Ecos articles from April 1999

Ecos archives from April 1999

A monotreme about town.
April 1, 1999... Given how difficult it is to spot platypus, one would think they spend most of their time lounging in and around their burrow. But a recent study by the Australian Platypus Conservancy has shown that platypus like to cruise around. Study...

Trees face the acid test.
April 1, 1999... For the first time, scientists have shown that certain species of trees can counteract soil acidification. Using field and laboratory studies, CSIRO's Andrew Noble and Peter Randall are developing an agroforestry armoury against this damaging...

Cool evidence confirms unnatural rise in methane.
April 1, 1999... Latest analysis of air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice cores has confirmed a dramatic surge in atmospheric methane concentrations since pre-industrial times and a puzzling trend towards their stabilisation since 1980. The ice cores, some...

Fungal faux pas.
April 1, 1999... In the January-March issue of Ecos, the captions for these two fungi pictures, in the article `Hearts of darkness', were reversed. On the right is an Australian coral fungus, Ramaria versatilis, one of the many fungi contributing to...

Tagging along with sharks.
April 1, 1999... Katherine Johnson describes the sophisticated surveillance devices used to expose the secret lives of sharks. In blue waters off Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef, divers approach the broad head and speckled body of a whale shark, the...

Caught in the crossfire.
April 1, 1999... Abstract: The distribution of koalas is influenced by chemical defences that have evolved in leaves to prevent herbivory. In one study a new group of plant chemical defences called diformyl-phloroglucinols (DFPs) explained 75% of the variation...

Treetop tremors.
April 1, 1999... Graeme O'Neill outlines the threat to rare, leaf-eating mammals posed by rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. At the height of the last glacial period 18 000 years ago, the mountain pigmy possum, Burramys parvus, ranged widely...

Modelling the battle of the grasses.
April 1, 1999... BEYOND the forest, in the grasslands of Australia's semi-arid and and interior, the ecological balance could also be disrupted as carbon dioxide concentrations rise. Dr Mark Howden of the Bureau of Rural Sciences is seconded to the...

Glimpses of a warmer world.
April 1, 1999... Climatologists have identified a lag effect in the global climate system, in the form of the Southern Ocean. Graerne O'Neill reports. In 1998, the average global temperature was 0.66 [degrees] C above the long-term average, breaking the...

Cyclone warnings.
April 1, 1999... Abstract: Predicting the effects of a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is an important part of CSIRO investigations into the impacts of climate change. Habitats and food supplies of Australia's rare, rainforest marsupials are likely...

Adapting to a climate of uncertainty.
April 1, 1999... The science of predicting climate change is clouded with uncertainty. We can't foretell how human behaviour -- policy decisions, technological advances and population growth -- will effect greenhouse gas emissions in the coming century....

Finding the energy to come clean.
April 1, 1999... Abstract: New energy-generation technologies are needed to reduce the accumulation of combustion by-products in the atmosphere. CSIRO Energy Technology is contributing to their development with a demonstration hybrid solar/fossil fuel facility...

Outfall fallout.
April 1, 1999... Abstract: A study by CSIRO's Environmental Projects Office has found that ammonia released at the Boags Rocks ocean outfall, which disposes 40% of Melbourne's wastewater, has a damaging effect on the local ecosystem. The study involved an...

Shedding light on Lepidoptera.
April 1, 1999... Ian Common has been deciphering Australia's insect biodiversity since long before the term existed. In the summer of 1950, Dr Ian Common began making weekly forays from his Canberra office to the granite boulders of the Brindabella Ranges,...

New directions in sustainability planning.
April 1, 1999... An innovative approach to regional planning in central Queensland is helping to promote sustainability across a broad cross-section of the rural community. According to participants, the approach is creating an unprecedented level of...