Guy Ballard

Just a few too many on my young Eucalypts. I wish them well as a species.

A robber-fly takes out a Chrysomelid beetle. Biological pest control in action!

Eastern bearded dragon,
Nambucca River, NSW, Australia.

A praying mantis ootheca on a native paper daisy was my ‘small find’ on the back paddock walk this morning. Christmas beetles are also enjoying several Eucalyptus spp. new growth but far fewer than last year (so far).

Saving a species but at the expense of others? The way to hell is paved with good intentions. In the hope of saving certain endangered species and ecosystems, some conservation projects propose the introduction of large plant-feeding mammals int...

A study of introductions of large herbivorous mammals outside their native range suggests they do more harm than good to local biodiversity. Only 1 in 5 impacts is positive. Positive effects on certain native species often come at a cost to other natives. #bioinvasions www.unifr.ch/news/en/3344...

Thanks Guy!! As @benflips.bsky.social says "it's not rocket science, it's plumbing" #wildoz #esa2025

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Spotted-tailed quoll
Blue-ringed octopus
Australian bustard
Mountain katydid
Stimpson’s python

#biodiversity

Blessed are those willing to act in the face of environmental threats. Saint @judydunlop.bsky.social inspired all at her #ESA2025 talk on stopping cane toads in their north western tracks.
All power to the WA toad ‘stoppers’.

Best line of the week at #esa2025 belonged to Tiahni Adamson during the #ESA2025 Indigenous Plenary:
‘walking together at the speed of trust’.

We all need to embrace this, when working with others.

Not ok.

Incredibly galling to hear $400M to be wasted on shipping ppl to Nauru when we are decades under-funded for meaningful #biosecurity and #environmental action in Australia. 😭

Certainly not. I can only respectfully request that our political representatives act in our collective long-term interest, rather than being distracted by any political or personal benefits associated with short term appeasement of industries that are NOT obliged to work for us.

Murray Watt backs ‘no-go’ zones where development is banned – but not for Tasmania’s Robbins Island Environment minister says scientific evidence did not convince government that remote island qualified

Sound principle, now fund the necessary action Minister Watt.

‘we absolutely remain committed to the principle of not just protecting and reducing environmental damage, but restoring our environment.’

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Sure do, and we hope to share some of this once our current cat work finishes, but that’s sadly still a small proportion of the State.

Interesting.
Dingoes prey varies with local availability, experience and social group size.
Also, what appears to be a solitary animal is often part of a dispersed social group.

Agreed. Plenty of people, including me, were very interested in major macropod taxonomic changes.

Osphranter rufus, formerly Macropus, continues to be killed in large numbers because people perceive it to be a pest.

Def not exactly the same, no two wildlife issues are, but ‘impacts’ matter most.

This is especially because impacts and management do not occur statewide.

It would be ideal if we could invest more in monitoring dingoes but as I noted (and despite some success in other research areas) we have not been able to secure grants for this, into the future.

2/2.

I don’t dictate NSW Government interests (possibly good for all of us).

Professionally I am interested in dingo densities, what drives them, how they relate to those of other species, and how we can manage impacts with minimal harm.

Statewide abundance is not necessary to manage impacts.

1/2

I like this idea and expect (the data from) many samples I’ve provided, and that our team continues to collect, will be shared once the wildlife geneticists and other ecologists using them have completed their work.

It’s also pretty hard to list an abundant animal as threatened, which dingoes are in many parts of Australia. (obv. they are at low densities in some areas, eg western Vic).
I have a little experience too, & think a primary, practical focus on impacts would be more helpful than a rebadge

And yet not enough to do everything. 🤔

I think it’s possible you have some sampling bias re the ‘most working in this space tend to agree’ idea.

I am skeptical that a name change will significantly affect on ground management, (esp. compared to rigorous quantitative study of impacts and population monitoring.)

‘Names can matter…’

We’d certainly be happy to generate an estimate if someone would pay for it!

I’m unsurprised by your self-confidence and my scepticism.

I guess we’ll have see if there is any meaningful change in #dingo management in the areas where they are most common.

Re your last point, I did write that names can be important and you give a good example.

Perhaps it’s a welcome distraction from the much more important issue of quantifying and managing impacts (+ve and -ve).

We’re all guilty of it occasionally, investing energy in a side issue rather than tackling the tough stuff! Ie How to improve real-world management in a broadly acceptable way?

Generally accepted that dingoes came to Australia with people rather than under their own steam. Not everyone agrees, of course!

An interesting read. 🧪
Names can matter but the ongoing debate about #dingoes specific identity has temporarily obscured another more important issue: managing negative impacts. History suggests a ‘new’ name wont protect #dingoes from Australians who identify them as #pests

1) Congratulations!
2) You can absolutely do Honours
3) Choose something you find interesting, where you will have a result to discuss.

A red fox sitting inside a cage trap.

Although introduced red #foxes do eat endemic #possums no one expected this in one of our cage traps this morning