Bushfires

CSIRO bushfire research is improving the understanding of fire, and improving technologies and strategies to save lives and limit damage. Australian scientists are developing reliable tools for predicting bushfire behaviour to save lives and limit damage.

The virus that stunned Australia's rabbits

Read how CSIRO stopped rabbits in their tracks in the 1950s. In the 1950s, millions of rabbits were decimating Australian agriculture and destroying the environment. CSIRO scientists responded by releasing a virus that had a dramatic effect.

Bushfires - Types, Measurement and Fuel

Learn about bushfire classification, measurement and fuel types.

New vaccines offer disease protection potential article

CSIRO is using new technology to develop vaccines that prevent disease in our livestock. This three-page article outlines some of the issues surrounding vaccination and research into finding alternatives to antibiotics.

Rabbits on the back foot – but naturally they’re fighting back

Australian rabbits have had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them over the years. Myxomatosis knocked them about but they bounced back. The same with rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) or the calicivirus.

Dr Lingling Gao: studying aphid resistance

Dr Lingling Gao uses the model plant system, Medicago truncatula, to analyse how plants respond to insects and to help identify ways to improve insect resistance in plants.

Fire regimes and climate adaptation

The interactions between climate change, fire regimes and other landscape disturbances are yielding options for adaptive management.

Pests of field crops and pastures

This comprehensive handbook on economic entomology for field crops and pastures encompasses pests and beneficial insects as well as allied forms of importance in Australian agriculture.

Global Carbon Project figures

A factsheet detailing the 2007 data for the Global Carbon Project, a joint international project on the global carbon cycle.

Dr Jonathan Anderson: investigating plant defences

Dr Jonathan Anderson is investigating the interactions of plants with fungal diseases and insect pests.

Understanding bushfire impact on water yield

In the summer of 2002-03, devastating bushfires destroyed 700 000 hectares of forest in northeast Victoria. CSIRO scientists used remote sensing technologies to estimate the impact of the fires on water yield in major catchment areas.

Protecting crops against Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus

Plants with total immunity to the devastating Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus could be a step closer thanks to breeding of resistant species and the creation of a synthetic gene primed to recognise the virus and destroy it. (2 pages)

What is responsible for the low establishment of the bridal creeper leaf beetle in Australia?

This one-page poster details the reasons behind the low establishment rate of the leaf beetle, Crioceris species, a biological control agent for bridal creeper in Australia.

Farm management

CSIRO conducts farming research throughout Australia, working with producers and farming groups to trial and evaluate new ideas and techniques.

Wood borers infest timber and furniture

There are many types of wood borer in Australia.  We have compiled information about those which are most often found in timber in houses and furniture.

Dr Mark Lonsdale: Chief, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences

Dr Mark Lonsdale is Chief of CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and has extensive experience in studying plant ecology and biological invasions in the United Kingdom, Africa and Australia.

Scotch broom biocontrol agent: twig-mining moth

The twig-mining moth, Leucoptera spartifoliella is one of two successful biological control agents released in Australia to help control Scotch broom.

Understanding the science of fire

CSIRO's Fire Science research program uses our expertise in material flammability, fire growth and control, and bushfire impact on infrastructure to improve fire safety.

Taking the fight to aphids

This article from Farming Ahead is an overview of the main aphid pest species on Australian grain and pasture plants and the best options for managing them. (3 pages)

Dr Tanja Strive: rabbit biocontrol researcher

Dr Tanja Strive is investigating biological control options for wild rabbits in Australia through research into rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus and caliciviruses.

Dr Jeremy Burdon: investigating plant-pathogen coevolution

Dr Jeremy Burdon is an evolutionary biologist with particular interest in plant-microbe interactions.

Backyard Biodiversity invasive species stickers

Don't let invasive species stick around! Print out these invasive species stickers for fun or as part of your classroom activity.

Noogoora burr throws researchers a curve ball

What do you do when a weed fights back? Noogoora burr in Australia’s tropical north has done just that but CSIRO scientists aren’t letting it get away with it.

Improved pest database to protect agriculture

An important tool for protecting Australia’s precious natural environment and agricultural industries has been updated and improved.

Scientists preparing for future disease challenges

New and emerging animal diseases, Australia’s equine influenza (EI) outbreak and the fact that 75 per cent of emerging human diseases originated in animals, are among the hot topics for discussion at the 13th International World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (WAVLD) Symposium in Melbourne this week.