Wildlife struggle with extreme weather

The mass death of flying foxes in extreme heat in North Queensland underscores the importance of University of Queensland (UQ) wildlife research, which shows how various species have responded to major climate events.

A study led by UQ School of Earth and Environmental Science researcher Dr Sean Maxwell has synthesised more than 70 years of research to quantify the responses of various species.

“The growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as cyclones, droughts and floods is causing unpredictable and immediate changes to ecosystems and obstructing existing management efforts,” Dr Maxwell said.

“The deaths of up to one third of Australia’s spectacled flying foxes in an extreme heatwave north of Cairns in November comes in the wake of our research and is a stark illustration of the importance of the study.

“Some of the negative responses we found were quite concerning, including more than 100 cases of dramatic population declines and 31 cases of local population extinction following an extreme event.

“Populations of critically endangered bird species in Hawaii, such as the palia, have been annihilated due to drought, and populations of lizard species have been wiped out due to cyclones in the Bahamas.”

Cyclones were the most prevalent extreme event for birds, fish, plants and reptiles, while mammals and amphibians were most responsive to drought events, with drought leading to 12 cases of major population decline in mammals.

Drought also led to 13 cases of breeding declines in bird populations and 12 cases of changes in the composition of invertebrate communities.

UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science director Professor James Watson said the detailed information would help inform ecosystem management.

“The research clearly shows species will respond, often negatively, to extreme events,” Professor Watson said.

“As climate change continues to ensure extreme climate and weather events are more and more common, we now need to act to ensure species have the best chance to survive.

“Wherever possible, high quality and intact habitat areas should be retained, as these are the places where species are most resilient to increasing exposure to extreme events.”

Are you worried about the increasing incidence of extreme weather events and what this means for Australian wildlife?

FirstPrev12(page 2/2)
24 comments

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

Oh it will get worse. I wish I could tell you all but once done and the land, wildlife and water is affected, where would you go? What is coming is horrendous, and I for one am in the age group where I won't be around when the critical time comes. For those of you who will be, watch for 2050 - 2060. You will see such an upheaval the world has never before seen since Noah's flood.

I doubt there will be many if any around in 2050/2060 Beemee,  the planet is screwed now and no one like the manufacturers seem to give a darn -- as I note this morning I got an email to tell me that Coles are bringing out more of those small plastic things -- so no one except some of us caring folk give a hoot about the PLASTIC or anything else that is ruining the planet   

So much for NBN, how do I delete all but one of this NBN foul up? Gosh I only pushed the "post Reply" once.

I have seen many volcanoes erupting simultaneously. Water is contaminated so there is none to drink. The air is putrid causing lung infections and pneumonia and the acidity levels rising, I can taste it now although subtle it is there. Oceans polluted where its a soup of bad bacteria and stench. Methane being released from Fracking that ignites, and the planet is alight in many countries. That is enough to share and it should be enough to scare people into action. But I get many nay-sayers who think I am a nut. So I started writing what I saw coming, and over the 27 pages I have written to date, some of them are already coming true. I wrote on AI, that has recently made headlines. I wrote on the Acidity in the air, that has been publicly stated on line that it is happening. I wrote of a bad type of fracking, that is coming true with South Australia doing it a new way, but it's radioactive.

Honestly if I made all of the 27 pages available, there would either be no one left on this earth because they wont want to stay having to face what's coming, or all the destructive companies and government Officials would disappear.

Beemee it was not your fault -- the forum was having issues -- and was a real pain -- I reported it and it is now all fixed --

 

I agree with you the planet is in deep doo-doo

FirstPrev12(page 2/2)
24 comments



To make a comment, please register or login

Preview your comment