First there was myxomatosis, then RHDV, but what is next? Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) are funding CSIRO to search for the next potential rabbit bio-control for Australia, according to a recent announcement from the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). The $7.7 million project aims to assess rabbit viruses from south America as potential […]
Invasive species are credited with reducing global GDP by 5% (see the article by Dropulich), but it is difficult to get a real handle on the losses they cause. Financial losses are one thing – it is even harder to measure and value environmental losses. As an example of the latter, a recent paper by […]
Medical doctor and scientist, Dame Jean Macnamara, is credited with making Myxomatosis the great success story of biological control and applied science that it is. It wouldn’t have happened without her perseverance, and now the ABC is sharing her story, that of others who also worked to establish Myxomatosis, and the success that followed. It […]
Proposals to advance pest control solutions, improve existing control methods, or develop ‘farm ready’ control tools are being sought by the Australian Government. $13 million is available through the Advancing Pest Animal and Weed Control Solutions Competitive Grant Round, which is part of the Australian Government’s Established Pest Animal and Weed Management Pipeline. Organizations that […]
Long term monitoring on Macquarie Island has shown that when rabbit populations were high the probability of albatross breeding dropped by one to two thirds. The studies also revealed a web of interactions between cats, rabbits, vegetation and albatrosses. Data collected between 1995 and 2014 showed that rabbit numbers increased when feral cats were removed […]
Blowflies are looking increasingly promising as an additional way to monitor the extent of calicivirus across Australia. A team led by Robyn Hall (CSIRO) have published the findings of research comparing the detection of RHDV in samples from flies with samples from dead rabbits, concluding that there was a good correlation between the two techniques; […]
The long term benefits of rabbit control are likely to outweigh the short term costs for native species affected by ‘prey-switching’, is the conclusion of a recent New Zealand study. The research examined the effects of rabbit control on ferrets (an invasive predator) and alternative prey species. It found that after rabbits were controlled, ferret […]
Bandicoots flourish in the presence of Tasmanian Devils, apparently because the Devils suppress feral cats that otherwise prey on the native mammals, according to a recent study by Calum Cunningham of the University of Tasmania. The research found 58% fewer cats in areas with healthy devil populations compared to places where devils had declined; and […]
The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) hopes to register RHDV2 as a biological rabbit control by 2023. The form of rabbit calicivirus appeared in Australia from overseas in 2015, just ahead of the controlled release of calicivirus RHDV1-K5 in 2017. Since then, RHDV2 has been responsible for the death of nearly half the rabbits […]
Wild rabbits in Australia lie in six genetic clusters, most likely reflecting different sources of introduction. It raises the question of whether their differing genetics influences their susceptibility to infection by diseases such as RHDV. In work funded by RabbitFree Australia, Dr Amy Iannella did some investigating; discovering that of 135 resistance genes tested, only […]