View source for Lone Gum Trees On Farms Crucial For Koalas

<br>Lone craggy gum trees that dot cleared farms are nutrition bombs for koalas that run the gauntlet to dine on them, a new study has shown.<br> <br>It's fair to say that such trees, often the only landmarks in bare paddocks and on naked hillsides, don't seem like prime koala habitat.<br> <br>But researchers from the University of Sydney who tracked 23 of the marsupials in an agricultural landscape in northwest NSW have shown they are.<br> <br>"We found they continually go back to these trees because they are so good," says the study's lead author, Associate Professor Mathew Crowther.<br> <br>It turns out such trees are rich in nitrogen, one of the building blocks of life.<br><br>That has little to do with their isolation and everything to do with the quality of the land they're growing on.<br> <br>"The reasons these places were cleared in the first place was for farming, and farmers pick fertile land, and land with water," Assoc Prof Crowther says.<br> <br>"These trees are on property that's often flat, fertile and well watered and they benefit from that."<br> <br>The study showed the 23 koalas tracked near Gunnedah repeatedly returned to isolated gum trees,  [https://www.cruisewhat.com/hibachi-nutrition-facts-for-health/ www.cruisewhat.com] risking exhaustion and dog attacks by leaving more protected bushland and dashing across exposed landscapes.<br> <br>The koalas also stayed in isolated nutrient-rich trees longer than they did in other trees.<br> <br>Assoc Prof Crowther says the study demonstrates the importance of farm trees as habitat for koalas, which were listed as endangered earlier this year.<br> <br>"Don't cut down those paddock trees," he says.<br> <br>"And make it easier for koalas to get there by removing threats where possible, and planting green corridors."<br> <br>The study has been published in the journal Behavioural Ecology.<br><br><br>adverts.addToArray({"pos":"inread_player"})Advertisement