Title: Tree Bands
The article:
“Why are those bands around the trees”? I asked my partner as we drove through Albert Park recently. I was promptly reminded by my partner that while she was an authoritative source on brewing beer, she wasn’t one on tree bands and the why and wherefores of their use. “To stop rats from climbing up”? Why I hadn't noticed before I don't know, following a quick web search I soon knew the answer. They were in place to stop possums climbing the trees to nest in, and or eat the foliage. I had unwittingly entered the urban possum control debate. My first impression was its quite a bit like the climate change debate, except right on your neighbourhood doorstep1.
Possums, so cuddly and cute. They must rate amongst the most photogenic of Australia's marsupial creatures, right up there with Koala bears and irascible looking Wombats. We all know what is meant when people go 'aww' at the sight of them. Everyone loves them, unless your local park has had trees stripped of leaves, or your fruit trees stripped bare of fruit, or you've been stripped of night time sleep, shattered by bounding Possums in your roof.
Since European settlement of Australia native flora and fauna habitats have been changing, often times disappearing completely and definitely contracting. The inevitable consequence is a smaller number of all those flora and fauna species. Or is it? Sometimes some species do seem to derive a benefit from human expansion and activity. Possums, at least those that don't mind urban areas may very well be one of those species, like cats and dogs, that has learned how to cohabit in the biosphere with us.
Banding trees with broad strips of plastic or metal has for many years been the method that m...
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...rb and discourage possums from coming into your garden. Plugging up holes in your roof, putting plastic disks on power lines into your property (please don't do this yourself!) or live in a multi story apartment block with no gardens and lots of concrete.
On the other hand you could try some other approach, perhaps a more 'Arcadian'5 one for urban places. Try banding non native trees, put floppy fences around your fruit trees and vegetable patch. You could put in a possum nesting box, though doing this raises the management stakes. Its true that some species of possum can be very territorial, chasing of other possums moving into its range and nesting box. It is also true that, like that damn bounding dog (or smug cat) you own, yet another animal has been accepted into your household menagerie. Is it you becoming one with nature, or nature becoming one with you?
“The irony of thousands of ash trees being cut down this Arbor Day marks a tragic chapter in the history of Metroparks,” Jack Gallon, President of the Board of Park Commissions wrote in a letter to TCP, “One way we can channel our disappointment in a positive way is to urge our federal lawmakers to close the door to exotic species that arrive on American shores at the rate of one every eight months. The cost of prevention is small compared to the cost to our native plants and animals. Pearson Metropark is proof of what we stand to lose.”
Brumbies are known as the feral horses that inhabit Australia- mostly throughout the Northern Territory, Queensland and scattered centrally in Western Australia. Some small mobs live within Victoria and New South Wales, but none as vast or dense in population. These horses influence the natural habitat in many ways- they reduce vegetation growth, cause soil erosion and impact upon other animals living within the ecosystem. They are seen as pests to national parks, and essentially, this is the reason for their culling- they cause more damage than they are worth. The only positive aspect a brumby herd will impose is that they maintain walking and driving tracks throughout state parks.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) breeds Globally Endangered animals and then introduces them back into the wild. ZSL states that the main reasons of extinct species are: Poaching, Pollution, Climate change, and Over Population of the human race due to the need of homes, shops, hospitals and other amenities. The rain forest once encompassed four billion acres of Earth has now depleted to 2.5 billion acres of Earth within a few hundred years. Wetlands have also been destroyed and the provide drinking water for wildlife and humans. Maybe the solution to this problem is not locking away the animals that are endangered, but cracking down on the destruction of habitats. Maybe there should be places where property is restricted ...
The piece I chose to do my literary analysis on was the article, The Truth About Invasive Species, written by Alan Burdick. The article states that invasive species are all around us, but the area with the most prominent amount is the suburbs of Miami. It goes into detail about how abundant invasive species are in this area. Most people who would see a strange animal in their lawn or area would be bemused, however for the people of Southern Florida, this is a recurring scene. Burdick states that “virtually everyone in the South Florida, including Hardwick, has a neighbor with a backyard menagerie of lucrative critters on hold for resale”. Burdick describes both how an invasive species is introduced into an ecosystem, and the impact the have on other species upon their arrival.
On a summer afternoon in my hometown of Hemet, California is like every other day in the summer where everyone is in their houses cooling off or in their pools. When standing in the middle of the street in front of my house I notice four trees in the front yard. Two of the four trees stand on the right side of the yard. An Elm tree twenty feet from the road the height of a two-story house with an unfinished project of a tree house up in the branches from years ago. And an apricot tree that is the height of a one-story building that is about 35 feet from the road with branches easy to climb up. On the left side of the yard I see two more trees; an old nectarine tree half the size of a one-story house about ten feet from the road, and a lemon tree about 30 feet from the road that is about the size of a one-story house. On the curb
...n numbers; 5) improving natural surveillance through provision of public street lights, trimming of hedges, and putting up fences that do not obstruct visibility (Akers, 2009, p. 42).
As long as humans have lived in forested areas, they have cut down trees for lumber and/or to clear space for agricultural purposes. However, this practice has resulted in the destruction and near extinction of our national forests. Today, fewer than five percent of our country's original forests remain (Thirteen) and the U.S. Forest Service continues to allow more than 136,000 square miles to be logged each year (Byrant). Even more alarming, is the fact that only twenty percent of the current public forest lands are permanently protected by law, leaving nearly eighty percent to be consumed by chainsaws and bulldozers (Heritage...).
Zipkin, Elise F., Kraft, Clifford E., Cooch, Evan G., and Sullivan, Patrick J., “When Can Efforts to Control Nuisance and Invasive Species Backfire?,” Ecological Applications, Vol. 19, No. 6 (2009): 1585-1595, accessed October 11, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40346271.
Thesis: Politicians are proposing sweeping changes in bills, which have caused great controversy, in efforts to correct the problems that the Forest Service has
...nd shrubs and also support parks and green-ways. These strategy implementation will help to: improve weather forecasting and early warning systems, improve disease surveillance and reporting, promote public health education, and develop and disseminate appropriate vaccine and medicine. Another suggestion is to increase urban tree canopy to reduce carbon dioxide produced by fuel combustion.
The exotic pet trade is a booming industry, raking in millions of dollars every year. Everything from harmless leopard geckos to hyenas can be found in 30 of the 50 states. Of those 30 states, only 21 require permits to own these animals (Webber 2010). Indiana has just recently withdrawn its own requirement for permits, making 10 states that allow any kind of exotics without documentation (Kelly 2015). It is estimated that 15,000 big cats are being kept as pets in the United States alone, with more captive tigers in Texas than there are in India. Approximately 15,000 primates and 7.3 million reptiles are also being kept in the US (Webber 2010). What does all of this mean and, more importantly, what can be done about it?
Seideman, D. (1993). Out of the Woods: Vol. . A Forest of Voices (2nd ed.) [Conversations in Ecology].Mayfield.
Feral animals and surplus animals are understood as environmental threats. Some impacts are, reduction of biodiversity, economical damage, noise pollution and many more. One major strategy of eradicating these animals is culling. However, culling is complex due to opposing perspectives (for and against). Many may argue that culling is inappropriate because of animal rights, inhumanity and so forth. This leads to a whole range of economical, ecological and socio-cultural controversies. It is important to stop these controversies by proposing an answer to whether culling should be practiced or not. This essay will advance the idea that culling is inappropriate yet displaying both perspectives.
Use mosquito nets impregnated with insecticides in places where screens for doors and windows are absent.
Thomson, Steve. "Saving B.C's Forests through the Trees." The Filipino Post 12-18 July 2012: 12. Print.