Ecos articles from July 1999

Ecos archives from July 1999

Finding the best prescription.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... Fire. It's as much a part of the Australian environment as the kangaroo and the eucalypt. But the way Australian forests burn has changed in the past 200 years or so. What impact do such changes have on ecological and other forest values? ...

Happy birthday.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... WELCOME to the 100th issue of Ecos, the magazine born in August 1974 with the message that `science must interact with the situations and problems of the world'. These words were penned for the magazine's first edition by former CSIRO...

Tests of time and tide.
July 1, 1999... In 1841, amateur meteorologist Thomas Lempriere -- in the company of Antarctic explorer Captain Sir James Ross -- made a rough cut in the sandstone cliffs at Port Arthur's Isle of the Dead. Its purpose was to serve as a benchmark against which...

Unravelling the mysteries of land and sea.
July 1, 1999... Graeme O'Neill recalls advances and challenges in environmental science that Ecos has chronicled in its first 25 years. When Ecos was born in 1974, Australia was considered a land of eucalypts, acacias and banksias, with a few patches of...

Healing the Derwent's murky blues.
July 1, 1999... Twenty-five years ago, the people of Hobart were told the Derwent was the most polluted river in the world. Polluting practices have been curtailed since then, but much of the contamination remains buried in the river sediments. An integrated...

Taking the air.
July 1, 1999... Paul Holper gets among the action as the pristine winds of north-west Tasmania are summoned to help scientists push the boundaries of atmospheric photochemistry. Have you ever wondered what happens to air pollutants after a smoggy day?...

Did anyone mention the environment?
July 1, 1999... Wildlife and Ecology divisional fellow, Doug Cocks, laments the slackening of our environmental defences. I can remember clearly the interest and enthusiasm with which scientists at the Division of Land Use Research greeted the first issue...

clean skies ahead.
July 1, 1999... Scientists such as Dr Peter Manins have spent decades developing new ways to measure air pollution. Have they been too clever for their own good? Twenty five years ago, scientists could describe the complex winds and dispersion of...

Making plantations the growth industry.
July 1, 1999... Dr Glen Kile forsees a future in which sustainability grows on trees, thanks to continuing advances in forest and plantation management practices. Looking into the crystal ball, I foresee increasing public support for production forestry...

The water eaters.
July 1, 1999... Australians are adopting an enlightened approach to water management, but atoning for past mistakes will require major shifts in food production and a new reverence for water catchments. Dr Wayne Meyer explains how things might change. ...

Weeding out the enemy.
July 1, 1999... Dr Mark Lonsdale, weed management program leader at CSIRO Entomology, suggests our gardens harbour far greater dangers than the laboratories of genetic engineers. As an ecologist who has worked for 15 years on the ecology of invasive...

Keeping our agents in control.
July 1, 1999... In a glasshouse at Victoria's Keith Turnbull Research Institute (KTRI), a force of cochineal insects is being marshalled for a renewed assault on the prickly pear. It's a battle of old adversaries. Cochineal insects were one of 52 insect...

News from the frontline.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... CSIRO Entomology is involved in biological control projects for eight environmental weeds: St John's wort, horehound, Scotch broom, bitou bush/boneseed, arum lily, bridal creeper, water hyacinth and Mimosa pigra. Five of the projects are run by...

Ecology takes on the human touch.
July 1, 1999... CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology turned 50 this year amid debate about funding directions that favour applied research. While some fear the loss of `pure science', others say that people belong to system, and understanding and influencing their role...

Slow change on the range.(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... At what stocking rate do sheep cause degradation in rangelands? It's a question that can't be answered in a hurry because climatic variation can mask many of the effects of grazing in the short term. But the answer is fundamental to sustainable...