Feral Future: The Untold Story of Australia's Exotic InvadersA decade ago, Tim Low journeyed to the remote northernmost tip of Australia. Instead of the pristine rain forests he expected, he found jungles infested with Latin American carpet grass and feral cattle. That incident helped inspire Feral Future, a passionate account of the history and implications of invasive species in that island nation, with consequences for ecological communities around the globe. Australia is far from alone in facing horrific ecological and economic damage from invading plants and animals, and in Low's capable hands, Australia's experiences serve as a wake-up call for all of us. He covers how invasive species like cane toads and pond apple got to Australia (often through misguided but intentional introductions) and what we can do to stop them. He also covers the many pests that Australia has exported to the world, including the paperbark tree (Melaleuca) that infests hundreds of thousands of acres in south Florida. |
Contents
SETTING THE STAGE | 1 |
INVASION BY STEALTH | 93 |
Ballast Blues Something in the Water | 108 |
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Phytophthoras Curse | 116 |
The Sick and Dying Exotic Diseases Strike | 122 |
The Price of Free Trade Opening the Door to Invasions | 129 |
AUSTRALIANS AS PESTS | 137 |
A Source of Perverse Pride Australianising the World | 139 |
The Ultimate Pest Our Destructive Ways | 200 |
WHERE ARE WE HEADED? | 205 |
Expanding and Infilling Pests Old and New Tighten Their Grip | 207 |
Sleepers Wake The Pests that Bide Their Time | 215 |
Whither the Wet Tropics? A Hot Wet Case Study | 229 |
The Homogocene Visiting the Future | 237 |
The New Architects Redesigning the Land | 245 |
Cryptogenic World Native or Not? | 250 |
Colonial Revenge British Wallabies and Budgerigars | 144 |
Ecologically Entwined Australians in New Zealand | 150 |
Colouring the Landscape Our Animals Abroad | 157 |
Inheriting a Degraded World Exporting Our Flora | 165 |
Its Civil War Natives can be Pests Too | 172 |
A ROGUES GALLERY | 177 |
The Shuffled Pack An Alien Whos Who | 179 |
Seizing the Advantage Exotic Roads to Success | 184 |
Scoundrels or Scapegoats? | 190 |
Where the Deer and the Antelope Roam Hoofed Introductions | 195 |
It Happens Naturally Invasion as Natural Process | 261 |
THINKING AND ACTING | 267 |
Seeking Magic Bullets Biocontrol Often Misses the Mark | 269 |
The Quarantine Quandary AQIS Wields a Small Sword | 279 |
Are We Blind? Barriers to Enlightenment | 290 |
Appendices | 318 |
Glossary | 332 |
349 | |
376 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acclimatisation American apple AQIS Bulletin aquarium Asian ballast banteng beetles biocontrol biologists birds Brisbane buffalo bush bushland cane toads cats colonies comm crops CSIRO deer dingoes disease earthworms ecological Environment environmental weeds escaped eucalypts exotic species extinction farms Feral Future flatworm Florida flowers forests foxes frogs fruit fungus garden plants grass grow Guinea habitats harungana Hawaii honeybees hundreds hymenachne imported infested insects introduced invaders invasion Island Kakadu kangaroos land legumes mammals marsupials million mimosa mosquito fish Mungomery national parks native fish native plants north Queensland northern Northern Territory noxious numbers outback overseas paperbarks pasture plants Permaculture pests phytophthora pigs pond Port Phillip Bay possums probably problems quarantine Queensland rabbits rainforest rats recently released scientists seeds shrubs snails soil South Wales southern spread sprouting Sydney Tasmania trade trees trout Victoria wallabies wattles weedy Western Australia Wet Tropics wild worms worst weeds Zealand