Keystones & Cops

[ho-hum]

This is not an australian article. It is however a big picture article written on north america and fascinating in its conclusions as to landscape change. A thought provoking read.

I found it doing a permasearch [top of page] search on pigeons.

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/PeterBane/PeterBaneKeyst

floot

[Jez]

That link's busted I think Mike...did you accidentally leave the end off it?...keeps redirecting to various pages from something called the 'gummyguide'...then when I searched for 'Peter Bane' on the website it redirects to somewhere even stranger... :lol:

[ho-hum]

Jez,

Thanks for that. Here is the corrected post.

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/PeterBane/PeterBaneKeystonesandCops.htm

mike

[Jez]

Ripper article Mike, thanks for sharing it.

[Cornonthecob]

Amazing.....in such a sad way :(

[ho-hum]

It was this article that made me consider the 'kangaroo farm' thing.

The aussie kangaroo is the most populous mammal on earth with population estimates of between 50 - 100 million.

Who knows what symbiotic relationship we may upset by not keeping the numbers at this level. Could we lose the platypus from the eastern seaboard by decimating kangaroos on the other side of the Divide? I know this seems far-fetched and an extreme example but personally I dont want to discover the consequences ipso facto.

Sometimes I groan at ads to save bears, apes and tigers overseas when I know that our own continent has lost so many mammals in the past 200 years with no let-up in sight. Dozens of our small marsupials are facing extinction and we are constantly berated to donate money to send overseas to save someone else's heritage. I hate to sound selfish here but we owe it to the world to save what's left in our own backyard first.

floot

[gnoll110]

Interesting questions.

Can a plant be a keystone? If it's a Legume? I'd say yes.

I propose that the Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) is the keystone species for the bioregion that bares its name.

On the Roo front, its is bit more complex. There are a several dozen species of kangaroos & wallabies.

Most have limited ranges. Most have declined due to human driven change in the landscape. 5 have become extinct in the last 200+ year, another 11 are currently found in less than 50% of there pre 1788 range. Some of the limited range species have increased in their areas.

Three species have done very well out of human driven changes in the landscape. The Red (Macropus rufus), the Eastern Grey (Macropus giganteus) and Western Grey (Macropus fuliginosus). Due to being on the Protected List, increased cropping/grazing (in some area), rationalization in agriculture and other factors, the range of these three species has increased over that last 40 years. I've done several thousand dollar of damage to my car over that last several years in suburban Canberra.

It would be very interesting to know how much the australian landscape has changed since the mega fauna disappeared.


Gnoll110