Latest news with #KatherineMoseby
The Advertiser
7 days ago
- Science
- The Advertiser
Desert haven teeming with life a snapshot of the past
Where sapphire sky meets ochre horizon, saltbush grows wild on the undulating dunes. Beneath the blue, yellow and green hues of the scrub and grasses in the South Australian desert, small and usually elusive native mammals dart across the sand at nightfall. The delicate tracks left by native rodents tell a story about their lives - where they've been, what they've been eating and whether they've been chasing each other or fighting. The Arid Recovery conservation zone is a window into the time before European colonisation, when introduced predators like foxes, rabbits, cats and domestic stock did not threaten native creatures. The 12,300 hectare reserve is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep feral animals out, with a curved and floppy top designed to fling pouncing cats to the ground. It is a sanctuary for both the threatened native animals and the people studying them. "It's a really enjoyable experience being surrounded by nature that's not under threat," Arid Recovery's chief scientist Katherine Moseby told AAP. "If I'm outside the reserve, I'm walking around seeing rabbits run past, seeing feral cat tracks on the dune, I'm seeing chewed branches from cattle and sheep. "So to have that snapshot of what things should look like is a real privilege." Inside the reserve, Professor Moseby and hundreds of volunteers have worked for 26 years to meticulously observe what happens to desert mammals when invasive predators are kept at bay. The results, recently published in an international biology journal, have astounded scientists. With thousands of traps set over that time to record data from about 10 species, researchers found population booms were up to 33 times higher after heavy rainfall years inside the reserve compared to outside. "Up until now, we've thought introduced predators have a bit of an impact on native small mammals, maybe two or three times the impact of native predators," said Prof Moseby, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW. "But having 10, 20, 30 times the impact on these small mammals is quite eye-opening." The first species to respond to protection from feral predators was the introduced house mouse, with capture rates increasing from the first year of the study. Hopping mice and plains mice, both native, were not captured until some years after the reserve was established but their numbers increased rapidly and remained high throughout the study. Those species were not previously known within 50km of the site, likely due to their susceptibility to the cat and fox population. A surprising and significant observation of the hopping and plains mice was their movement to new habitats. Usually found living on sand dunes, high numbers of hopping mice were captured in swales - the scrubby depressions between the dunes - years after their population established. Plains mice, known to live on cracking clay swales, were regularly trapped on dunes. "When we're conserving habitat for these threatened species, we tend to look at where they are now and we don't think about the potential they have to expand out if we could just address those threats," Prof Moseby said. "It's got implications for conservation planning and thinking more broadly about the habitats we can serve to to protect these threatened species." Prof Moseby hopes the findings highlight just how much of Australia's fauna has been lost since colonisation. "A lot of arid zone areas, people don't visit, or ... they just drive through and don't really understand or get to immerse themselves in that environment," she said. "If you don't understand something, you're not going to care about it or want to protect it. "Being able to expose so many different people to that environment and show people what it used to be like, it opens people's eyes and they realise just how much things have changed." Where sapphire sky meets ochre horizon, saltbush grows wild on the undulating dunes. Beneath the blue, yellow and green hues of the scrub and grasses in the South Australian desert, small and usually elusive native mammals dart across the sand at nightfall. The delicate tracks left by native rodents tell a story about their lives - where they've been, what they've been eating and whether they've been chasing each other or fighting. The Arid Recovery conservation zone is a window into the time before European colonisation, when introduced predators like foxes, rabbits, cats and domestic stock did not threaten native creatures. The 12,300 hectare reserve is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep feral animals out, with a curved and floppy top designed to fling pouncing cats to the ground. It is a sanctuary for both the threatened native animals and the people studying them. "It's a really enjoyable experience being surrounded by nature that's not under threat," Arid Recovery's chief scientist Katherine Moseby told AAP. "If I'm outside the reserve, I'm walking around seeing rabbits run past, seeing feral cat tracks on the dune, I'm seeing chewed branches from cattle and sheep. "So to have that snapshot of what things should look like is a real privilege." Inside the reserve, Professor Moseby and hundreds of volunteers have worked for 26 years to meticulously observe what happens to desert mammals when invasive predators are kept at bay. The results, recently published in an international biology journal, have astounded scientists. With thousands of traps set over that time to record data from about 10 species, researchers found population booms were up to 33 times higher after heavy rainfall years inside the reserve compared to outside. "Up until now, we've thought introduced predators have a bit of an impact on native small mammals, maybe two or three times the impact of native predators," said Prof Moseby, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW. "But having 10, 20, 30 times the impact on these small mammals is quite eye-opening." The first species to respond to protection from feral predators was the introduced house mouse, with capture rates increasing from the first year of the study. Hopping mice and plains mice, both native, were not captured until some years after the reserve was established but their numbers increased rapidly and remained high throughout the study. Those species were not previously known within 50km of the site, likely due to their susceptibility to the cat and fox population. A surprising and significant observation of the hopping and plains mice was their movement to new habitats. Usually found living on sand dunes, high numbers of hopping mice were captured in swales - the scrubby depressions between the dunes - years after their population established. Plains mice, known to live on cracking clay swales, were regularly trapped on dunes. "When we're conserving habitat for these threatened species, we tend to look at where they are now and we don't think about the potential they have to expand out if we could just address those threats," Prof Moseby said. "It's got implications for conservation planning and thinking more broadly about the habitats we can serve to to protect these threatened species." Prof Moseby hopes the findings highlight just how much of Australia's fauna has been lost since colonisation. "A lot of arid zone areas, people don't visit, or ... they just drive through and don't really understand or get to immerse themselves in that environment," she said. "If you don't understand something, you're not going to care about it or want to protect it. "Being able to expose so many different people to that environment and show people what it used to be like, it opens people's eyes and they realise just how much things have changed." Where sapphire sky meets ochre horizon, saltbush grows wild on the undulating dunes. Beneath the blue, yellow and green hues of the scrub and grasses in the South Australian desert, small and usually elusive native mammals dart across the sand at nightfall. The delicate tracks left by native rodents tell a story about their lives - where they've been, what they've been eating and whether they've been chasing each other or fighting. The Arid Recovery conservation zone is a window into the time before European colonisation, when introduced predators like foxes, rabbits, cats and domestic stock did not threaten native creatures. The 12,300 hectare reserve is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep feral animals out, with a curved and floppy top designed to fling pouncing cats to the ground. It is a sanctuary for both the threatened native animals and the people studying them. "It's a really enjoyable experience being surrounded by nature that's not under threat," Arid Recovery's chief scientist Katherine Moseby told AAP. "If I'm outside the reserve, I'm walking around seeing rabbits run past, seeing feral cat tracks on the dune, I'm seeing chewed branches from cattle and sheep. "So to have that snapshot of what things should look like is a real privilege." Inside the reserve, Professor Moseby and hundreds of volunteers have worked for 26 years to meticulously observe what happens to desert mammals when invasive predators are kept at bay. The results, recently published in an international biology journal, have astounded scientists. With thousands of traps set over that time to record data from about 10 species, researchers found population booms were up to 33 times higher after heavy rainfall years inside the reserve compared to outside. "Up until now, we've thought introduced predators have a bit of an impact on native small mammals, maybe two or three times the impact of native predators," said Prof Moseby, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW. "But having 10, 20, 30 times the impact on these small mammals is quite eye-opening." The first species to respond to protection from feral predators was the introduced house mouse, with capture rates increasing from the first year of the study. Hopping mice and plains mice, both native, were not captured until some years after the reserve was established but their numbers increased rapidly and remained high throughout the study. Those species were not previously known within 50km of the site, likely due to their susceptibility to the cat and fox population. A surprising and significant observation of the hopping and plains mice was their movement to new habitats. Usually found living on sand dunes, high numbers of hopping mice were captured in swales - the scrubby depressions between the dunes - years after their population established. Plains mice, known to live on cracking clay swales, were regularly trapped on dunes. "When we're conserving habitat for these threatened species, we tend to look at where they are now and we don't think about the potential they have to expand out if we could just address those threats," Prof Moseby said. "It's got implications for conservation planning and thinking more broadly about the habitats we can serve to to protect these threatened species." Prof Moseby hopes the findings highlight just how much of Australia's fauna has been lost since colonisation. "A lot of arid zone areas, people don't visit, or ... they just drive through and don't really understand or get to immerse themselves in that environment," she said. "If you don't understand something, you're not going to care about it or want to protect it. "Being able to expose so many different people to that environment and show people what it used to be like, it opens people's eyes and they realise just how much things have changed." Where sapphire sky meets ochre horizon, saltbush grows wild on the undulating dunes. Beneath the blue, yellow and green hues of the scrub and grasses in the South Australian desert, small and usually elusive native mammals dart across the sand at nightfall. The delicate tracks left by native rodents tell a story about their lives - where they've been, what they've been eating and whether they've been chasing each other or fighting. The Arid Recovery conservation zone is a window into the time before European colonisation, when introduced predators like foxes, rabbits, cats and domestic stock did not threaten native creatures. The 12,300 hectare reserve is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep feral animals out, with a curved and floppy top designed to fling pouncing cats to the ground. It is a sanctuary for both the threatened native animals and the people studying them. "It's a really enjoyable experience being surrounded by nature that's not under threat," Arid Recovery's chief scientist Katherine Moseby told AAP. "If I'm outside the reserve, I'm walking around seeing rabbits run past, seeing feral cat tracks on the dune, I'm seeing chewed branches from cattle and sheep. "So to have that snapshot of what things should look like is a real privilege." Inside the reserve, Professor Moseby and hundreds of volunteers have worked for 26 years to meticulously observe what happens to desert mammals when invasive predators are kept at bay. The results, recently published in an international biology journal, have astounded scientists. With thousands of traps set over that time to record data from about 10 species, researchers found population booms were up to 33 times higher after heavy rainfall years inside the reserve compared to outside. "Up until now, we've thought introduced predators have a bit of an impact on native small mammals, maybe two or three times the impact of native predators," said Prof Moseby, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW. "But having 10, 20, 30 times the impact on these small mammals is quite eye-opening." The first species to respond to protection from feral predators was the introduced house mouse, with capture rates increasing from the first year of the study. Hopping mice and plains mice, both native, were not captured until some years after the reserve was established but their numbers increased rapidly and remained high throughout the study. Those species were not previously known within 50km of the site, likely due to their susceptibility to the cat and fox population. A surprising and significant observation of the hopping and plains mice was their movement to new habitats. Usually found living on sand dunes, high numbers of hopping mice were captured in swales - the scrubby depressions between the dunes - years after their population established. Plains mice, known to live on cracking clay swales, were regularly trapped on dunes. "When we're conserving habitat for these threatened species, we tend to look at where they are now and we don't think about the potential they have to expand out if we could just address those threats," Prof Moseby said. "It's got implications for conservation planning and thinking more broadly about the habitats we can serve to to protect these threatened species." Prof Moseby hopes the findings highlight just how much of Australia's fauna has been lost since colonisation. "A lot of arid zone areas, people don't visit, or ... they just drive through and don't really understand or get to immerse themselves in that environment," she said. "If you don't understand something, you're not going to care about it or want to protect it. "Being able to expose so many different people to that environment and show people what it used to be like, it opens people's eyes and they realise just how much things have changed."
Perth Now
7 days ago
- Science
- Perth Now
Desert haven teeming with life a snapshot of the past
Where sapphire sky meets ochre horizon, saltbush grows wild on the undulating dunes. Beneath the blue, yellow and green hues of the scrub and grasses in the South Australian desert, small and usually elusive native mammals dart across the sand at nightfall. The delicate tracks left by native rodents tell a story about their lives - where they've been, what they've been eating and whether they've been chasing each other or fighting. The Arid Recovery conservation zone is a window into the time before European colonisation, when introduced predators like foxes, rabbits, cats and domestic stock did not threaten native creatures. The 12,300 hectare reserve is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep feral animals out, with a curved and floppy top designed to fling pouncing cats to the ground. It is a sanctuary for both the threatened native animals and the people studying them. "It's a really enjoyable experience being surrounded by nature that's not under threat," Arid Recovery's chief scientist Katherine Moseby told AAP. "If I'm outside the reserve, I'm walking around seeing rabbits run past, seeing feral cat tracks on the dune, I'm seeing chewed branches from cattle and sheep. "So to have that snapshot of what things should look like is a real privilege." Inside the reserve, Professor Moseby and hundreds of volunteers have worked for 26 years to meticulously observe what happens to desert mammals when invasive predators are kept at bay. The results, recently published in an international biology journal, have astounded scientists. With thousands of traps set over that time to record data from about 10 species, researchers found population booms were up to 33 times higher after heavy rainfall years inside the reserve compared to outside. "Up until now, we've thought introduced predators have a bit of an impact on native small mammals, maybe two or three times the impact of native predators," said Prof Moseby, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW. "But having 10, 20, 30 times the impact on these small mammals is quite eye-opening." The first species to respond to protection from feral predators was the introduced house mouse, with capture rates increasing from the first year of the study. Hopping mice and plains mice, both native, were not captured until some years after the reserve was established but their numbers increased rapidly and remained high throughout the study. Those species were not previously known within 50km of the site, likely due to their susceptibility to the cat and fox population. A surprising and significant observation of the hopping and plains mice was their movement to new habitats. Usually found living on sand dunes, high numbers of hopping mice were captured in swales - the scrubby depressions between the dunes - years after their population established. Plains mice, known to live on cracking clay swales, were regularly trapped on dunes. "When we're conserving habitat for these threatened species, we tend to look at where they are now and we don't think about the potential they have to expand out if we could just address those threats," Prof Moseby said. "It's got implications for conservation planning and thinking more broadly about the habitats we can serve to to protect these threatened species." Prof Moseby hopes the findings highlight just how much of Australia's fauna has been lost since colonisation. "A lot of arid zone areas, people don't visit, or ... they just drive through and don't really understand or get to immerse themselves in that environment," she said. "If you don't understand something, you're not going to care about it or want to protect it. "Being able to expose so many different people to that environment and show people what it used to be like, it opens people's eyes and they realise just how much things have changed."
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Remarkable 26-year change revealed on Aussie desert property
In the heart of Australia's outback, a vanishing world has been created that only springs to life at night. Behind towering fences at South Australia's 12,300-hectare Arid Recovery Reserve, 10 mammal species are being protected from invasive predators behind high fences, reestablishing a complex ecosystem that few people alive today have seen. The University of NSW's Professor Katherine Moseby is the lead author of a paper that has tracked dramatic changes over 26 years since rabbits, foxes and cats were excluded from the landscape. When it comes to the elusive spinifex hopping mouse, its population is up to 33 times higher inside than outside the fence. During the day, you'd have to have sharp eyes to notice signs of any of the tiny mammals that live there. There are small diggings in the soil from reintroduced species like bilbies, but the desert sands and plant life appear near identical. 'If you're driving around in a car, you have to go really slowly so you don't run over all the small mammals because they're just in such high abundance compared to the outside world,' Moseby told Yahoo News. 'If you're driving around outside, you can go at normal speed.' Related: Concern as rare birds retreat to mountains where giant moa became extinct The study included nine native species, the spinifex hopping mouse, plains mouse, Bolam's mouse, Forrest's mouse, desert mouse, sandy inland mouse, stripe-faced dunnart, fat-tailed dunnart and Giles' planigale. The tenth species was the introduced house mouse. During drought, the number of native mammals naturally declines, but after rain, furious breeding helps restore numbers. But the presence of feral predators outside of the fence area appears to interrupt the natural boom and bust breeding cycles, suppressing their recovery and eventually leading to localised extinctions. The team was 'surprised' to discover that in the absence of introduced predators, mammals were expanding into new habitats where they're not traditionally found. This indicates they have retreated from an array of landscapes since the arrival of Europeans. The spinifex hopping house had primarily been associated with sand dunes, but behind the fences they have been seen in swales and clay-based lowlands. The plains mouse moved from swales to sand dunes. Sadly, not all of the animals that once roamed the Red Centre landscape have survived — there are several species missing from the study because they're extinct. But the recovery of 10 highlights how much the nation once looked before European settlement. 'It's incredible how that country would have been so different back then. I think people drive through the desert and think there's nothing out there, but they've just changed so much over the last 150 years,' Moseby said. Moseby isn't just sad that Australia has changed so dramatically and that few people are aware more species like the carnivorous kowari and greater bilbies are continuing to decline in numbers. She's mostly angry. In her decades of studying Australia's rare and endangered creatures, she hasn't seen any 'political will' to save those that have survived the initial wave of settlement, and the cocktail of threats that continue to suppress them. The country is famous for wiping out the Tasmanian tiger, very nearly killing off the koala, and it is notable for having the worst mammalian extinction record in the world. Rare colour footage of extinct Australian animal seen again after 90 years Major weather event sees town overrun by 'rarely observed' phenomenon Once common 'extreme' genetic change unlikely to occur again in human history Director Stephen Spielberg famously recreated a "Lost World" in his movie franchise about bringing dinosaurs back from extinction. The pre-colonial landscape in Australia hasn't yet been lost, but extinction threats are mounting, including climate change, which is heating parts of the desert to uninhabitable levels. 'We know what we need to do. It makes me really frustrated that we could be doing so much more – we can improve land condition, reduce grazing, increase our control of cats and foxes, and improve fire management. We've done the research,' Moseby said. 'We know what we need to do, but it seems like we're banging our heads against a wall, because these things just don't get taken up.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Amazing vanishing world recreated on 12,300 hectare property in heart of Aussie outback
In the heart of Australia's outback, a vanishing world has been created that only springs to life at night. Behind towering fences at South Australia's 12,300-hectare Arid Recovery Reserve, 10 mammal species are being protected from invasive predators behind high fences, reestablishing a complex ecosystem that few people alive today have seen. The University of NSW's Professor Katherine Moseby is the lead author of a paper that has tracked dramatic changes over 26 years since rabbits, foxes and cats were excluded from the landscape. When it comes to the elusive spinifex hopping mouse, its population is up to 33 times higher inside than outside the fence. During the day, you'd have to have sharp eyes to notice signs of any of the tiny mammals that live there. There are small diggings in the soil from reintroduced species like bilbies, but the desert sands and plant life appear near identical. 'If you're driving around in a car, you have to go really slowly so you don't run over all the small mammals because they're just in such high abundance compared to the outside world,' Moseby told Yahoo News. 'If you're driving around outside, you can go at normal speed.' Related: Concern as rare birds retreat to mountains where giant moa became extinct The study included nine native species, the spinifex hopping mouse, plains mouse, Bolam's mouse, Forrest's mouse, desert mouse, sandy inland mouse, stripe-faced dunnart, fat-tailed dunnart and Giles' planigale. The tenth species was the introduced house mouse. During drought, the number of native mammals naturally declines, but after rain, furious breeding helps restore numbers. But the presence of feral predators outside of the fence area appears to interrupt the natural boom and bust breeding cycles, suppressing their recovery and eventually leading to localised extinctions. The team was 'surprised' to discover that in the absence of introduced predators, mammals were expanding into new habitats where they're not traditionally found. This indicates they have retreated from an array of landscapes since the arrival of Europeans. The spinifex hopping house had primarily been associated with sand dunes, but behind the fences they have been seen in swales and clay-based lowlands. The plains mouse moved from swales to sand dunes. Sadly, not all of the animals that once roamed the Red Centre landscape have survived — there are several species missing from the study because they're extinct. But the recovery of 10 highlights how much the nation once looked before European settlement. 'It's incredible how that country would have been so different back then. I think people drive through the desert and think there's nothing out there, but they've just changed so much over the last 150 years,' Moseby said. Moseby isn't just sad that Australia has changed so dramatically and that few people are aware more species like the carnivorous kowari and greater bilbies are continuing to decline in numbers. She's mostly angry. In her decades of studying Australia's rare and endangered creatures, she hasn't seen any 'political will' to save those that have survived the initial wave of settlement, and the cocktail of threats that continue to suppress them. The country is famous for wiping out the Tasmanian tiger, very nearly killing off the koala, and it is notable for having the worst mammalian extinction record in the world. Rare colour footage of extinct Australian animal seen again after 90 years Major weather event sees town overrun by 'rarely observed' phenomenon Once common 'extreme' genetic change unlikely to occur again in human history Director Stephen Spielberg famously recreated a "Lost World" in his movie franchise about bringing dinosaurs back from extinction. The pre-colonial landscape in Australia hasn't yet been lost, but extinction threats are mounting, including climate change, which is heating parts of the desert to uninhabitable levels. 'We know what we need to do. It makes me really frustrated that we could be doing so much more – we can improve land condition, reduce grazing, increase our control of cats and foxes, and improve fire management. We've done the research,' Moseby said. 'We know what we need to do, but it seems like we're banging our heads against a wall, because these things just don't get taken up.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Incredible vanishing world recreated in 12,300 hectare outback property
In the heart of Australia's outback, a vanishing world has been created that only springs to life at night. Behind towering fences at South Australia's 12,300-hectare Arid Recovery Reserve, 10 mammal species are being protected from invasive predators behind high fences, reestablishing a complex ecosystem that few people alive today have seen. The University of NSW's Professor Katherine Moseby is the lead author of a paper that has tracked dramatic changes over 26 years since rabbits, foxes and cats were excluded from the landscape. When it comes to the elusive spinifex hopping mouse, its population is up to 33 times higher inside than outside the fence. During the day, you'd have to have sharp eyes to notice signs of any of the tiny mammals that live there. There are small diggings in the soil from reintroduced species like bilbies, but the desert sands and plant life appear near identical. 'If you're driving around in a car, you have to go really slowly so you don't run over all the small mammals because they're just in such high abundance compared to the outside world,' Moseby told Yahoo News. 'If you're driving around outside, you can go at normal speed.' Related: Concern as rare birds retreat to mountains where giant moa became extinct The study included nine native species, the spinifex hopping mouse, plains mouse, Bolam's mouse, Forrest's mouse, desert mouse, sandy inland mouse, stripe-faced dunnart, fat-tailed dunnart and Giles' planigale. The tenth species was the introduced house mouse. During drought, the number of native mammals naturally declines, but after rain, furious breeding helps restore numbers. But the presence of feral predators outside of the fence area appears to interrupt the natural boom and bust breeding cycles, suppressing their recovery and eventually leading to localised extinctions. The team was 'surprised' to discover that in the absence of introduced predators, mammals were expanding into new habitats where they're not traditionally found. This indicates they have retreated from an array of landscapes since the arrival of Europeans. The spinifex hopping house had primarily been associated with sand dunes, but behind the fences they have been seen in swales and clay-based lowlands. The plains mouse moved from swales to sand dunes. Sadly, not all of the animals that once roamed the Red Centre landscape have survived — there are several species missing from the study because they're extinct. But the recovery of 10 highlights how much the nation once looked before European settlement. 'It's incredible how that country would have been so different back then. I think people drive through the desert and think there's nothing out there, but they've just changed so much over the last 150 years,' Moseby said. Moseby isn't just sad that Australia has changed so dramatically and that few people are aware more species like the carnivorous kowari and greater bilbies are continuing to decline in numbers. She's mostly angry. In her decades of studying Australia's rare and endangered creatures, she hasn't seen any 'political will' to save those that have survived the initial wave of settlement, and the cocktail of threats that continue to suppress them. The country is famous for wiping out the Tasmanian tiger, very nearly killing off the koala, and it is notable for having the worst mammalian extinction record in the world. Rare colour footage of extinct Australian animal seen again after 90 years Major weather event sees town overrun by 'rarely observed' phenomenon Once common 'extreme' genetic change unlikely to occur again in human history Director Stephen Spielberg famously recreated a "Lost World" in his movie franchise about bringing dinosaurs back from extinction. The pre-colonial landscape in Australia hasn't yet been lost, but extinction threats are mounting, including climate change, which is heating parts of the desert to uninhabitable levels. 'We know what we need to do. It makes me really frustrated that we could be doing so much more – we can improve land condition, reduce grazing, increase our control of cats and foxes, and improve fire management. We've done the research,' Moseby said. 'We know what we need to do, but it seems like we're banging our heads against a wall, because these things just don't get taken up.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
