News

New book - Boom and Bust: Bird stories for a dry country

Edited by: Libby Robin, Robert Heinsohn, and Leo Joseph. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN: 9780643096066

In Boom and Bust, the authors draw on the natural history of Australia's charismatic birds to explore the relations between fauna, people and environment. They consider changing ideas about deserts and how these have helped to understand birds and their behaviour in this driest of continents. The book describes the responses of animals and plants to environmental variability and stress. It is also a cultural concept, capturing the patterns of change wrought by humans in Australia, where landscapes began to become cultural about 55,000 years ago as ecosystems responded to Aboriginal management. In 1788, the British settlement brought, almost simultaneously, both agricultural and industrial revolutions to a land previously managed by fire for hunting. How have birds responded to this second dramatic invasion?

More information and purchase at CSIRO Publishing

Libby Robin on 'Pelican stories for the future', 26 April 2009

Ockham's Razor (ABC Radio National)
Audio and transcript at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2009/2551660.htm#transcript

Leo Joseph talks to Heather Jarvis about 'Learning from our Native Birds', 28 March 2009

The Australian Bite (ABC Radio Australia)
Audio at: http://blogs.radioaustralia.net.au/australianbite/?p=162