Can the installation of nest boxes make a difference to our wildlife?

 

Introduction

Australia has the highest number of hollow-dependent species in the world! Possums, gliders and phascogales as well as lorikeets, parrots, kingfishers, owls and microbats all use hollows.1 This is no doubt due to the proliferation of Eucalypt species across the continent over many millennia. Many of these trees are long-lived and after a century or so they start to develop hollows and cavities. These naturally formed hollows provide places for these species to shelter, breed and feed.

Since European settlement, there has been a significant loss of the hollows through deforestation and degradation of habitats. This has had a significant impact on many endemic species that have evolved and depend on these hollows.2

While many landowners and managers as well as Bushcare groups are rehabilitating and where possible replanting Eucalypt bushland, it will take many decades before natural hollows become available for local wildlife. To address this problem, many people have...

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Mosaic burning: Fire hazard reduction and a biodiversity strategy

ecology land management Jun 01, 2021
 

In early 2012, a series of bushfires impacted the western side of the Redcliffe Peninsula including Hays Inlet, the Chelsea Street Reserve, and the Bremner Road rehabilitation area. In particular the Melaleuca forest (normally capable of handling fires) suffered a lot of damage in the Silcock Street Reserve with many of the hardy trees killed by the intense heat. The incident led to the formulation of a plan by the Redcliffe Environmental Forum (REF) and the Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) to protect the area from future intense bushfires. Apart from replanting endemic trees one of the main strategies used to rehabilitate the area is through an intense weeding program. Many weeds in the area are not adapted to fire and in fact burn at a much higher temperature than endemic vegetation. Its this higher temperature fire that kills the Melaleuca.

                  A Striated Pardalote inhabits the coastal vegetation including Casuarina

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