Bush burning helps Gouldian finches thrive 18/6/2016

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A formerly “threatened” species has been reclassified “vulnerable” as the birds start to repopulate the East Kimberley.

Photo by Martin Pot

Photo by Martin Pot

Two scientists, Sarah Pryke and Sarah Legge, have worked hard to identify the Gouldian Finches’ ideal habitats and feed, and a third, Alex Watson, is working with Kija Rangers to re-establish them.

The method depends on mimicking the effects of the traditional Aboriginal mosaic burning practices using modern technology.

As the website Science Network WA is now defunct I have reproduced the story here: Continue reading →

Saltworks provide unlikely rest stop for weary travellers 20/5/2016

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Courtesy Sora Estrella.

Courtesy Sora Estrella.

Can a large-scale industrial development benefit endangered and threatened species, such as certain migrating shore birds?

It seems Dampier Salt’s Pilbara operations are providing an important diet supplement to birds like the Red Knot, Great Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Science Network [read this story]

Science Network WA has ceased publication so I have copied the story here: Continue reading →

Supercontinent rift formed bizarre Bunbury rocks 29/4/2016

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I was lucky enough to interview one of the scientists who have a new take on Bunbury’s weird black rocks.

(c) WA Museum.

(c) WA Museum.

They were formed when India broke away from the West Australian coast 137 million years ago.

What we see in Bunbury and Capel is part of a huge lava flow almost as large as Western Australia itself that comes from Gondwana breaking up.

Most of it is now under the waters of the Indian Ocean.

As the website sciencewa.net.au is now defunct I have reproduced the story here:

Continue reading →

Broome’s new bush tucker seed bank 16/4/2016

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The Kimberley has a new seed bank that will function as a seed shop for bush tucker (Aboriginal food) plants, and for those needing to propogate plants for mine site rehabilitation and gardening. 

Tamara Williams (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Cat Williams (Apace WA), Devena Cox (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Debbie Sibasado (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers), Kylie Weatherall (Environs Kimberley) and Cissy Tigan (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers).

Tamara Williams (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Cat Williams (Apace WA), Devena Cox (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Debbie Sibasado (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers), Kylie Weatherall (Environs Kimberley) and Cissy Tigan (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers).

It is also intended to be a supplier to high-end restaurants serving Aboriginal food-influenced dishes.

It also has a serious conservation purpose in preserving rare species for ecological renewall.

This may become important when, for example, rare Kimberley vine thickets are destroyed by bushfires.

Science Network [read this story]

Job creation and ‘rural smells’: two piggery tales – 14/4/2016 and 10/3/2016

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PLANTAGENET Shire has approved two free-range piggeries in two months, despite neighbours’ objections on environmental and amenities grounds.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

I love development stories because hardly anyone else does them.

Council minutes and agendas can make them appear so dull, yet to someone, somewhere, someone is planning to dig, build or change something right beside the places they live, work or otherwise value.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

This is not boring for them and if we don’t give them good information as readers we don’t deserve to be their chosen newspaper.

If a similar story comes up a second time, the challenge then is to see what is new about it, and tell the story afresh.

From The Great Southern Weekender

City claims success with targeted burns 7/04/2016

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TEXT AND PICTURE BY GEOFF VIVIAN

Having just been through the disatrous bushfires at Yarloop and Wooroona and the catastrophic Esperance fire, many Western Australians are demanding to know what is being done.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

I would not usually go into such detail about fire control in a local paper but my editor agreed that people were in the mood to read this right now.

All through winter a prescribed burning program is reducing fuel loads in areas of bush, while giving wildlife a reasonable chance to escape to nearby intact habitat.

This is an account of a well-planned burn, how it worked and why.

I was really pleased with the pic too – nothing flash but I trust it conveyed the idea of “business as usual” burning rather than firefighting.

Great Southern Weekender April 7, 2016 p5.

Coastal development impacts migrating shore birds 10/4/2016

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Red Knot by Adrian Boyle

Red Knot by Adrian Boyle

Shorebird ecologists say they have proven conclusively that Chinese and Korean developments on the Yellow Sea coast are decimating migrating shorebirds.

Careful banding and observation by scientists and the bird watching fraternity shows almost all of the birds that leave Broome’s Roebuck Bay reach the Yellow Sea, their second major feeding ground. 

Shorebird_threats_by Adrian Boyle

A Yellow Sea dredge dumping site. Photo by Adrian Boyle.

However it seems they don’t all find enough food there to complete their journey back to North West Australia via Siberia.

Science Network WA [read this story]

Orbital snaps reveal Roebuck Bay’s tidal movements 1/3/2016

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Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Centre

Click on this NASA image to expand it. 

 

A simple editor’s request to find scientists to interpret a picture of the coastline near Broome turned into quite a paper chase.

The academic year was only just starting, so it took a week to find two experts to interpret a photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station..

They then fundamentally disagreed about what caused the unusual parallel tidal creeks.

Science Network WA [read this story]

Genetic tool to help feed the world 27/2/2016

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UWA researchers have compiled a database they hope will eliminate much of the time and expense spent developing new crop varieties to feed the world’s people.

Photo by Ross Hooper

Photo by Ross Hooper

The research contributes to global food security which is a constant challenge as populations continue to expand and increased salinity, drought, nitrogen deficiency and soil acidity confront farmers in WA and around the world.

The easily-accessible database of food crop proteins called CropPAL is an extensive repository of knowledge about where specific proteins occur within wheat, barley, rice and maize cells.

The CropPAL (Crop Proteins with Annotated Locations) database can be used by crop scientists to explain the functions of proteins, UWA’s lead investigator Cornelia Hooper says.http://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/agriculture/item/4069-genetic-tool-to-help-feed-the-world