conservation.
Scientists and conservationists had believed thatmarine protected areas would be key to enhancing the recovery of protected species and ecosystems. Read more
7 News
31 October 2013
Plans to let more mines release excess water into Queensland rivers will pose a threat to the Great Barrier Reef, the Greens say.
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has told parliament he expects more mines to carry out the practice under a pilot program this wet season. Read more
The Newsport Daily
31 May 2013
Urban Queensland councils will face an uphill battle to relocate flying fox roosts, according to findings of a recent Griffith University study.
The study found colonies return to their favourite roosts, even with decade-long efforts to move them. And, as the highly mobile megabat species prefers urban areas, attempts to relocate them to bush environments backfire, with colonies instead establishing new roosts near their original. Read more
Science Alert
23 August 2013
Endangered green and leatherback sea turtles are swallowing plastic at twice the rate they did 25 years ago, according to a recent study published in the journal Conservation International by researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) and CSIRO.
After analysing global research data from the past 25 years, the research team – including Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox from CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship – found that these two turtle species, in particular, appear to be eating more plastic today than ever before. Read more
The University of Queensland
09 September 2013
Manta rays are hard to miss —big and black, stretching up to seven metres wide, but scientists are concerned about the survival of the world's largest ray.
The University of Queensland's Project Manta is joining forces with Western Australia's Murdoch University scientists and industry partners Austral Fisheries and the TG Kailis Marine Conservation Fund to establish “Project Manta – WA”. Read more
ABC News
08 May 2013
Professor Helene Marsh from James Cook University is among 200 delegates attending a reef conference this week in Cairns in far north Queensland.
She is calling for stronger action to protect the reef.
"We need to be much more strategic and more careful about how we use the land," she said. Read more