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Pumping water into Martin Bend wetland
'Blue bastard': newly recognised fish is blue when adult and 'a bastard to catch'
Queensland scientist Jeff Johnson, who identified species from photos, formally christens combative reef fish Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus
The “blue bastard”, an elusive and uniquely combative reef fish from northern Australia, long known only in fishing folklore, has been recognised officially by science.
Queensland Museum scientist Jeff Johnson, who identified the species from photos taken last year by a Weipa fisherman, has formally christened it Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus – a direct Latin translation of the colloquial name anglers bestowed on a fish famously difficult to land.
Continue reading...Human activity 'driving half of world's crocodile species to extinction'
Crocodile researcher warns the reptiles face a ‘bleak future’, but Australia’s saltwater and freshwater species have a brighter outlook due to hunting ban
As many as half of the world’s 27 species of crocodilian face being wiped out due to human activity, although the most feared variety, the saltwater crocodile, faces a brighter future, according to a new book by a veteran crocodile researcher.
Land use changes, pollution, culling and feral animal invasions mean that many crocodile species face a “bleak future”, warned Professor Gordon Grigg of the University of Queensland.
Continue reading...Should you install thermodynamic panels on your home?
They are touted as a free source of clean, unlimited energy to heat your water but the first independent test suggests they are not as efficient as thought
Thermodynamic panels have been touted as “a free source of natural, clean and inexhaustible energy providing 100% of your hot water needs, 365 days of the year”. For around £5,000 to buy and install, they sound too good to be true – and the first independent tests suggest they are.
Thermodynamic panels are similar to air-source heat pumps and work like refrigerators in reverse.
Continue reading...Tycraft Pty Ltd Giant Clams
Victorian Scallop Dive (Port Phillip Bay) Fishery
French spy who sank Greenpeace ship apologises for lethal bombing
Jean-Luc Kister was one of a team which planted mines on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985, killing photographer Fernando Pereira
A French secret service diver who took part in the operation to sink Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior 30 years ago has spoken publicly for the first time to apologise for his actions.
Jean-Luc Kister, who attached a mine to the ship’s hull, says the guilt of the bombing, which killed a photographer, still weighs heavily on his mind.
Continue reading...Pigeon fanciers take on RSPB over killer hawks
Feathers are flying in the bird world. Potential changes to the law, following a campaign by pigeon fanciers to reduce attacks on their pets by raptors, have met with opposition from the RSPB.
The Raptor Alliance, a body representing many of the UK’s 42,000 pigeon owners, is writing to MPs warning that an “iconic traditional British sport” is under threat as a result of an increasing number of attacks on their birds.
Continue reading...Last chance for conference registration, plus more local events.
Older than the dinosaurs: Lamprey fish return to UK rivers after 200 years
Ancient eel-like fish is reclaiming its former river strongholds as water quailty improves
An ancient fish blamed for the death of a king and served as a traditional royal dish is returning to parts of Britain where it has been absent for 200 years.
Lampreys, a Medieval delicacy and eaten in a scene of Games of Thrones, evolved almost 200m years before the dinosaurs but industrial pollution drove them out of many of Britain’s rivers.
Continue reading...The shrinking glaciers of Austria
The thawing of Dachstein Massif show how climate change is precipitating the melting of glaciers, reports Der Standard
The view is breathtaking. Sheer cliff faces extend beneath the gondola as it glides from the Styrian town of Ramsau to the southern part of the Dachstein Massif, home to three glaciers.
Upon arrival, visitors to the mountain are greeted by a green model dinosaur. The figure is meant to amuse children, but it has taken on a symbolic role too: glaciers belong to a dying breed. All three of the Dachstein’s glaciers – the Gosau, the Hallstätter and the Schladminger – have shrunk this year.
Threatened ecological community listed under the EPBC Act
Leadbeater’s possum Action Plan
India: No country for wild tigers? | Janaki Lenin
Authorities seek to widen a road that would cut wildlife corridors and put the future sustainability of three tiger reserves at risk
If the tigers of Panna are under threat of being displaced by a dam, the tigers of nearby Kanha, Pench, and Navegaon Nagzira tiger reserves in the two central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are in danger from a highway.
The National Highways Authority of India proposes to widen a 50-km (31-mile) stretch of road to a four-lane divided highway connecting Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, with Nagpur, Maharashtra. While allowing humans to hurtle between these two cities, the road slices two tiger corridors: Pench-Nagzira corridor in Maharashtra and the Pench-Kanha corridor in Madhya Pradesh. Although National Highway 7 (NH7) exists already, widening it will aggravate the problem it poses to wildlife. Central Indian forests hold about 33% of India’s tigers, 688 of them.
Continue reading...Australian export from New and Exploratory Fisheries in the CCAMLR Statistical Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2
Brompton: bicycle review | Emma John
People love Bromptons: not just suited commuters but maître d’s and cinema ushers. What’s the big deal?
Brompton M3L
Price £905
Weight 11.8kg
I count myself a functional cyclist: I don’t cycle for exercise, because I enjoy a sense of speed or to justify a wardrobe full of steampunk chic. I cycle because I am lazy and pedalling feels like less effort than walking. My journey into work only takes a quarter of an hour by bike, allowing me 15 minutes longer in bed. But when cycling seems like an effort, I simply won’t do it. Anything beyond a 25-minute radius of my house and I reach for the tube app.
Continue reading...Journey through the Northwest Passage – in pictures
The best shots from Robin McKie’s journey through the north-west passage. Read the full account here
Queensland East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery
Graeme Hopkins - Living Architecture
AdelaideSBN Spotlight - August 2015
Connecting with Nature
Presenter: Graeme Hopkins
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Graeme Hopkins is a Registered Landscape Architect, Registered Architect and Research Fellow in the Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design & Behaviour at the University of South Australia. He is principal of Fifth Creek Studio, and since the 1980s he has developed expertise in WSUD design and implementation, and the use of landscape strategies and natural systems within urban environments to provide climate change adaptation, with a particular focus on micro climate modification through the use of living architecture technologies such as green roofs and walls. He received a Churchill Fellowship in 2005 to study green roofs and walls overseas.
His book Living Architecture: Green roofs and walls (co-authored with Christine Goodwin) was published by CSIRO Publishing in mid-2011. Fifth Creek Studio was awarded the AILA South Australia Medal for Landscape Architecture 2012-13 for the book. He is currently conducting research into the heat impact of various landscape materials for landscape on structure and its effect on micro climate for North Sydney Council. Previously he completed three research and monitoring projects funded jointly by the South Australian government and Aspen Development: a living wall feasibility study for Adelaide’s climate, an innovative hybrid living wall system designed by Fifth Creek Studio and Woods Bagot for multi-storey buildings; and green roof trials to enable the development of an insulation performance tool for particular use in hot dry climates. This suite of projects won the 2013 AILA SA and the 2014 National AILA Excellence Awards in the category of Research and Communications in Landscape Architecture.
Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM
Janelle Arbon - Connecting with Nature
AdelaideSBN Spotlight - August 2015
Connecting with Nature
Janelle Arbon | Design Consultant for the Adelaide City Council | Treasurer of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA)
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Janelle Arbon is a registered landscape architect, AILA SA Chapter Treasurer and PhD Candidate. She has been a team member of Adelaide City Council program City Design and Transport Strategy since 2012 leading and delivering key council projects including the Princess Elizabeth Playspace and promoting design-led thinking across many of the city’s projects, including projects by the State Government. Previously Janelle was a Senior Landscape Architect at Swanbury Penglase. During the 6 1/2 years she had the opportunity to work on many varied projects across different platforms; everything educational facilities to recreation strategies. The diversity resulted in numerous state awards for projects including M2 and the Plasso UniSA Campus at Mawson Lakes.
She has been an active AILA SA Chapter executive member since 2009 and is currently the chapter treasurer. She has been involved in and is involved in AILA registration, mentoring, social media administration, education and awards as well as numerous sub committees. Janelle values continual professional development and research in design. She is currently undertaking a PhD at the School of Built Environment and Architecture, University of Adelaide. The thesis titled The Invisible Privatization of Public Space: Implications for the Landscape Architect questions how we can protect against privatisation of public space and what role do designers play within agencies driven by market privatisation and economic rationalism.
Cast: AdelaideSBN and ESM
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