Perth event, Thu 16th April: The Western Australian launch of Paul Hardisty's latest book The Hope is on this week. Tickets are still available. This is the third novel in a series that provocatively blurs the lines between fact and fiction in an era of unprecedented global change. Is this series timely inspiration for navigating through the current geopolitical situation or a prophetic insight into the future we are hurtling towards? Come and listen to find out.

Perth book launch, Thu 16 Apr: Paul Hardisty's The Hope provocatively blurs the lines between fact and fiction in an era of unprecedented global change. Is it timely inspiration for navigating current geopolitics or prophetic insight into the future we face?
Tix: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/perth-book...

Rather than focus on managing our dependence on oil, we need to think about how to end it. 6 things Australia should do to tackle the energy crisis rather than just building bigger fuel reserves. via @theconversation.com

theconversation.com/6-things-aus...

PNAS – How to improve biodiversity measurement

New tech is transforming how we measure biodiversity—turning data into decisions requires shared standards. 📊

A new PNAS Updates post highlights two Perspectives from the 2025 US–UK Scientific Forum: https://ow.ly/jsVw50YuVUn

Forum: https://ow.ly/psUS50YuVUm

Why Common Species Matter: Rethinking Conservation Through Food Webs Conservation efforts have traditionally been focused on saving the rarest, most threatened species, and for good reason. But what if our singular focus on endangered species is causing us to overlo…

#Ecology #Biogeography 🌐🌎

Europe spent years debating whether the energy transition was affordable.

Spain quietly answered the question: gas now sets its electricity price in only 7% of hours.

Strategic autonomy doesn’t arrive via summit communiqués. It’s built in advance — in wind farms, solar parks, and grid investment

It's a good portion of the present too Martin!

Tallyongut (Royal hakea; Hakea victoria) near Queelup (West Mount Barren), Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia. Photo: Bruce Webber.

When >50% of a UNESCO-listed national park is torched by bushfires, significant management challenges follow. Victoria Laurie in @ausgeo.newsmast.social.ap.brid.gy on what's ahead for conservation in Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia.

www.australiangeographic.com.au/opinion-and-...

Thanks @rgleadow.bsky.social, I enjoyed working on this one! It was led by the very talented Melinda Trudgen and involved two legends of ecophysiology/ecology, John Scott and Hans Lambers.

CLIMEX Match Climate Composite Match Index (CMI) overlaid with Tipuana tipu distribution location records, projected globally. Insets show the native range, part of South America, part of southern Africa, southwest Australia, and an area of eastern Australia with high levels of cultivation and/or naturalisation. Areas with an orange-red colour (CMI 0.8–1) had high CMI values. Areas with a blue colour (CMI 0.6–0.8) had a climate with moderate CMI values. Records of T. tipu are shown as open circles. Pink circles represent records of plants within the native range. All other colours represent plant records in the non-native range, with purple representing cultivated plant records, yellow representing non-cultivated plant records, green representing records with both cultivated and non-cultivated plants and brown representing plant records where the cultivation status was indeterminate.

The interplay between climatic niche and spatial distribution can inform the management of non-native invasive species. Our findings reveal that the invasion risk for species with small geographic ranges may be greater than assumed.
Read more (OA): doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...
#bioinvasions 🌐🌏🧪

Are you looking to make a difference to cat management in Western Australia? Do you know someone who is? The @wafcwg.bsky.social are recruiting an Executive Officer. Come and work with us!
Please share, tag, or contact me directly to discuss the job opportunity. Applications due Sun 8 Mar 2026.

Where did southern Australia’s record-breaking heatwave come from? Australia’s northwest is well known for its heat. But this furnace-like area can deliver heatwaves to the southeast, thousands of kilometres away.

“the last heatwave between January 5 to 10 was made over 5 times more likely due to global heating”
#ClimateEmergency #HeatWaves

theconversation.com/where-did-so...

An avoidable cat-astrophe in Western Australia. Every month ~800 pet cats and ~4M birds, mammals & reptiles die because current policy prevents pet cats from being contained. This paper reveals broad support for change: 78% of local govts want containment laws. Let's get this done.
#bioinvasions 🌐🌏

A content cat lies in a hammock in an enclosed catio to protect it and wildlife from the dangers of roaming. This photo accompanies a new publication in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology on the benefits of cat containment.

A new paper in @pacificconsbio.bsky.social reveals that preventing pet cats from roaming remains a significant but important challenge. Our findings reveal that change is long overdue for Western Australians to rethink what it means to be a responsible pet cat owner.

OA: doi.org/10.1071/PC25...

Yes, feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction Decades of evidence link foxes and feral cats with extinctions of Australian mammals. Claims these introduced predators aren’t responsible don’t stack up.

Feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction. Claims these introduced predators aren't responsible don't stack up. Protecting our unique species will be even harder if feral cats and foxes are given a free pass to keep killing. 🌐🌎
theconversation.com/yes-feral-ca...

It's also incredible that BioScience published the original paper! Some might call it conservation vandalism - this is more than just an academic argument, it's also about the survival of many of Australia’s remaining mammal species.

Timing of extirpation of a native mammal population from a location relative to the time of arrival of feral cats at that location. Data are taken directly from Supplement 1 in Wallach and Lundgren (2025), using the last record of the native species, and the earliest arrival date from the range of arrival dates of cats to that location. Based on this information, extirpation of a native mammal occurs before cats arrive in only two cases, and these are where Wallach and Lundgren (2025) arbitrarily give the last record dates of 1788 and 1789 (i.e., time of European colonization, in 1788) for undated subfossil material. Of the 178 cases given in the Supplement, eight are omitted from this graph because: they were repeats of another row (n=4), there is no date for the last record of the species (n=1), the species is still present at the location (n=2), or the species never occurred at the location (n=1).

Introduced foxes and cats have had a devastating impact on Australia's mammals. This threat to biodiversity has been widely recognised, documented and acted upon by scientists, policy makers and land managers. Here we refute recent assertions to the contrary.

Read more (OA): doi.org/10.1093/bios...

Leadership Matters Now more than ever, the world needs good leaders. So why are there so many bad ones? My ten rules of leadership.

"Too frequently, leaders are chosen not because they exhibit the right qualities for successful leadership but because they are willing to say and do whatever it takes to get to the top." - Paul Hardisty. What are your inspiring leadership lessons?

paulhardistyauthor.substack.com/p/leadership...

Extinction rarely departs with drama, it slips out the back door while we’re still debating the guest list. These records are made official on the Red List. "Conservation failures are often recognised only once they can no longer be reversed."
via @mongabay.com: news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

Phil on stage in front of her title slide 'Laws that take us somewhere... good?'

Good law is at least little subjective

"Ferocious love" of the places & things we care about

@drphilmccormack.bsky.social frames her work in environmental law and climate justice through her love of nature, which we share @ecolsocaus.bsky.social #ESA2025 🌏

The motto of #ESA2025 this year is "Biodiversity on the brink – BOLD ACTIONS for a resilient future"

On Thu I'm presenting on a super bold, landscape-scale biodiversity project that will keep 10-25 species from being added to Threatened species list.

Thu 1030!
Big room!
Comfy chairs!
Great photos!

Bridled Nailtail Wallaby. Photo: Grassland Films. Bush Heritage Australia are purchasing the 1,207-hectare Avocet Nature Refuge! We're raising $1.4 million to help us manage this reserve and others just like it around the country. Donate NOW and your gift will be doubled! Avocet Nature Refuge is one of only two sites where Bridled Nailtail Wallabies still live wild in Queensland. Once thought extinct, the species was rediscovered in central Queensland decades after vanishing from sight. Today, only some 1,500 of these beautiful wallabies remain in the wild. Buying Avocet Nature Refuge also gives us a real chance to learn more and strengthen Koala populations in the region.

Koala in a tree. Photo: Grassland Films. Bush Heritage Australia are purchasing the 1,207-hectare Avocet Nature Refuge! We're raising $1.4 million to help us manage this reserve and others just like it around the country. Donate NOW and your gift will be doubled! Avocet Nature Refuge is one of only two sites where Bridled Nailtail Wallabies still live wild in Queensland. Once thought extinct, the species was rediscovered in central Queensland decades after vanishing from sight. Today, only some 1,500 of these beautiful wallabies remain in the wild. Buying Avocet Nature Refuge also gives us a real chance to learn more and strengthen Koala populations in the region.

Bush Heritage Australia are purchasing Avocet Nature Refuge in Queensland! This is one of only two sites where Bridled Nailtail Wallabies still live wild. We're raising $1.4M to help us manage this remnant Brigalow reserve. Can you help us with a donation?

secure.bushheritage.org.au/donations

The aurora australis dances over the peaks of the Freycinet National Park peninsula and Schouten Island.

The aurora australis dances over the peaks of the Freycinet National Park peninsula and Schouten Island.
...
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#auroraaustralis #aurora #freycinetnationalpark #freycinet

In Episode 5 of the This Changes Everything Podcast, Brad Bowden talks with Bruce Webber and Keith Bradbury about the wonders of trees in Western Australia and what we can be doing to ensure we are responsible custodians to manage the conservation threats they face.

Brad Bowden and I caught up on Ep 5 of the RTRFM podcast This Changes Everything. We discuss tree diversity in WA, the benefits they provide, and the myriad threats they face. We also cover what we can be doing to be good custodians of trees for future generations. 🌐🌏

rtrfm.com.au/podcasts/thi...

Conservationists continue to do amazing work to save our imperilled native species, including the numbat. Why should millions of native animals and thousands of pet cats have to die and suffer over juggling policy priorities? Let’s make it possible to permanently contain pet cats in WA in 2025.

The state government could prioritise a simple short amendment to the Cat Act to make cat containment possible in a matter of weeks. Or the Legislative Council could vote to support the Shire of Pingelly’s Save the Numbats local law (Nov 19).

The City of Bayswater tried to make a similar cat containment law in mid-Sep but the Legislative Council disallowed it. Since then, c. six million birds, reptiles and mammals have been killed by roaming pet cats and c. 1,200 pet cats have died in roaming-related accidents across Greater Perth alone.

The Shire of Pingelly is where you can find some of the last remaining wild numbat populations. They recently tried to bring in a law to permanently contain pet cats to save their numbats. Whether or not they can keep this law will be decided in the state Legislative Council on November 19.

A numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) pauses its morning foraging for ants on a log in the sun.

Today is world numbat day. The numbat is our state animal emblem in WA, yet it is threatened with extinction by predation from introduced cats and foxes. It is now restricted to only a few small unfenced areas in WA, after being once found across southern Australia.

In an Exclusive Interview, Dr. Jane Goodall Leaves Behind Her Last Words “In the place where I am now, I look back over my life. What message do I want to leave?”

"...we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow. You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up." - Jane Goodall on Famous Last Words for @netflix.com

www.netflix.com/tudum/articl...

Jane Goodall in a tall rainforest looking up into the canopy with binoculars in her hands.

"The greatest danger to our future is apathy. ... What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Vale Jane Goodall (1934-2025).