To be a little more Aussie ... *dreamy sigh*

[EmWah]

Yeah they can be what is known as an 'environmental weed'. For example, around where I live, cootamundra wattle is a big problem because it just takes over everything. Cootamundras aren't native to our area, and this is why they're such a pest. Further north where they grow normally, they're not so much of a problem.  

[WellzY]

Was it you, EmWah, that said Eucalyptus Trees spread like weeds in the US? xd  

[FuzzylilPenguin]

Lol They do, who ever said that was right! I love the smell of them though, When I am sick my Mom puts Eucalyptus Oil in my humidifyer and it clears up my sinesus!  

[EmWah]

WellzY

Was it you, EmWah, that said Eucalyptus Trees spread like weeds in the US? xd

Yup, that was me. I knows my weeds, kay? I can't help it if I'm a nature nerd gonk  

[WellzY]

EmWah

WellzY

Was it you, EmWah, that said Eucalyptus Trees spread like weeds in the US? xd

Yup, that was me. I knows my weeds, kay? I can't help it if I'm a nature nerd gonk

It's OK. I loverisesese nature, I'm just not a nature nerd.  

[Beautiful Grotesque]

I'm a herb nerd. I know a lot on herbs. 3nodding xd

 

[BeMuled MissBeth]

I've heard that a lot of things that aren't native to Australia seem to thrive better there. Such as berry bushes that were introduced back near the beginning years of the country. Then I heard rabbits are a huge problem, which were also transported to the country (apparently to get rid of the berry bushes).

What other kinds of foreign plants and/or animals have been introduced to Australia and become a real problem?  

[FuzzylilPenguin]

I heard the Sea Weed in New Zealand and Australia is really large! Is that true?  

[EmWah]

BeMuled MissBeth

What other kinds of foreign plants and/or animals have been introduced to Australia and become a real problem?

Pretty much everything that's ever been introduced. Except monkeys. They tried to introduce monkeys back in the early days but none of them survived. In south eastern Australia deer are a huge problem, and it's funny because not many people even know we have wild deer. But there are thousands of them in the more temperate forests and in the mountains. They're eating all our plants and out competing our native animals! It sucks because alot of them live in national parks, and you're not allowed to go shooting in national parks.

Feral cats are also a massive problem because they kill so many little creatures. The bastards don't even eat half of them either. The problem is that our animals aren't used to the bacteria that lives under a cats claws. Even if a bird survives a cat attack, it will die within a few days from bacterial infection.

Other problem causing animals include goats, horses, wild boar, dogs and Indian minor birds. Feral animals with hard hooves are especially damaging, because no native Australian animal has hard feet, our native vegetation hasn't evolved to cope with constant hoof traffick. The hard hooves lead to erosion and they muddy-up waterholes, often leaving them unuseable.

Also, did you know that Australia has the only wild population of dromedary (one humped) camels in the world? Pretty amazing eh? I'm not sure about what damage they do, I guess they compete with native animals for food, but because they have soft feet the impact isn't so significant.

As for foriegn plants... Where to start?! You're right about the berry bushes. Black berries are a huge problem because of the nature of the plant - they grow thick and spiky and just choke the landscape. Plus, they're a favourite home to rabbits and foxes who are also huge pests!
Gorse is another terrible weed. It's huge and spiky and was introduced as a field hedge, but now it just runs rampant in some places. On the Hume Highway on the way into Melbourne, you can see feilds and feilds of the terrible stuff. But really, there are just so many trouble weeds in Australia, I could go on for pages just on the ones I've experienced around North East Victoria, let alone the rest of the country.

Anyway, you asked the wrong person if you wanted a short answer xp but you asked the right person if you wanted someone who knows their pests. I spent 6 months of last year working for an environmental agency trying to control the bastards. Also, I'm currently studying environmental science at uni so yarr domokun

As for the sea weed, I've got no idea what we have. I thought the largest seaweed was in the Atlantic.  

[Beautiful Grotesque]

Can I marry your brain EmWah? sweatdrop

 

[EmWah]

Naw, I kinda need it myself. Maybe before I die I'll imprint all my thoughts, memories and knowledge into some crazy holographic mind mapping machine. You can marry that.

::Edit::

Oh, and I was right. The largest seaweed is called giant kelp and it grows off the coast of North America in the Atlantic Ocean. It can grow up to 60m.

There are kelp forests off the coast of south-east Australia, but they only grow up to about 30m.  

[BeMuled MissBeth]

And I take it that it would be too expensive to even attempt a massive export of all those introduced animals? I know some of the larger ones would be difficult to transport, but I'm sure they'd be easier to round up than rabbits and black berry bushes. xd

I think I heard something about people back in the day importing some of these problem pests because they missed the game hunting of different countries (such as Africa) and introduced animals like Giraffe to Oz. eek I know the country is mostly desert, but Giraffe? Yeesh! I think there are also Water Buffalo and Zebra, if I'm not mistaken. Those are likely some of the hard hoofed animals you mentioned.

So what steps are being taken to try and control the pest problems down there? Has any real progress been made to either drop the population of some of these animals, or at the very least control the numbers?  

[WellzY]

EmWah also didn't mention Cane Toads, which are a massive problem in the northern Tropics.

Because of the vast nature of our problems with introduced species, it's very difficult to tackle.

Rabbits are easily one of the biggest probloms. Almost all of the wild Rabbits in Australia are descended from only 26 individuals brought into Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century. Likewise with the fox and dear.

Since then, a virus or bacteria has been introduced into the Rabbit population, the second attempt, and I believe it's had some success, but I'm not sure what the state of it is at the moment.  

[WarriorShadow]

The Zebra problem doesnt get much Publicity.
The government....try to keep that problem hush hush.


sweatdrop  

[EmWah]

LoL those zebras! rolleyes

We do have water buffalo up north. Dunno what's being done to control them.

And about the exporting - Australia is the biggest exporter of camels INTO ARABIA! How funny is that?! It's like we're selling them their own product xd

About rabbits - The first virus introduced was myxomatosis, but this caused alot of public upset because it killed the rabits in a very slow and painful way. Also, the rabbits gained immunity after a while and now you will not see an infected rabbit very often. The second virus was calicivirus, which killed far quicker, yet it's still a pretty horrible way to die. Anyway, when introduced (by accident) calicivirus had a pretty devastating effect on rabbit numbers, but their numbers are still steadily increasing.

Cane toads - I heard the other day that the QLD government is introducing a beer bounty... You get a can of beer for each live toad you bring in to the RSPCA to be humanely put down. Another popular way of controling these pests is cane toad golf. A popular pass time to many top enders. But still, this isn't much against the evil drive of destruction that is THE CANE TOAAAD!

Foxes - There used to be a bounty on them... not anymore. Farmers shoot them. There is also baiting programs in many areas. Also, in the battle of car Vs fox, car always wins.

Cats - Are evil. But we can't do anything about controling the arseholes because people love them too much. Some weird old guys go around shooting ferals and then make hats and cup holders out of their skin. Pointless trivia, last year a guy shot a feral cat that was 1.5m long from head to tail. That's a ******** big cat.

Dogs - Baiting and shooting. They're a big problem for sheep farmers and they also eat little dogs on peoples farms.

Goats - Shooting, trapping, mustering for slaughter.

Horses - Same as above. A small number (usually foals) are caught for riding/breeding.

That's all I can be bothered with right now. Anyway, you get the picture. Mainly kill, kill, kill, but sometimes the animals are put to useful purposes. As far as I know, no pest animal has been fully eradicated from Australia. The best we can hope for is to control their numbers so they don't completley overwhelm our environment.