Ants of Northern Australia | Weed Management Systems | Greenhouse trading | Landcare report | Plants of Australia |

Ants of Northern Australia

The book’s illustrations are by Peter Jacklyn, the TS–CRC’s Communication Coordinator

UP to 20 million ants, representing 100 different species, can be found in each hectare of bush in northern Australia. However, up to three-quarters or more of the species are undescribed, and workable keys are unavailable for most described species. A new book—by CSIRO ecologist Dr Alan Andersen—now addresses this problem and is the first to describe the ants of northern Australia at the species level.

It will help in the identification of the 1500 or so ant species occurring in the region. The Ants of Northern Australia: a Guide to the Monsoonal Fauna aims to enable professional researchers (including graduate students, academics and applied scientists) and knowledgeable amateurs to identify the ants occurring in monsoonal Australia.

“Ants are being used as indicators in areas such as mine-site rehabilitation, off-site mining impacts, grazing management and fire management,” says Alan. “The book will provide valuable support for land managers wishing to use ants as bio-indicators, as well as for environmental researchers.”

Cost: $34.95 plus $9.00 postage and handling. To order a copy contact CSIRO publishing on Tel: 1800 645 051. Also see web links below.

Weed Management Systems

Australian Weed Management Systems, edited by B.M. Sindel, claims to be the first Australian textbook on integrated weed management for students, researchers and managers of agriculture and natural ecosystems.

It is produced by the CRC for Weed Management Systems where a variety of experts have contributed selected chapters in their areas of expertise.

The textbook was developed in association with the new CRC-initiated undergraduate course in IWM which is being taught at the University of Adelaide, University of New England and Charles Sturt University. Price $32.90 plus $10 postage in Australia.

See web link below.

Greenhouse trading

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading: Allocation of Permits, a report from the Australian Greenhouse Office, outlines possible methods of allocating permits to emit greenhouse gases under an emission trading regime. Questions explored include: How will entities acquire the tradeable permits they require to acquit for their emissions of greenhouse gases? Will permits be sold by the Government or will they be allocated by some administrative process? If permits are distributed by administrative means, to whom will they be allocated?

See web link below.

Landcare report

The Bureau of Rural Sciences has released a report that concludes that while Landcare has been an important factor in improving land-management practices, making farming systems more sustainable will be a slow process that will require more than voluntary measures.

Influencing Improved Natural Resource Management on Farms, by researchers Neil Barr and John Cary, concluded that the impact of Landcare had probably peaked and that it was “unrealistic to expect any greater degree of penetration of the farming community than has been achieved”.

The report found that factors such as financial capacity, skills, financial returns and motivation influenced the adoption of sustainable practices more than notions of altruism, and that individual farmers tended to underestimate the extent of soil degradation on their own farms.

It warned that the barriers preventing farmers from changing their practices were “overwhelmingly structural”, and that most broadacre farms did not produce sufficient economic surplus to encourage investment in natural resource management and the environment.

Download the report from the Bureau of Rural Sciences, web link below.

Plants of Australia

Plants of Importance to Australia—A Checklist, complied by R.C.H. Shepherd, R.G. Richardson and F.J. Richardson, provides an accurate botanical name, authority, family and a preferred common name for each plant that is or may be of importance to Australia.

The species chosen include weeds of both agriculture and the environment; crop species of all sorts and ornamental species that have, or may, become environmental weeds. More than 12,000 common names are listed.

Cost is $33, plus $10 postage in Australia, CSIRO Publishing, web link below.