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Climate Change and Exacerbating Local
Threats
Just as was found with the Great Barrier Reef (GBR),
my research has found that Climate Change presents an immediate
and existential threat to the Banksia habitats that the Eastern
Pygmy Possums (EPPs) depend on. My research has found:
- Dramatically
increased rainfall variability means that months of rainfall sufficiency
are no longer consecutive for the period required by Banksias.
- Premature
Death of Banksias and Heath-sized Angophoras that EPPs depend
upon for nectar and pollen observed.
- Shortened
flowering seasons for nectar-producing flora such as Banksia
erciifolia observed.
- Precipitous
fall in EPP reproduction rate observed in my EPP nest box climate
change monitoring sites.
- Increase
in camera-monitoring failure rate in previously surveyed EPP-occurrence
areas observed in 2019 resurvey may indicate population decline.
- Contractiuon
in EPP occurrence areas noted with exacerbating threats identified
for some areas.
- Some positive
results found in the 2019 resurvey in comparison to past results
may suggest some possible solutions to the decline.
As with the GBR with local threats like nutrient runoff,
I found there were a number of major local threats that are exacerbating
the damage to EPP populations and their Banksia habitats:
- Increased
area and frequency of Hazard Reduction Burns (HRB).Please see
my coming "HRB" page for a full documentation of my
research.
- Rogue Mountain
Biking (RMB) enthusiasts who insist on targetting habitats containing
threatened species with their destructive trails and removal of
native vegetation. Please see my coming "MTB Tracks"
page for a full documentation of my reaserch into their damage
and the solutions needed.
- Clearing
for Outdoor Recreational/Training facilities.
You can follow
the development of these ideas by reading the following presentation
and documents before reading the latest on this web site:
Eastern
Pygmy Possums, Threatened Species and their Habitats in Ku-ring-gai
Area
An Assessment of the Vulnerability of Eastern
Pygmy Possums to Climate Change Exacerbated Drought First draft:
DOCX
PDF
HTML
An Assessment of the Vulnerability of Eastern
Pygmy Possums to Climate Change Exacerbated Drought (updated):
DOCX
PDF
HTML
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