... The need to present scientific research to a popular audience is becoming increasingly apparent. Presenting arid zone research in the media, particularly on television, raises a number of difficulties that are best solved through planning and preparation. Awareness of the logistical problems...

... affected by the road, thereby informing management priorities for mitigating road effects. The study was conducted along the Silver City Highway on the UNSW Arid Zone Research Station, Fowlers Gap, in north-western New South Wales. We found that the road influenced the spatial distribution of kangaroos...

... also contain endemic taxa. Most molluscs found in intermittent waters adopt strategies to avoid desiccation or to facilitate dispersal and are generally widely distributed. The presence of molluscan and other (fishes, turtles) endemics in some large arid zone waterholes suggests that those habitats may...

... Arid zone landscapes are characterised by a high spatial and temporal variability, particularly seasonal variability, observable on a range of scales. This variability is an important factor influencing the distribution and dynamics of wildlife populations in the arid zone. However, progress...

... Water and its management has become one of the key environmental issues in Australia. Many of our arid zone rivers, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin are severely affected by overextraction, impacting on floodplains and their biodiversity. The interaction between policy and science...

... The Australian arid zone is a large complex area. In order to maintain its biodiversity, it is essential that landscape-wide and long-term analyses form the backdrop to the development of management strategies. From the current knowledge of the biodiversity and ecology of the arid zone...

... in averages - and that it is these rare outlier events that are most likely to be relevant for Australia and for the arid zone in particular. A corollary of this point is that at present, the extremes, e.g. rainfall in the arid zone, are currently unpredictable and this unpredictability is likely to further...

... colonists. Overall, more birds have decreased in the semi-arid zone of the Division than in the arid zone, and more in mallee scrub and eucalypt woodland than in other vegetation types, due largely to the pattern of vegetation clearing in the Division. Other factors (overgrazing, introduced predators...

... The present composition of the arid-zone terrestrial mollusc fauna reflects the post Pliocene aridity with a mix of highly adapted and relictual taxa. A database of 8,200 pulmonate gastropod records derived from museum collections was compiled for continental Australia and interrogated...

... in abundance and others to decrease. The widespread extinction of dingoes is likely to have exacerbated the impacts of foxes and overgrazing. Successful restoration of the arid zone fauna will require the restoration of ecological functions and species interactions, particularly nutrient cycling and predation. ...

... relatively broad distributions and species diversity is higher in the northern wet-dry tropics compared to the southern arid zone. Three species, Saccolaimus saccolaimus, Macroderma gigas and H. d. inornatus , are listed as threatened and a further three species, Taphozous kapalgensis, H. stenotis...

... The biota and ecological processes of the Australian arid zone remain relatively unstudied. Australian deserts are remote from population centres and are subject to unpredictable rainfall, making it difficult to plan and execute time-limited research projects. Desert research is expensive...

... Museum accessions, published records and sightings by conservation agency staff, herpetologists and desert Aborigines were used to review the distribution of nine python taxa occurring in Western Australia, and to assess their current status. Tropical, sub-tropical and arid zone species appear...