Strategic use of phosphorus fertilisers can ensure higher crop yields. High yields minimise the amount of land devoted to food production, maximise the use of scarce rainfall and help keep food supplies stable and relatively cheap. Getting the balance right is important in an increasingly crowded world.
Another Australian mammal has been listed as endangered. The spectacled flying-fox highlights the challenge in managing the conflict between human development and nature.
Pollinators such as bees, birds, bats and butterflies are in decline globally, a threat to biodiversity and food production all over the world. The importance of pollinators isn’t new to many indigenous communities around the world.
The humble but prolific house mouse on a remote Western Australian island might serve a crucial purpose for scientists investigating the potential of gene modification as an environmental control for conservation. Community values - as well as science – will determine what’s both possible and acceptable.
Kakadu’s fresh water wetlands will be transformed if they become inundated with saltwater due to sea level rise.
On the farm, the negative impact to beneficial insects can sometimes negate the positive effects of insecticides. But there's a lack of research quantifying non-target impacts of one particular group, neonicotinoids.
Scientists take a close look at what’s behind low-oxygen levels under salmon farms in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.
An estimated 14 million people die from infectious diseases each year. A key link in the chain of infection is deforestation and increased contact between wild animals and humans. If we're to control the spread of disease, we need to be better at predicting outbreaks.
While knowledge of water availability is key to managing Murray-Darling Basin water resources, a commensurate understanding of ecosystem ecological response to flow regulation is also required to aid environmental management.
