Field ecologist Erick Lundgren hosts a webinar on his work with wild horses in Australia and beyond.
In the webinar hosted by the Brumby Action Group, Lundgren will discuss the topics of wild equines / horses reducing fuel loads in areas prone to forest fires and the ability of these wild equines to find water in arid areas at profit from other species.
by Lundgren most recent study, entitled Equids engineer desert water availability, noted that large animals play an important role in the biosphere, but little is known about how they shape dryland ecosystems. In the deserts of North America, the digging of wells up to 2 meters to the water table by wild horses and donkeys has increased the density of water bodies, reduced the distances between sources of water. water and, sometimes, provided the only water present.
Lundgren and his colleagues studied several sites in the Sonoran Desert in North America and observed the digging of wells by wild horses and donkeys in the area. They found evidence of the benefits they brought to several native desert species.
Abandoned wells have also sometimes become nurseries for important tree species, they noted.
Lundgren is currently a doctoral candidate at the Center for Compassionate Conservation at the University of Technology Sydney, studying the ecology of new communities, particularly introduced megafauna. He completed his master’s degree at Arizona State University in 2017.
” Register for the webinar, September 16 at 6 p.m. (AEST).
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