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Far South Ecology

Adventures of a plant nerd south of Australia

Tag: Subantarctic

Return of the Megaherbs

Posted onMarch 31, 2017March 31, 2017Leave a comment

Four years have passed since I first visited Macquarie Island and now the subantarctic island looks like a different place. The distinctive tussock grass is dotted across the coastal slopes in a scene reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s when Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsMacquarie Island, megaherbs, rabbits, rephotography, Subantarctic

Rewilding Macquarie Island

Posted onDecember 21, 2016March 26, 2018Leave a comment

There is a long list of extinct animals which were endemic to a particular island. Island endemics are particularly vulnerable to introduced predators which can rapidly eliminate a small island population. Such was the fate of Macquarie Island’s only native Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsextinction, fauna, invasive species, Macquarie Island, rewilding, Subantarctic, threatened species

The last of Macquarie Island’s rabbits

Posted onNovember 8, 2016March 8, 20181 Comment

Five years ago this month, hunters on Macquarie Island killed six rabbits. The hunters had been patrolling the Subantarctic tundra for a little over three months in the search for feral rabbits. At the time nobody knew these were the Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsinvasive species, Macquarie Island, MIPEP, rabbits, Subantarctic

Do treelines in the Southern Hemisphere follow the rules?

Posted onOctober 25, 2016January 13, 2018Leave a comment

The southernmost treelines The treeline at the southern tip of South America, in Tierra del Fuego, reaches up to 600 m.a.s.l.  At the same latitude, Macquarie Island has no trees or shrubs. Is the lack of trees in the Subantarctic Read More …

CategoriesSubantarctic, TasmaniaTagsalpine, forest, Macquarie Island, Subantarctic, treeline

Pictures of landscapes past, part 2

Posted onJuly 14, 2016August 11, 20161 Comment

(Continued from Part 1). The kind of things plant ecologists often measure in the field – the height and percentage foliage cover of different plants, species lists – are difficult to obtain from looking at a photograph of the landscape Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsMacquarie Island, rephotography, Subantarctic

Pictures of landscapes past, part 1

Posted onJune 10, 2016August 24, 20161 Comment

Repeat photography, or rephotography, is an established method for studying landscape change. A big advantage of this technique is that it can provide a record going back decades wherever there is old photographs of scenes which can be relocated. Another Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsMacquarie Island, rephotography, Subantarctic

Plan B

Posted onMarch 24, 2016August 6, 2016Leave a comment

When the French ship L’Astrolabe departs Hobart for Macquarie Island later today I won’t be aboard. The passenger capacity of the ship is only enough for essential logistical operations (like refuelling and provisioning the research station) and personnel changeover. The Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsfield work, Macquarie Island, Subantarctic

Hurry up and wait…

Posted onMarch 16, 2016August 6, 2016Leave a comment

The Aurora Australis recently arrived back in Australia and is currently in Fremantle for repairs to the hull which was damaged when the ship ran aground in Antarctica last month. Meanwhile, alternative plans for the season’s fourth and final Australian Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsfield work, Macquarie Island, Subantarctic

The A-Factor

Posted onMarch 2, 2016August 6, 20161 Comment

In Antarctic slang it’s called the “A-factor”. Experienced expeditioners will tell you that things rarely go according to plan in the Antarctic and Subantarctic. It is wise to expect the unexpected and to have a string of contingency plans. If Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsfield work, Macquarie Island, Subantarctic

First glimpses of a post-feral future

Posted onDecember 16, 2015August 6, 2016Leave a comment

In April 2015 the short grasslands of Macquarie Island are at the end of their summer growing season. The plants are the tallest they have been for years, probably for many decades. There is virtually no bare ground visible as Read More …

CategoriesSubantarcticTagsfield work, Macquarie Island, rabbits, Subantarctic

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