Articles
Biodiversity
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Benchmarking Biodiversity
With the Australian government and environmental experts promoting the idea of nature repair and regeneration becoming aspirational, biodiversity assessments become imperative. If we are to support native species and encourage healthier ecosystems, we need to determine trends, status, and distribution of fauna and flora to establish effective strategies to conserve and protect them. Biodiversity assessments […]
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How to turn your backyard (or balcony) into a bee haven
Australia is home to a dazzling array of pollinator species. These include not just the familiar European honey bee, but also thousands of native species of bees, butterflies, beetles, wasps, moths, flies, hoverflies, birds, and even bats that all play essential roles in plant reproduction and food production. But globally and locally, pollinators are under […]
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Taking on the heat
PlantingSeeds’ key mission is to support urban biodiversity. But climate change is in our sights as well. By teaching students – younger and older Australians – about the urban heat island effect (UHI) and providing tangible ways for them to witness how green and synthetic spaces vary wildly in temperature, we learn that plantings can […]
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Planting for Country – A Yarn with Peter Cooley
“The sky is connected to Country – the moon, the tides. The first problem was separation. If you separate the plants from the animals, both disappear.”—Peter Cooley Image supplied by Peter Cooley and (C) Indigigrow Peter Cooley, a proud Bidjigal man from Sydney’s La Perouse, is the co-founder and CEO of First Hand Solutions Aboriginal […]
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Schools – Citizen science and BioBlitzes need You!
PlantingSeeds is proud of its early foray into the world of citizen science and BioBlitzes. This year marks the 4th year we have been running the National School Citizen Science BioBlitz (in September’s Biodiversity Month). It is supported by the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia, the Australian Citizen Science Association and various State Departments of […]
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iNaturalist is celebrating 250 Million verifiable observations!
The discovery of a Praying Mantis species in southern Thailand, a new wasp species discovered by high-school students in Beerwah, Queensland, and a study of the evolution of Luna moths in relation to predation and other environmental constraints. These are a few of the discoveries and new research generated by community members and data on […]