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Female snakes, hungry after waiting for their eggs to hatch, are heading indoors in search of food such as rats

A shortage of volunteer snake-handlers is starting to bite in north Queensland, where an end-of-breeding-season influx of hungry reptiles into homes is driving an increase in the number of calls for help.

The need for sustenance by female snakes that have shed weight while waiting for their eggs to hatch has driven them indoors in search of food, including rats.

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How much time do you spend thinking about cyber security? Probably not as much as you should. We are all vulnerable to attack, and as the internet becomes more pervasive, the threat is growing

When a 20-year-old hacker broke into US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account during the 2008 presidential campaign, it didn’t take a great deal of computer expertise.

“The hacker simply used the password reset prompt and answered the secret questions,” says Dr Nalin Gamagedara Arachchilage, a lecturer in cyber security at the Australian Centre for Cyber Security, part of the University of New South Wales, based at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.

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Superintendent Don Neubacher, who is accused of publicly ‘humiliating’ and intimidating workers, stepped down as California park faces misconduct scandal

The head of Yosemite national park is stepping down in the wake of reports of “horrific working conditions” and rampant sexual harassment, the latest in a controversy that has brought national shame to one of America’s most beloved landmarks.

Superintendent Don Neubacher, who is accused of publicly “humiliating” and intimidating workers, said in an email to staff that he “regrets” leaving but wanted to “do what’s best” for the popular California park that has faced a widening misconduct scandal in recent months.

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Exclusive: bank turns down owners’ application for $500,000 bridging loan on grounds that Queensland property has four coal seam gas wells on it

Australia’s biggest mortgage provider has declared a Queensland property with coal seam gas wells “unacceptable” as security for residential lending, raising fresh concerns that people living in the state’s gasfields may be unable to sell their homes.

But Queensland Gas Company (QGC), which owns the wells on the Chinchilla acreage, has insisted that no properties that host its infrastructure have had their values negatively affected.

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Climate Council member Andrew Stock says political conflict over renewables risks their future in Australia.

Science editor David Shukman goes on board the plane measuring the jet stream to find out how it affects our weather.

The Rosetta probe, which has been beaming back spectacular pictures of a comet, is to end its journey by crash landing.

Most painted ladies have already headed south, and new research reveals just how far these butterflies travel

The last red admirals and commas are feeding on ivy flowers in autumn sunshine and Britain’s butterfly year is drawing to a close once more.

One butterfly, though, is on the move. I’ve seen several painted ladies this month, but most have already headed south for the winter. The fate of British-born generations of painted ladies was a mystery until recently, when radar finally documented how they ascend to great heights before beginning their reverse migration.

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Apple bud in flower Martine Combret

As the weather warms and days lengthen, your attention may be turning to that forgotten patch of your backyard. This week we’ve asked our experts to share the science behind gardening. So grab a trowel and your green thumbs, and dig in.

Spring arrives and the warming weather encourages the plants in our gardens and parks to burst into life, commencing their annual reproductive cycle.

Plants use cues from the weather and climate to time their growth, flowering and fruiting. But as the world heats up due to climate change, these patterns are changing.

So how is climate change affecting our gardens, and what can we do about it?

In sync with climate

Many temperate plants have evolved to reproduce in spring to avoid damage from extreme cold or heat. Warmer conditions tend to speed up these processes, causing plants to grow faster.

Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to synchronise with climate. This means they are excellent bio-indicators of climate change.

We know from global assessments that most plants studied so far are behaving as we’d expect them to in a warming world. Studies in the Southern Hemisphere have found the same.

In Australia, plants in southern Australia are maturing earlier – winegrapes, for instance, by 27 days on average between 1999 and 2007. We can see this in wine growers’ records. As you can see in the handwritten chart below, wine grapes are on average maturing (measured by their sugar content) earlier.

Grower-recorded winegrape maturity through time. Sugar content (oB) is the y-axis. Note the staple at the top of the page to accommodate early maturity in 2000 and 2007 . Courtesy of Dr Leanne Webb

Other plants may behave differently. Fruit trees such as apples need cold weather to break buds from their dormant state, before commencing growth when warm temperatures arrive.

This means after warm winters, such as this one, flowering may actually be delayed. Data from a recent study show potentially delayed flowering for Pink Lady® apples, as you can see below.

Observed full-bloom timing for Pink Lady® in 2013. Part of data set Darbyshire et al. (2016)

In the examples above, Applethorpe had the warmest spring and flowered first, as we’d expect for most plants. But Manjimup had the second-warmest spring and flowered last, even after Huon, the coldest spring site. This seems counter-intuitive but the delay is likely because Manjimup had the warmest winter.

Do these changes matter?

The earlier emergence of reproductive tissues may increase the risk of devastating frost damage. Contrary to what you might expect, evidence shows recent warming in southern Australia has not necessarily led to fewer frosts. On the other hand, plants that delay flowering because of warmer winters may reduce their frost risk.

Shifts in flowering timing, earlier or later, can be problematic for plants that rely on pollination between different varieties. Both varieties must shift flowering in the same way for flowering periods to overlap. If flowering times don’t overlap, pollination will be less successful, producing fewer fruit.

Bee and bird pollinators must also adjust their activity in sync with changes to flowering time to facilitate pollination.

Faster maturity may shift ripening into hotter times of year, as seen for wine grapes. This increases the risk of extreme heat damage.

Sun-damaged Pink Lady® apples in Western Australia Rebecca Darbyshire What about other changes?

Pests and diseases will also adjust their growth cycles in response to a changing climate. One pest well known to gardeners is the Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF). Their maggots are found in a wide range of fruits.

Climate change will likely favour fruit flies. Warmer temperatures for longer periods will encourage a higher number of generations each year. Meanwhile, reduced cold weather will mean fewer fruit flies will die, increasing the flies’ survival rates.

On the other hand, temperate pests and diseases may decrease if warming exceeds their temperature thresholds.

What can you do?

What have you observed? Citizen scientists who track the timing of biological events have provided valuable information, especially in Australia, for us to monitor and interpret plant responses to climate change. Keeping garden records will show if and how your plants or pests are changing their patterns.

If you observe your flowers emerging earlier, coverings can be used to protect against frost. Keep an eye on cross-pollinators – are they flowering together? If not, consider planting a different cross-pollinator.

Nets are an effective way to reduce heat damage and can also be used to protect against some pests. Setting pest traps according to weather rather than the calendar will help disrupt the first generation and reduce pest impact.

Climate change has already influenced biological responses, perhaps even in your own garden. Seeing these changes in our gardens gives us an insight into the significant challenges faced by our food production systems under a changing climate.

Adapting to current and future climate change is a reality, and is essential to preserve both the enjoyment we experience in our own gardens and the security of future food supply.

Rebecca Darbyshire received funding from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

Snow Barlow receives funding from Department of the Environment Biodiversity Fund

A new database suggests a dramatic under-reporting of the live, illegal trade in great apes including orangutans, chimpanzees and gorilllas.

The audacious Rosetta mission has been commanded to its investigation of Comet 67P by crashing into the 4km-wide ball of ice and dust.

European commission says government chooses not to apply CAP payment ceiling to large landowners in England

The UK government could have stopped wealthy landowners including aristocrats and a Saudi racehorse owner receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from the EU’s common agricultural policy, the European commission has said.

An investigation of the top 100 recipients of CAP subsidies in the UK last year by the environmental campaign group Greenpeace revealed that at least one in five were farm businesses owned or controlled by members of aristocratic families.

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A reptile that lived 200 million years ago is rewriting the rulebooks on how four-legged animals conquered the world.

The European Commission takes the UK to court for failure to allocate safe marine areas for harbour porpoises.

Closure of coal-fired power plants led to the fossil fuel dropping to just 6% of the power mix, official data shows

Coal generated a record low 6% of the UK’s electricity this spring, official figures show.

The share of coal in the power mix fell from 20% in the same period last year, following the closures of Ferrybridge C, West Yorkshire, and Longannet coal-fired power station in Scotland.

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UK has failed to provide enough safe habitats for the mammals, with just one small site formally proposed so far, says European commission

The UK will be hauled before the European court of justice for failing to provide safe habitats for harbour porpoises, the European commission said on Thursday.

Harbour porpoises resemble bottlenose dolphins, with small rounded heads, flat foreheads and a black-lipped mouth that curves upwards, as if smiling.

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Fighting elk bulls and a microscopic image of shark’s skin are among the shortlisted images for the Royal Society of Biology’s photographer of the year award, which this year takes the theme Biology: from Big to Small

The winner will be announced at the Royal Society of Biology awards ceremony on 13 October at Charles Darwin House, London

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A campaign is urging young people to share their thoughts and ideas via social media on the future of the UK's parks and open spaces.

Cites summit moves to protect the world’s most trafficked wild product by placing all 300 species of the tree under trade restrictions

Governments have launched a crackdown on the rampant billion-dollar trade in rosewood timber that is plundering forests across the planet to feed a booming luxury furniture market in China.

The Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) summit on Thursday placed all 300 species of rosewood under trade restrictions, meaning criminals can no longer pass off illegally logged species as legitimate.

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At least one in five of the top 100 UK recipients of CAP subsidies were for farms owned or run by aristocratic families, say Greenpeace

Wealthy aristocrats and a Saudi landowning prince are continuing to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds from the European Union’s common agricultural policy (CAP).

At least one in five of the top 100 recipients of CAP subsidies in the UK last year were farm businesses owned or controlled by members of aristocratic families, an investigation by environmental campaign group Greenpeace found.

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