Habitat loss is the disappearance of habitat due to destruction, fragmentation, or degradation. Habitat is the place where a particular species of organism lives, including all ecological and environmental factors that are part of the region. Habitat loss can be caused by anything that destroys aspects of the environment or disrupts its processes. It can and does happen naturally, but in the past two centuries habitat loss has been caused mainly by human activities, especially agriculture and construction. Habitat loss is one of the main causes of loss of biodiversity in the twenty-first century. Habitat Loss Editors: Amy Hackney Blackwell and Elizabeth Manar
Many ecosystems have been lost during the past 200 years.
Some of these ecosystems include:
Invasive diseases, fungi and parasites in Australia affect many native plants and animals and agricultural crops. Quite often when plants and animals have come into contact with introduced diseases, fungi or parasites they do not respond well to treatment. Vaccines are often very expensive to produce and are not feasible to apply broadly to wild animals. Some diseases have contributed to significant losses of species leading to some species becoming threatened or extinct.
An invasive species is a species occurring, as a result of human activities, beyond its accepted normal distribution and which threatens valued environmental, agricultural or other social resources by the damage it causes.
Invasive species have a major impact on Australia's environment, threatening our unique biodiversity and reducing overall species abundance and diversity.
Invasive species include:
Pollution refers to the act of contaminating natural resources, such as land, air, and water, usually making these resources unusable. Pollution can also be harmful to the various forms of wildlife that call the oceans, rivers, forests, and plains home. In many cases, the damage created by pollution cannot be easily repaired. Various organizations around the world exist to help regulate and prevent pollution such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States, which works to enforce environmental laws and educate the populace about the dangers of pollution.
Records show that humans have polluted their environments since the beginning of time. As ancient people began making tools and accessing natural resources such as coal, they left waste products...
Climate change gets a lot of the spotlight when it comes to saving wildlife. But bigger threats remain.
By Sean Maxwell, James Watson, and Richard Fuller
Protecting Threatened Species
Plastic Pollution
Epidemics and Pandemics
Australia’s nature, now and into the future, is healthy and resilient to threats, understood, and valued both in its own right and for its essential contribution to our health, wellbeing, prosperity and quality of life.
Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2019 – 2030 describes our vision, shared goals and objectives for managing nature in all landscapes, from our cities to rural and natural environments on land and at sea. It recognises that we all have a role in securing nature as the foundation for our existence.
