re. plains wanderer info.

["Paul T." <>]

> the
> grazers? What happens in years of drought such as we have at the moment?
> I would have thought that the birds evolved with the grasslands or
> sometime soon after. The comment is a bit like the cattlemen in the ?high
> country? trying to justify their grazing by saying that the alpine areas
> have never had it so good. I have always wondered how they (the alpine
> areas) survived for millions of years without this great benefit! Who
> actually stated your quoted comment?

Mark,

My immediate (and quite possibly incorrect) thought was that before man
came along the prevalence of weed species was far far less than now as
the eco-systems were predominantly stable after everything
"evolved" together.  There are now so many wild introduced
plants and grasses etc that out-compete the original species, whereas
grazing can in some cases keep these down and allow native species to
return.

I am by no means sure whether that is the reason in this case, but I know
that there are areas where grazing actually increases the return of
native species which would otherwise be overrun by the uncontrolled
introduced species.

Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia - USDA Zone Equivalent approx. 8/9

Growing an eclectic collection of plants from all over the world including Aroids, Crocus, Cyclamen, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Galanthus, Irises, Trilliums (to name but a few) and just about anything else that doesn't move!! ******************************************************************************************************* This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group. List-Post: <> List-Help: <> List-Unsubscribe: <> List-Subscribe: <> List archive: List manager: David McDonald, email <>