Good morning all
It’s been a rather dry but stormy February here in the Top End. One lightning
strike took out a large tree, our internet connections. It sent shards of
trunk up over two metres in length flying for over forty metres in all
directions, some landing on our verandah.
Our outdoor activity at this time of year mainly consists of weeding. It’s a
battle to preserve a variety of native grasses and herbs for resident birds
such as Partridge Pigeon from a variety of interlopers capable at transforming
our floristically diverse property to a monoculture. These weeds were mainly
brought in as cattle pasture or as contaminants in cattle pasture.
The cattle industry has fought tooth and nail to prevent some of these grasses
being declared weeds. However some of these weeds are now causing issues for
graziers. According to a real estate agent properties with gamba grass
infestations are not selling. Secondly, and probably a bigger issue for the
cattle industry, is another weed, a Rats-tail grass (Sporobolus jaquemontia).
The silica in this grass causes a condition called smooth-mouth among stock.
Cattle suffering from this condiition have teeth so worn down they cannot feed
properly.
Rats-tail grass, according to one grazier, is more difficult than other weeds
to control, one reason being that has a sticky seed and is easily spread both
by vehicles and animals moving through it. Secondly, birds such as
Magpie-geese favour the seed and move through the grass stripping the heads as
they go. So some granivores may benefit from it, although probably not
Partridge Pigeons. They feed in a similar mannter, but only on small grass
taxa, such as Eragrostris spp.
Lastly, can anyone tell me whether it would be better for a US visitor
travelling to Singapore then on to Bali and finally Darwin to book and pay for
tickets from Australia or the USA?
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 71
Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
043 8650 835
PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia
Nominated by Earthfoot for Condé Nast’s International Ecotourism Award, 2004.
With every introduction of a plant or animal that goes feral this continent
becomes a little less unique, a little less Australian.
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