Biodiversity and the bush

Quite simply, humans are only able to exist because of the diverse natural environment that surrounds us. So in recognition of its importance, the United Nations has designated 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.

At Bush Heritage we're using this as an opportunity to celebrate the variety of life-forms that grow, walk, hop, burrow, swim, crawl, fly or slither on our reserves and partnership properties.

We'd like to share with you a few ways in which our work is important for preserving some of the staggeringly varied biological diversity of Australia.

Protecting ‘invisible' biodiversity

Humans know a lot about larger animals – for example mammals, birds and reptiles. However, even though the overwhelming majority of animal species are invertebrates – the group that includes insects – we understand very much less about them. And that's just the animals: compared with what there is to know, we know almost nothing about organisms such as fungi, bacteria and algae. There are almost certainly millions and millions of species on the earth that have not been formally named and described.

This raises the question of how we can protect biodiversity we don't even know exists. The answer is to do what Bush Heritage does – to conserve whole areas of land and water, rather than just focusing on species. This ecosystem-based holistic approach will protect the species we know about, and the ones we don't.

Biodiversity for the birds

Biodiversity isn't evenly spread across Australia. There are certainly areas that play host to many more than their fair share of species.

Recently, Birds Australia released a list of Australia's Important Bird Areas – sites that are recognised as internationally important for bird conservation. The distribution of Australia's Important Bird Areas correspond well to Bush Heritage's Anchor Regions, which are areas in which we focus our activity.

This research confirms that our reserves are well-placed to protect our bird biodiversity.

Biodiversity bonanza

On Bush Heritage reserves, each new ecological monitoring study almost always reveals species we didn't know were present in that area, and sometimes even entirely new species.

In 2009, during a study on our Edgbaston Reserve in Queensland, Bush Heritage ecologists found several new species of saltbushes. Saltbushes are specialists at growing in arid, saline areas, and these new species were found in the areas fringing the reserve's distinctive artesian springs. As far as we know, these species are found nowhere else in the world.

From top: Beetle on parakeelya flower, Ethabuka Reserve, QLD. Red-necked avocet, Ethabuka Reserve, QLD. Artesian spring on Edgbaston Reserve, QLD. PHOTOS: Wayne Lawler/ECOPIX.

There are plenty of reasons why biodiversity is important to us all, regardless of whether you think that biodiversity should be preserved for its own sake, or because it provides us with food, water, new medicines and recreational opportunities.

Whatever reason is important to you personally, there's no argument that the diversity of life in Australia is a thing to be treasured, and passed on to future generations.