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Category: Science communication
Shining a light on dark web wildlife trade
A huge amount of wildlife is traded on the internet, with e-commerce marketplaces, private forums and messaging apps being the most popular means to sell and buy live animals, plants, fungi and their parts and products online. University of Adelaide researchers conducted a wide-ranging study, published in the British Ecological Society journal People and Nature , to […]
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Call to protect seagrass meadows in China’s waters
Seagrass meadows are crucial habitats that contribute to biodiversity, food security, and climate mitigation. However seagrasses, once common along China’s coastlines, have declined by more than 80% of the seagrass meadows in China’s coastal waters and six seagrass species have disappeared. Even the remaining seagrass meadows are now in decline, and in August 2022 the […]
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Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here’s a refresher on how they work.
The Federal government has announced a new round of strategic water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin. The government intends to purchase water entitlements from voluntary sellers in parts of New South Wales and Queensland. A total of 49.2 gigalitres (GL) will be purchased across seven catchment areas through open, competitive and transparent tenders. This water […]
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Ancient DNA reveals a hidden history of human adaptation
Humans may be just as vulnerable to environmental change as other animals, according to our new research analysing genetic data from more than a thousand people who lived across Europe and Asia over the past 45,000 years. We found traces of more than 50 “hard sweeps” in which a rare genetic variant rapidly swept through […]
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On a tiny Australian island, snakes feasting on seabirds evolved huge jaws in a surprisingly short time
A study by researchers from the University of Adelaide and other institutions has found that in a population of island tiger snakes the bones in their jaws increase in length after feeding on large prey, while their mainland counterparts show no change. The new study presents the first detailed examination of the effects that diet […]
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TREENET National Street Tree Symposium success
Over 330 delegates attended the recent TREENET 23rd National Street Tree Symposium, held in Adelaide in September, making it the most successful ever! The Environment Institute’s Professor Robert Hill delivered the Bob Such Keynote Address at the Symposium. Professor Hill is an expert on how Australian flora has changed in response to the changing climate […]
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Ecologist wins Distinguished Alumni Award for research on invasive alien species across three continents
Dr Pablo García-Díaz, collaborator with Assoc Professor Phill Cassey‘s Invasion Science and Wildlife Ecology Group and previous University of Adelaide PhD student, has been awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions in recognition of the impact his research on invasive alien species has had in Australia, Europe and South America. […]
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Changes in marine ecosystems going undetected
Existing ways of calculating biodiversity dynamics are not very effective in detecting wholesale species community change due to the effects of ocean acidification. University of Adelaide research shows that in cases where biodiversity metrics show no change or little change, there may still be reorganisation of ecological communities in our oceans. “The belief that climate […]
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