Australia lacks a robust vertebrate scavenger guild which allows insects to outcompete them at carrion. Insects are the primary decomposers in the Australian Alps
Project Map
Hello world!
I’d like to share some maps I’ve made of my master’s project. I’ve conducted an ecological project looking at scavenging dynamics in the Australian Alps, specifically in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. The maps show the Australian Alps (the highest region in mainland Australia) and my autumn replicate transect. The transect runs along Island Bend Fire Trail and Guthega road. Each site is roughly 1km distance from each other with treatments approximately 50m from one another.
Each site consists of three treatments 1) Open / No Exclusion, 2) Vertebrate Exclusion, and 3) Vertebrate + Insect Exclusion.
These maps were produced with QGIS version 3.2+.
Winter fieldwork
It’s wintertime and time for another data collection session!
It’s hovering around 0 Celsius with some periodic snow showers here in Kosciuszko NP. This cold weather may suppress invertebrate scavengers and microbes but allows us to look at the direct contribution vertebrates have on carrion.
