Lessons from South Australia's business recovery amidst bushfires and pandemic

by University of South Australia

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

New research has given insight into the resilience and recovery of businesses in two South Australian regions following a major bushfire event and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Small businesses in two of the state's regions affected by a devastating bushfire and a COVID-19 cluster outbreak have been analyzed by economics experts at the University of South Australia to determine the best pathways for future disaster recovery in regional areas.

Like many SA regional areas heavily reliant on international tourists, Kangaroo Island and Barossa Valley experienced a drop in visitors following the destructive 2019–20 bushfires that erupted on Kangaroo Island only months before COVID-19 halted international travel. The bushfire was the largest in KI's history, scorching 211,000ha of land, which is almost half the island.

A few months later the Barossa Valley experienced its own disaster when a cluster of COVID-19 cases sent the region into lockdown. Both events caused significant disruption to businesses' cash flows, supply chains and markets.

In a study of a small pool of business owners across KI and Barossa Valley, published in the journal Regional Studies, Regional Science, UniSA's Dr. Kathy Rao found that a "dynamic capabilities approach" during a crisis is integral to long-term recovery in regional areas. This includes having the ability to identify and evaluate a threat, deploying resources in response to it and then renewing or transforming structures to ensure recovery and survival.

She says research participants spoke about the importance of financial stability for small businesses and its impact on business operations during crises.

"Many of the small business operators also found that having a strong online presence including a well-established website was an essential factor in their survival during the pandemic. Connections with local community groups or committees such as Tourism SA, Regional Development Australia and well as local accountants, mentors, lawyers and web designers were also critical," she says.

Most Barossa Valley participants reflected on how COVID-19 forced them to adapt or change their existing business models or alter their products and services. Some were forced to lay off staff, while others took the initiative to learn how to make their business leaner. Some took the period as a time for reflection, revaluation and to think about how they could "do things differently."

Dr. Rao says the study has identified a lack of mental health support for business owners and operators in regional areas during times of crises.

"We know that higher workloads and stress, exacerbated by turbulent environments, can put considerable pressure on mental health and well-being of business operators which can affect their ability to manage and make decisions, ultimately posing a risk to their resilience," she says.

"Many of the participants indicated that mental health is still a topic that carries stigma in regional communities. The psychological effects of the pandemic on business owners and managers were especially significant because without mental health, other supports were difficult to access."

The findings also indicated that regional business responses to the COVID-19 crisis were reactionary and often involved implementing short-term remedies to address reduced cash flow and supply and demand.

Dr. Rao says the findings have highlighted the need for regional businesses to undertake key processes that lead to building resilience over time, rather than only acting once a crisis has broken. These include establishing connections with local and regional support structures such as Regional Development Australia, tourism or primary industry authorities, local councils and community groups.

Most businesses in the study would also have failed to survive without a digital marketplace or online marketing strategies.

"Businesses therefore need to consider these factors in their crisis recovery planning and skillfully navigate and adapt around these challenges," Dr. Rao says.

She says while few Australian studies have investigated the impact of disasters on regional businesses, examining the effects of such crises is critical in contributing towards further regional policy development and decision making.

"Regional businesses contribute enormously to the area's socio-economic viability and act as a vital source of wealth and culture. Regional enterprises—from cafes to clothes shops to tourism enterprises—are crucial for healthy, well-functioning local communities so we must understand how to ensure regional businesses have the capacity to anticipate, adapt, respond to and recover from external shocks and disturbances," she says.

More information: Kathyayini Kathy Rao et al, The dynamic capabilities approach and regional business resilience: an Australian case study, Regional Studies, Regional Science (2024). DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2024.2315192

Provided by University of South Australia Female business leaders need better support to thrive in times of crisis

 

Australia on track for unprecedented, decades-long megadroughts

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Australia could soon see megadroughts that last for more than 20 years, according to new modelling from The Australian National University (ANU) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

The researchers’ bleak findings are before factoring in human impact on the climate since the Industrial Revolution. The ANU-led team also found that 20th century droughts in southwestern and eastern Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin, were longer on average compared to pre-industrial times.

According to the scientists, the findings paint a worrying picture of future droughts in Australia that are far worse than anything in recent experience.

Megadroughts are exceptionally severe, long-lasting and widespread. They can last multiple decades or even centuries. An example of this is the megadrought in the United States’ southwestern region that started in the year 2000 and has continued for more than two decades.

Co-lead author Dr Georgy Falster, from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, said that if a megadrought occurred in Australia today, the consequences would be made even worse because of climate change, as any drought would occur against a backdrop of hotter weather.

“The combination of climate change on top of naturally occurring megadroughts that could last for 20 years means that in the future Australia could see droughts that are worse than anything in recent historical experience,” Dr Falster said.

“We must consider, and prepare for, the possibility that one of these multi-decade megadroughts could occur in the near future.

“One of the problems with understanding protracted droughts in Australia is that our climate observations since the 1900s give us only a handful of examples to work with. This isn’t representative of the worst-case scenarios that are possible just through natural climate variations.

“Thinking about when we might expect to see a 20-year-long drought in the Murray-Darling Basin in southeastern Australia, this varies a lot. We could see a megadrought occur every 150 years or 1,000 years.

“In this study, we paid particular attention to the Murray-Darling Basin. As the largest agricultural region of Australia, it’s important to know how bad droughts in this region could be.”

The ANU-led team looked at the full spectrum of droughts Australia could experience, including length and intensity, even without the effects of climate change. They also wanted to find out how human-caused climate change is now altering the characteristics of Australian droughts.

The researchers used multiple climate models to simulate droughts that occurred during the past millennium – from the year 850 to 2000 – to determine how they might change in the future.

This includes predicting how long Australian droughts could last for, and how dry they could be.

“One of the confronting findings of our work is that it is possible for droughts in Australia to be much longer than any of the droughts that we’ve experienced in recent times. Droughts that continue for 20 years or more are something that we should expect to happen,” Dr Falster said.

“Megadroughts are part of the natural variations in Australia’s climate. But worryingly we are now also adding human-caused climate change into the mix, and that is probably increasing the chances of the next megadrought here.

“We compared simulated droughts in the 20th century, from the year 1900 to 2000, with those from the pre-industrial period, before the year 1850, to see if human-caused climate change has impacted how Australians experience droughts today.”

Co-author Professor Nerilie Abram, also from ANU, said human-caused climate change is contributing to longer droughts in southwestern and eastern Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin.

She said these are also the regions where we can expect future rainfall declines due to climate change, thereby increasing the risk of droughts.

“It is likely that changes to drought intensity could still arise as climate change continues to worsen,” Professor Abram said.

“One example of this is the 21st century ‘Tinderbox Drought’, which was only three years long but was exceptionally intense and set the conditions for the Black Summer bushfires. The Tinderbox Drought was likely made more severe by climate change.

“The only thing we can do to lessen the potential severity and length of future droughts is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, by rapidly transitioning to renewable energy sources.

“We can also reduce the impacts of future droughts by being prepared with water storage and management plans, and community support networks.”

The research is published in a special edition of the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. This work was co-led by ANU and The University of Sydney in collaboration with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the University of Wollongong and the University of Monash. 

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JOURNAL

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences

DOI

10.5194/hess-28-1383-2024 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Potential for historically unprecedented Australian droughts from natural variability and climate change

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Mar-2024

Australia battles to save last 11 wild 'earless dragons'

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2024 

This year scientists counted just 11 grassland earless dragons in the wild, a marked decline (DAVID GRAY/AFP)

Australia's grassland earless dragon is no bigger than a pinkie when it emerges from its shell, but the little lizard faces an enormous challenge in the years ahead: avoiding extinction.

As recently as 2019, scientists in Canberra counted hundreds of grassland earless dragons in the wild. This year, they found 11.

In other areas of the country, the lizard has not been seen for three decades.

The earless dragon -- which is light brown and has long white stripes down its body -- measures about 15 centimeters (the size of a US$1 bill) when fully grown.

It lacks an external ear opening and functional eardrum, hence the name.

Australia has four species of earless dragons. Three are critically endangered, the highest level of risk, while the fourth is endangered.

The critically endangered dragons will likely be extinct in the next 20 years without conservation efforts.

"If we properly manage their conservation, we can bring them back," said University of Canberra Professor Bernd Gruber, who is working to do just that.

- Breeding programs -

Australia is home to thousands of unique animals, including 1,130 species of reptiles that are found nowhere else in the world.

Climate change, invasive plants and animals, and habitat destruction -- such as the 2019 bushfires, which burned more than 19 million hectares (46 million acres) -- have pushed Australia's native species to the brink.

In the past 300 years, about 100 of Australia's unique flora and fauna species have been wiped off the planet.


To save the earless dragons there are several breeding programs under way across Australia, including a bio-secure facility in Canberra's bushlands, which Gruber is overseeing.

On shelves are dozens of tanks that house the lizards –- one to each container –- with a burrow, grass and heat lamps to keep them warm.

The biggest problem is matchmaking, with the territorial female lizards preferring to choose their mates.

This means that scientists must introduce different male lizards to the female until she approves.

If that was not hard enough, scientists must also use genetic analysis to determine which lizards are compatible together and ensure genetic diversity in their offspring.

At any one time, the breeding programs around Australia can have up to 90 earless dragons, which will eventually be released back into the wild.


At the moment, Gruber is looking after more than 20 small lizards that have just hatched. Scientists almost missed the tiny eggs until three weeks ago.

"There is a sense of hope looking over them," he told AFP.

- Habitat destruction -

Despite the efforts of scientists, the lizards are contending with a shrinking habitat and a changing climate.

Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Peta Bulling said the lizards only live in temperate grasslands, most of which have been destroyed by urban development.

Only 0.5 percent of grasslands present at the time of European colonization still exist.

Without the lizards, Australia's alpine grasslands could look vastly different.

"We don't understand everything the grassland earless dragons do in the ecosystem, but we can make guesses they play an important role in managing invertebrate populations. They live in burrows in the soil, so they are probably aerating the soil in different ways too," she told AFP.

Bulling said that while it was important to bring the lizard back, it was also vital to protect their habitats, without which the newly saved lizards would have nowhere to live.


"They are highly specialized to live in their habitat but they will not adapt quickly to change," she said.

Last year, scientists rediscovered a small number of another kind of earless dragons after 50 years in an area that is being kept secret for conservation reasons.

Resources are being poured into understanding just how big that population is and what can be done to protect it.

 

Climate change will see Australia’s soil emit CO2 and add to global warming

Soil helps to keep the planet cool by absorbing carbon, however as the climate gets warmer its ability to retain carbon decreases — and in some instances can start to release some carbon back into the air

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CURTIN UNIVERSITY

New Curtin University research has shown the warming climate will turn Australia’s soil into a net emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), unless action is taken.

 

Soil helps to keep the planet cool by absorbing carbon, however as the climate gets warmer its ability to retain carbon decreases — and in some instances can start to release some carbon back into the air.

 

A global research team — led by Professor Raphael Viscarra Rossel from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences— predicted the changes in the amount of carbon in Australia’s soil between now and the year 2100.

 

To do so, the team ran simulations using three different paths for society: an eco-focused ‘sustainable’ scenario, a ‘middle-of-the-road’ scenario and another which predicted a continued reliance on ‘fossil-fuelled development’.

 

It found Australian soil will be a net emitter and could account for 8.3 per cent of Australia’s total current emissions under the ‘sustainable’ scenario and more than 14 per cent by 2045 under the ‘middle-of-the-road’ and ‘fossil-fuelled’ scenarios.

 

By 2100, soil emissions under both scenarios are predicted to account for an even higher proportion of total emissions, but the predictions are more uncertain.

 

While some areas with arable farmland could continue to store carbon, the study found it would not be enough to offset the amounts of carbon lost from the soil in areas which are more sensitive to warmer weather, such as coastal regions and Australia’s vast rangelands.

 

Australian soil holds an estimated 28 gigatons of carbon, 70 per cent of which is stored in these rangelands.

 

“Unless farming methods are further improved so farmland soils can continue to store carbon, any gains and benefit will likely decrease by 2045 and worsen in time, if the Earth continues to warm at its current rate,” Professor Viscarra Rossel said.

 

“This means Australia’s soil could release even more carbon into the air instead of storing it, which will in turn make climate change worse.

 

“If emissions continue at the current rate, the Earth’s temperature is expected to reach 2 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures sometime this century, which is predicted to have dire consequences and

potentially catastrophic impacts for the planet.”

 

Professor Viscarra Rossel said more sustainable pathways and improved management and conservation of soils were essential for Australia to meet its emissions reduction goals.

 

“Ensuring Australia’s rangeland soils can maintain their carbon stocks is imperative: capturing and storing additional carbon will require interdisciplinary science, innovation, cultural awareness and effective policies” Professor Viscarra Rossel said.

 

“It will be challenging, given the rangelands’ drier and more variable climate, its relatively sparse vegetation and other factors such as bushfires — however, only a slight change over such large areas will make a positive difference.

 

“Innovative grazing management, cultural burning and regenerating biodiverse, endemic native plant communities, for example, could see rangelands soils absorb and store more water and carbon, reduce erosion and lead to more stable ecosystems – and ultimately, fewer emissions.”

 

‘A warming climate will make Australian soil a net emitter of atmospheric CO2’ was published in NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science.

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JOURNAL

npj Climate and Atmospheric Science

DOI

10.1038/s41612-024-00619-z 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A warming climate will make Australian soil a net emitter of atmospheric CO2

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Mar-2024

A global map of how climate change is changing winegrowing regions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INRAE - NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT

 

IMAGE: 

WINE LANDSCAPE. CAPTION WITH DRONE

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CREDIT: INRAE - LAURENT GUICHARDON

Grapes grown to make wine are sensitive to climate conditions such as temperature and extreme drought. These effects are already visible worldwide on yields, the composition of grapes and the quality of wines, with already and soon-to-be-observed consequences on the geography of wine production. Understanding shifts in wine production potential due to climate change is a major scientific concern. Based on their expertise and a thorough analysis of the scientific literature — over 250 publications in the last 20 years – a research team has established a global map of evolving trends in the threats and potential benefits that climate change brings to existing and new winegrowing regions.  They did so by studying the effects of changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, radiation and CO2 on wine production and exploring adaptation strategies.

 

Climate winners, climate losers

 

Winegrowing regions are primarily located at mid-latitudes where the climate is warm enough to allow grape ripening, but without excessive heat, and relatively dry to avoid strong fungal disease pressure. Rises in temperature – one of the most emblematic symptoms of climate change – accelerate vine development and the early ripening of grapes during the hottest periods in the summer.  Harvesting in most vineyards now begins two to three weeks earlier than it did 40 years ago, with effects on grapes and the resulting styles of wines. Temperature increases, for example, can change how a wine tastes if grapes lose acidity, increase wine alcohol, and modify aromatic signatures. On a global scale, climate change could reduce growable surface area in current wine regions and increase it in others.

If global warming exceeds 2°C, some 90% of all traditional winegrowing areas in the coastal and plains regions of Spain, Italy, Greece and southern California may become unable to produce high-quality wine in economically sustainable conditions by the end of the century due to risks of excessive drought and more frequent heat waves. Conversely, higher temperatures could improve the suitability of other regions for the production of quality wines, including northern France, the states of Washington and Oregon in the United States, the province of British Columbia in Canada and Tasmania in Australia. They could even create new wine regions, in Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark.

The emergence of new diseases and pests, as well as an increase in the frequency of extreme events, are other upcoming challenges for producers. Vineyards can withstand global warming below the 2°C limit by using more drought-resistant grape varieties and rootstocks and by adopting management methods that better preserve soil water, such as decreasing vineyard density and protecting against erosion, as demonstrated by several studies conducted in partnership with winegrowers[1]. Adaptation strategies also depend heavily on local conditions and are only worthwhile if they can ensure the economic viability of production. Producers in higher latitudes, on the other hand, may see their yields and the quality of their wine increase thanks to rising temperatures.

This study confirms the heightened threat that climate change poses to the quality of wines produced in traditional vineyards. It also confirms the key 2°C limit beyond which global warming will make major changes necessary in wine production worldwide.

 

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[1] See the results of the LACCAVE research partnership on measures to adapt viticulture to climate change https://www.inrae.fr/en/news/laccave-ten-year-research-partnership-adapt-viticulture-climate-change

These results are also available in a book (in French): https://www.inrae.fr/actualites/vigne-vin-changement-climatique

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JOURNAL

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43017-024-00521-5 

ARTICLE TITLE

Climate change impacts and adaptations of wine production

EGYPTOLOGY/ENTOMOLGY

Dung beetles show their love by sharing the load

MERDE LA'AMOUR 💩

Before mating, some male and female dung beetles work together to move their brood balls to a location unknown to either.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND

 

IMAGE: 

BEFORE MATING, SOME MALE AND FEMALE DUNG BEETLES WORK TOGETHER TO MOVE THEIR BROOD BALLS TO A LOCATION UNKNOWN TO EITHER.

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CREDIT: WITS UNIVERSITY

Dung beetles share the load when it comes to showing their affection for each-other, when transporting a “brood ball”.

Dung Beetles are known for collecting piles of dung for various uses. One of these is called a “brood ball”, where they lay an egg in each ball, after they have buried it. When the egg hatches, the larva uses the ball as a nursery, eating the ball from the inside out, shaving off layers to keep the ball intact.

“The brood ball is a vehicle that the adult beetles use to get their genes into the next generation,” says Professor Marcus Byrne of the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Byrne and Professor Marie Dacke of the Vision Group at Lund University, Sweden, have studied the navigational behaviour of dung beetles for over two decades. They have found that dung beetles’ source of food is never at the same location, and consequently they have an extremely limited way of memorising environmental cues around the dung. Instead they make use of the stars, wind and the sun and moon, among others, to find their way away from dung sources to avoid competition.

Ball-rolling dung beetles transport balls of dung and bury them in the soil, for feeding or breeding. After carefully constructing a dung ball at the dropping site, these beetles immediately roll it away along a linear path avoiding intra- and interspecific competition for food and nesting sites. 

In their latest study, published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Byrne, Dacke and  lead author Dr Claudia Tocco (formerly at Wits and now at Lund University, Sweden)  found that when transporting a brood ball, male and female dung beetles work together transporting the ball to a location that neither of them know about beforehand.

“It is important to note that each individual ant or spider involved in the cooperative transport of food strives towards the same final known destination; either a nest or a tightly spun shelter, in which to store the food,” says Tocco. “In contrast, pairs of male and female dung beetles fluently collaborate to transport food to a location unknown to either party at the start of their common journey.”

For their study, Byrne and colleagues studied the transport behaviour of brood balls by pairs of the Southern African Sisyphus fasciculatus and European Sisyphus schaefferi. Both these species of dung beetles are small in size and associated with woodland habitats, where they commonly encounter obstacles on their rolling paths, usually plant material that falls from the trees.

The team found that pairs of Sisyphus beetles cooperate in the transportation of brood balls, resulting in greater transport efficiency in the face of obstacles. This cooperation is driven by coordinated movements where the male steers while the female primarily assists in lifting the ball whenever obstacles need to be climbed.

The characteristic straight-line escape not only guarantees that the ball-rolling beetles will not inadvertently return to the competition at the dropping site, but also effectively maximizes the beetles’ distance from it with every step taken.

When paired up for mating, the exact location at which the pair chooses to stop and bury their brood ball is also selected on the go, on the basis of the properties of the terrain being traversed.

“To ensure smooth and effective transport, efficient communication must be taking place between the male and female of the beetle pair. However, the mechanism that allows the beetle pair to communicate and coordinate their joint actions is currently not known,” says Byrne. This opens up opportunities to investigate collaboration in many other fields, such as robotics.

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Bottlenecks and beehives: how an invasive bee colony defied genetic expectations

Adaptability despite low genetic diversity could be a good sign for threatened species

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

 

IMAGE: 

ASIAN HONEYBEE SWARM IN CAIRNS, QUEENSLAND.

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CREDIT: DR ROS GLOAG

For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials.

Research published today in Current Biology has shown the species, Apis cerana, has overcome what is known as a genetic bottleneck to grow from a single swarm into a population of more than 10,000 colonies over a 10,000 square kilometre area – which is about the size of Greater Sydney.

Co-lead author Dr Rosalyn Gloag from the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences said: “Our study of this bee population shows that some species can quickly adjust to new environments despite starting with very low genetic diversity relative to their native-range populations.”

Dr Gloag said that high genetic diversity is generally assumed to be important for a population to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions, such as when a species is translocated or experiences rapid environmental change caused by natural or climate change disasters.

“However, we have shown that this invasive population of honeybees has rapidly adapted since its arrival, despite having suffered a steep loss in genetic diversity,” she said.

The research team highlight the importance of this case study for understanding population resilience in general.

“This is even more important as we observe many species dealing with anthropogenic climate change,” Dr Gloag said.

Studying the invasive population in Queensland gave the research team a rare complete genetic timeline of a natural invasion, beginning from soon after the bees arrived.

The arrival of the colony in 2007, likely from Papua New Guinea, was of concern to Australian biosecurity because of the parasites the bees can carry. Ultimately these bees were found not to be carrying the most feared of its parasites, the varroa mite, which has since arrived in Australia by an unknown route, threatening the domestic honey industry.

“We were lucky to have a complete sample timeline of this invasive population thanks to the incredible efforts of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, which sampled the population extensively during the early years of the incursion as part of an eradication attempt,” Dr Gloag said.

“Although that attempt was unsuccessful, the biological material collected has been incredibly valuable for understanding how these invasions proceed. And that in turn helps us prepare better for future invasions,” she said.

Access to this comprehensive sample set allowed the scientists to re-sequence entire genomes of 118 individual bees collected over 10 years.

“We could essentially observe natural selection acting over time in a population that started with low genetic diversity,” Dr Gloag said. “From this unique vantage point, we could see that selection was acting on the variation in genomes that had arrived with the handful of original bees. It wasn’t variation that arose later by mutations.

“In other words, some species with very low genetic diversity can adapt very quickly,” she said.

“While this might be bad news for environments coping with newly arrived invasive species, it’s potentially good news for populations that have temporary crashes in the face of climate change or other natural or human-induced disasters, such as bushfires.”

The study was done in collaboration with scientists at York University (Canada), IPB University (Indonesia), Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia) and the CSIRO (Australia).

Dr Ros Gloag from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University. Dr Gloag is pitcured here with a tetragonula hive (not the Asian honeybees of the study).

A single Asian honeybee (photo taken in its natural range in China).

CREDIT

Ben Oldroyd/The University of Sydney

Swarm of invasive Asian honeyb [VIDEO] | 

DOWNLOAD research, images and videos of the bees at this link.

RESEARCH

Dogantzis, K, Gloag, R, et al (2024) ‘Post-invasion selection acts on standing genetic variation despite a severe founding bottleneck’ Current Biology DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.010

DECLARATION

The authors declare no competing interests. Research was conducted with assistance from the Australian Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada) and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Indonesia).

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JOURNAL

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.010 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Post-invasion selection acts on standing genetic variation despite a severe founding bottleneck

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Feb-2024

'Living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years being planted in secret locations

By Richard Pallardy

published 1 day ago

Wollemi pines — thought to have gone extinct 2 million years ago — were rediscovered in 1994. Scientists are now hoping to reintroduce the species in the wild in a conservation effort that could take centuries.

Wollemi pines were rediscovered in Australia 2 million years after they were thought to have gone extinct. (Image credit: Ken Griffiths via Getty Images)

Scientists are planting "living fossil" trees in secret locations in a bid to bring back the lost species from the brink of extinction — an effort that could take centuries.

Wollemi pines (Wollemia nobilis) were believed to have disappeared some 2 million years ago. Fossils of the species dating the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) show they have barely changed in appearance since this time.

But in 1994, hikers in Australia's Blue Mountains stumbled upon a relict stand of these ancient conifers. Now, only around 60 of them remain in Wollemi National Park. They are threatened by Phytophthora cinnamomi, a pathogenic water mold that causes dieback, and by rampant wildfires that intermittently rage through this region of New South Wales

Since its rediscovery, wollemi pines have been grown in botanical gardens and private spaces around the world. And the Wollemi Pine Recovery Team, a partnership between Australian government scientists and conservationists, has begun the process of reintroducing seedlings to three sites in Wollemi National Park.

"The sites comprise high-elevation sandstone gorges that are sufficiently deep, narrow and steep-sided to provide refugia from frequent, intense wildfires and drought," representatives said in a statement emailed to Live Science. "There was no evidence of infection with pathogenic Phytophthora species at either site when surveyed immediately prior to the translocations, and there is a low (but non-zero) likelihood of unauthorized visitation due to their remoteness."

Following a pilot transplantation effort in 2012, the recovery team initiated a more intensive project in 2019. Over 400 saplings were transplanted at two sites and — due to drought conditions — the team later hauled several thousand gallons of water to the plants in order to help them survive. Later that year, a substantial number of the trees were destroyed by bushfires. Only 58 saplings made it to 2023.



The trees were found in 1994 by hikers in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. 

 (Image credit: AndriiSlonchak via Getty Images)

In 2021, 502 more Wollemi pines were planted at the sites to replace those lost in the fires. "Survival has greatly exceeded expectations, due in part to several years of favorable La Niña conditions following the 2021 population augmentations," the researchers said. La Niña is a periodic climate pattern that features colder-than-average waters in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific. Increased rainfalls due to the climatic phenomenon benefited the new transplants—but that seems to be coming to an end. Landslides caused by heavy rains in 2022 led to further fatalities but more than 80% survived. More will be planted in 2024.

The team has taken extensive steps to prevent introduction of Phytophthora to the sites. Their locations are concealed from the public and even the reintroduction team limits their time near the plants. They repeatedly disinfect their shoes to reduce the likelihood they will track in traces of the water mold. Even a few spores might spell death for this nascent population.

They have also intentionally located some of the young trees in areas that might be subject to bushfires "to help address knowledge gaps regarding their response and ability to tolerate fire," the team said.

While the new populations are being intensively monitored, the fate of the species in the wild is far from assured. The young trees grow less than 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) a year, so it will take decades for them to reach maturity and produce seeds. Some may produce offshoots in the meantime, though when they may begin propagating themselves in this fashion remains unknown.

Fires and other climate-related issues such as reduced rainfall are likely to interfere with the restoration effort in the coming years. The scientists view their effort as a multi-generational one: a new cohort of stewards will need to take their place in the ensuing decades.

"To be successful, the translocated populations must become self-sustaining, and the benchmark is the appearance of second-generation seedlings," the researchers said. "Given the slow growth and maturation of Wollemi pines in the wild, this is likely to take many decades, if not centuries. Given predicted increases in the frequency and severity of fire and drought due to climate change — arguably the two greatest threats to these populations — their long-term security is far from guaranteed."