Canberra is all abuzz about the latest hotel recently opened, this is a hotel with a difference, offering accommodation to a new kind of guest and it’s only a short flight from the CBD. It’s not the usual hotel you will see in Canberra, it’s an enhanced habitat for native bees. Department of the Environment […]
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Fact check: are 75% of Australia’s living species unknown?
On National Threatened Species Day 2014, ABC Fact Check investigated whether Australia really does only know about a quarter of its plants and animals. The verdict? The claim checks out.
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Where should we look for new species?
We are often asked how we decide where to conduct Bush Blitz expeditions. In its early stages, Bush Blitz was limited to surveying recent additions to the National Reserve System, which made the choice of locations relatively easy: we went to whichever newly added reserves our scientists were most keen to survey. But as the […]
Read More →A Wildlife phenomenon
By Dr John Westaway As a botanist, my role in the team was to study the plants, but it was impossible not to be awestruck by the birds. We were witness to a true wildlife phenomenon that plays out each year on the islets of the Coral Sea in the form of mass seabird nesting. […]
Read More →Spitting Spider on Coringa Islet (S 16o 58’, E 149o54’)
By Dr Barbara Baher Under the Octopus Bushes (Argusia argentia) on Coringa South-west Islet a slow crawling Spitting Spider (Scytodidae) surfaced on the litter. Spitting Spiders have long gangly legs and six eyes arranged in three groups. Called a Spitting Spider because of their bizarre prey capture method – they spit deadly glue onto their […]
Read More →Tough plants for a harsh environment
By Dr John Westaway Vegetation on the Coral Sea islands was in undisturbed condition and appeared lush and in good health perhaps reflecting recent rainfall, and there were not weeds. The small isolated coral sand cays of the Coral Sea support vegetation communities comprised of a limited suite of hardy plants that can withstand the […]
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