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The interacting effects of drought and fire on ecological communities are poorly understood. Long-term studies in the Warrumbungle Mountains, central-west New South Wales, subject to drought and fire during the past 21 years, enabled their separate and combined effects to be quantified for individual species and functional groups. Insectivores (especially ground-foragers) dominated previous lists of declining species in this region of NSW and were also prominent in the present work. Insectivores were more likely to be drought- than fire-affected, with seven species declining due to drought, three to drought plus fire, and three to fire alone. Our analyses also revealed declines in a suite of honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), previously not reported as declining. Honeyeaters are major pollinators of eucalypts, so the loss of nectarivores and insectivores has far-reaching implications for pollination, recruitment, successional dynamics, and forest health. Four honeyeater species were adversely affected by drought, five by fire, and one by a combination of drought and fire. Drought and fire, alone or in combination, were implicated in declines of granivores, including the Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans, and frugivores, especially the Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum, the latter reflecting the loss of mistletoes in fire-affected landscapes, and foreshadowing additional losses due to the reliance on mistletoe by many species. Another group not previously identified as threatened, but declining due to drought were two omnivores, the Pied Currawong Strepera graculina and Australian Raven Corvus coronoides. Hollow-nesting birds including two species of treecreeper and the Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae fared badly. Several common Australian species were among the decliners, including Laughing Kookaburra, Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys and Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen. We conclude that no suite of birds is exempt from these environmental stressors, and predict that, as droughts reduce populations at regional scales and fires diminish carrying capacity of critical habitats at landscape scales, rarer species will decline to local extinction while more commonly observed species will be reduced in abundance.

Research on island species–area relationships (ISAR) has expanded to incorporate functional (IFDAR) and phylogenetic (IPDAR) diversity. However, relative to the ISAR, we know little about IFDARs and IPDARs, and lack synthetic global analyses of variation in form of these three categories of island diversity–area relationship (IDAR). Here, we undertake the first comparative evaluation of IDARs at the global scale using 51 avian archipelagic data sets representing true and habitat islands. Using null models, we explore how richness-corrected functional and phylogenetic diversity scale with island area. We also provide the largest global assessment of the impacts of species introductions and extinctions on the IDAR. Results show that increasing richness with area is the primary driver of the (non-richness corrected) IPDAR and IFDAR for many data sets. However, for several archipelagos, richness-corrected functional and phylogenetic diversity changes linearly with island area, suggesting that the dominant community assembly processes shift along the island area gradient. We also find that archipelagos with the steepest ISARs exhibit the biggest differences in slope between IDARs, indicating increased functional and phylogenetic redundancy on larger islands in these archipelagos. In several cases introduced species seem to have ‘re-calibrated’ the IDARs such that they resemble the historic period prior to recent extinctions. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Artificial refuges are human-made structures that aim to create safe places for animals to breed, hibernate, or take shelter in lieu of natural refuges. Artificial refuges are used across the globe to mitigate the impacts of a variety of threats on wildlife, such as habitat loss and degradation. However, there is little understanding of the science underpinning artificial refuges, and what comprises best practice for artificial refuge design and implementation for wildlife conservation. We address this gap by undertaking a systematic review of the current state of artificial refuge research for the conservation of wildlife. We identified 224 studies of artificial refuges being implemented in the field to conserve wildlife species. The current literature on artificial refuges is dominated by studies of arboreal species, primarily birds and bats. Threatening processes addressed by artificial refuges were biological resource use (26%), invasive or problematic species (20%), and agriculture (15%), yet few studies examined artificial refuges specifically for threatened (Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered) species (7%). Studies often reported the characteristics of artificial refuges (i.e. refuge size, construction materials; 87%) and surrounding vegetation (35%), but fewer studies measured the thermal properties of artificial refuges (18%), predator activity (17%), or food availability (3%). Almost all studies measured occupancy of the artificial refuges by target species (98%), and over half measured breeding activity (54%), whereas fewer included more detailed measures of fitness, such as breeding productivity (34%) or animal body condition (4%). Evaluating the benefits and impacts of artificial refuges requires sound experimental design, but only 39% of studies compared artificial refuges to experimental controls, and only 10% of studies used a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design. As a consequence, few studies of artificial refuges can determine their overall effect on individuals or populations. We outline a series of key steps in the design, implementation, and monitoring of artificial refuges that are required to avoid perverse outcomes and maximise the chances of achieving conservation objectives. This review highlights a clear need for increased rigour in studies of artificial refuges if they are to play an important role in wildlife conservation.

This study probed the cognitive mechanisms that underlie order processing for number symbols, specifically the extent to which the direction and format in which number symbols are presented influence the processing of numerical order, as well as the extent to which the relationship between numerical order processing and mathematical achievement is specific to Arabic numerals or generalisable to other notational formats. Seventy adults who were bilingual in English and Chinese completed a Numerical Ordinality Task, using number sequences of various directional conditions (i.e., ascending, descending, mixed) and notational formats (i.e., Arabic numerals, English number words, and Chinese number words). Order processing was found to occur for ascending and descending number sequences (i.e., ordered but not non-ordered trials), with the overall pattern of data supporting the theoretical perspective that the strength and closeness of associations between items in the number sequence could underlie numerical order processing. However, order processing was found to be independent of the notational format in which the numerical stimuli were presented, suggesting that the psychological representations and processes associated with numerical order are abstract across different formats of number symbols. In addition, a relationship between the processing speed for numerical order judgements and mathematical achievement was observed for Arabic numerals and Chinese number words, and to a weaker extent, English number words. Together, our findings have started to uncover the cognitive mechanisms that could underlie order processing for different formats of number symbols, and raise new questions about the generalisability of these findings to other notational formats.

Mistletoes are hemiparasitic plants and keystone species in many ecosystems globally. Given predicted increases in drought frequency and intensity, mistletoes may be crucial for moderating drought impacts on community structure. Dependent on host vascular flows, mistletoes can succumb to stress when water availability falls, making them susceptible to mortality during drought. We counted mistletoe across greater than 350 000 km 2 of southeastern Australia and conducted standardized bird surveys between 2016 and 2021, spanning a major drought event in 2018–2019. We aimed to identify predictors of mistletoe abundance and mortality and determine whether mistletoes might moderate drought impacts on woodland birds. Live mistletoe abundance varied with tree species composition, land use and presence of mistletoebirds. Mistletoe mortality was widespread, consistent with high 2018/2019 summer temperatures, low 2019/2020 summer rainfall and the interaction between summer temperatures and rainfall in 2019/2020. The positive association between surviving mistletoes and woodland birds was greatest in the peak drought breeding seasons of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, particularly for small residents and insectivores. Paradoxically, mistletoes could moderate drought impacts on birds, but are themselves vulnerable to drought-induced mortality. An improved understanding of the drivers and dynamics of mistletoe mortality is needed to address potential cascading trophic impacts associated with mistletoe die-off.

Fruiting mistletoes present a model system for understanding decisions made by foraging animals when locating food. Where, when, and how animals find food is central to many ecological questions, relating to the basis of individual foraging decisions and the extent to which these decisions are innate or acquired. Ecologists have paid particular attention to frugivores, quantifying their preference for fruits with specific shapes, colors, or scents, which, over evolutionary time, confer selection for suites of traits in their favored plants whose seeds they disperse. This work outlines a novel experimental approach to manipulating food plant occurrence and measuring the response of wild, free-living animals, ideally suited to studying the evolutionary origin and ecological maintenance of seed dispersal. This "cut and paste" protocol involves removing an entire fruiting mistletoe plant from its host and either returning it to its original location or moving it to a novel location, affixing it to a 'pseudo-host' of the same or different tree species. By counting visits to the mistletoe and noting the duration, species, and behaviors, a series of comparisons can discern the most important factors affecting foraging decisions and the consequences for both plant and animal. Here, the protocol is illustrated with a case study to determine between-guild differences in mistletoe frugivory. The experimental approach teases apart the mechanistic basis of search image formation and refinement, spatial learning, interspecific differences in foraging strategies, and how these changes modify seed dispersal effectiveness. Finally, potential modifications are considered with respect to addressing other questions on foraging ecology, plant-animal interactions, and coevolution.

Neuroimaging studies using univariate and multivariate approaches have shown that the fusiform face area (FFA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA) respond selectively to images of faces and places. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which this selectivity to faces or places is based on the shape or texture properties of the images. Faces and houses were filtered to manipulate their texture properties, while preserving the shape properties (spatial envelope) of the images. In Experiment 1, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that patterns of fMRI response to faces and houses in FFA and PPA were predicted by the shape properties, but not by the texture properties of the image. In Experiment 2, a univariate analysis (fMR-adaptation) showed that responses in the FFA and PPA were sensitive to changes in both the shape and texture properties of the image. These findings can be explained by the spatial scale of the representation of images in the FFA and PPA. At a coarser scale (revealed by MVPA), the neural selectivity to faces and houses is sensitive to variation in the shape properties of the image. However, at a finer scale (revealed by fMR-adaptation), the neural selectivity is sensitive to the texture properties of the image. By combining these neuroimaging paradigms, our results provide insights into the spatial scale of the neural representation of faces and places in the ventral-temporal cortex.

Introduction: Traumatic injuries are preventable and understanding determinants of injury, such as socio-economic and environmental factors, is vital. This study evaluated traumatic injuries and identified areas of high trauma incidence. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all patients 14 years or older who were admitted with a traumatic injury to a Level I trauma center between 2016 and 2017. Descriptive analyses were presented and maps of high injury areas were generated. Results: The most frequent mechanisms of injury were falls (58.3%), motor vehicle crashes (22.3%), and motorcycle crashes (5.7%). Fall patients were more likely to be female (59.6%) and were the oldest age group (72.1 ± 17.2) compared to motor vehicle and motorcycle crash patients. Severe head (22.1%, P = 0.007) and extremity (35.7%, P = 0.001) injuries were most frequent among fall patients, however more motorcycle crash patients required mechanical ventilation (16.1%, P < 0.001) and experienced the longest intensive care unit length of stay (5.3 ± 6.8, P < 0.001) and mechanical ventilation days (6.6 ± 8.5, P < 0.036). Motorcycle crash patients also had the most number of deaths (7.5%, P < 0.001). The generated maps of all traumatic suggest that most injuries occur near our hospital and are located in several of the most population-dense zip codes. Conclusions: Falls, motor vehicle crashes, and motorcycle crashes were the most common mechanisms of injury. The use of Geographic Information System aided in the identification of high injury incidence location.

The growth habit of mistletoes, the only woody, parasitic plants to infect host canopies, represents a key innovation. How this aerially parasitic habit originated is unknown; mistletoe macrofossils are relatively recent, from long after they adapted to canopy life and evolved showy, bird-pollinated flowers; sticky, bird-dispersed seeds; and woody haustoria diverting water and nutrients from host branches. Since the transition to aerial parasitism predates the origin of mistletoes' contemporary avian seed dispersers by 20-40 million years, this leaves unanswered the question of who the original mistletoe dispersers were. By integrating fully resolved phylogenies of mistletoes and aligning the timing of historic events, I identify two ancient mammals as likely candidates for planting Viscaceae and Loranthaceae in the canopy. Just as modern mouse lemurs and galagos disperse viscaceous mistletoe externally (grooming the sticky seeds from their fur), Cretaceous primates (e.g., Purgatorius) may have transported seeds of root-parasitic understory shrubs up into the canopy of Laurasian forests. In the Eocene, ancestors of today's mistletoe-dispersing marsupials, Dromiciops, likely fed on the nutritious fruit of root-parasitic loranthaceous shrubs, depositing the seeds atop western Gondwanan forest crowns. Once mistletoes colonized the canopy, subsequent evolution and diversification coincided with the rise of nectar- and fruit-dependent birds.

Parasites necessarily depend on their hosts, but the number of host species used by a parasite varies from one to hundreds. Estimating host range and identifying the preferred host species that influence distributional boundaries and confer greater advantage to the parasite has proven elusive. As well as the confounding effects of sampling effort, characterising host specificity and preference has been hindered by considering host-use without accounting for availability. We selected three mistletoe species (Lysiana exocarpi, Amyema quandang, and Amyema lucasii) and sampled mistletoe–host interactions and host availability free from sampling bias. To quantify host specificity and identify preferred host species we applied specialist/generalist scores (G) and resource selection ratios (ω) respectively. Host specificity and preference were assessed at four scales. The generalist L. exocarpi was found to parasitise 31 plant species. Even at small scales, G values and host species turnover were high, with eight preferred hosts identified. Amyema quandang had a low G score with significant preference for half of its Acacia hosts. Amyema lucasii significantly preferred one host, consequently having low G values at all scales. By collecting potential host data and applying G scores and ω, the parasite host spectrum can be quantitatively estimated rather than qualitatively described.

In recent years, passive acoustic monitoring has emerged as a reliable method for monitoring soniferous fauna, with numerous studies finding estimates of species richness and community composition are comparable with estimates derived from conventional field surveys. Most of these studies compare point counts of forest bird communities with contemporaneous short‐duration acoustic recordings, but several questions remain. How do these two methods compare in more open, arid ecosystems, how does applying methods optimally influence comparisons, and how do patterns in acoustically detectable species compare with overall patterns? Here we demonstrate techniques for improving sampling of acoustic data and conduct acoustic surveys to estimate species richness from ephemeral creek‐lines in the Australian arid zone using a long‐term passively derived acoustic dataset. We examine these results in the context of long‐term observer‐based transect surveys conducted along the same creek‐lines to define species within the avian assemblage that are acoustically detectable or acoustically undetectable/cryptic. Our data suggest that some species were consistently missed by acoustic surveys, but most belonged to groups that are typically excluded from inventories prior to analysis including rare species, raptors, waterbirds, swallows and nocturnal birds. Further, the relative diversities of sites were well estimated by acoustic surveys, with variations between sites reflecting those estimated by observer‐based field surveys. This suggests that in our study system, acoustically detectable species are reliable indicators of overall species richness. Field‐based surveys will remain an important component of sampling in arid ecosystems and we highlight the value of applying acoustic and conventional field‐based surveys in a complementary manner. This approach allows large, publishable datasets to be generated by exploiting the temporal reach of acoustic sensors, while also maximizing detections of acoustically cryptic species via field‐based surveys. We argue that acoustic monitoring has the potential to facilitate greater research effort in largely research‐deficient arid ecosystems.

Ecological interactions are the backbone of biodiversity. Like individual species, interactions are threatened by drivers of biodiversity loss, among which climate change operates at a broader scale and can exacerbate the effects of land-use change, overharvesting, and invasive species. As temperature increases, we expect that some species may alter their distribution towards more amenable conditions. However, a warmer and drier climate may impose local effects on plants, animals, disrupting their interactions before noticeable changes in distribution are observed. We used a mutualistic trio from the temperate forests of South America to theoretically illustrate how climate change can disrupt ecological interactions, based on our current knowledge on this system. This study system comprises three generalist species with intersecting roles: a keystone mistletoe, a pollinator hummingbird, and a frugivorous marsupial that disperses the seeds of many species. On the one hand, drought causes water stress, increasing mortality of both mistletoe and host plants, and reducing the production of flowers and fruits. These resource shortages negatively impact animal's foraging opportunities, depleting energy reserves and compromising reproduction and survival. Finally, warmer temperatures disrupt hibernation cycles in the seed-dispersing marsupial. The combined result of these intersecting stressors depresses interaction rates and may trigger an extinction vortex if fail to adapt, with deep community-wide implications. Through negatively affecting generalist mutualists which provide resilience and stability to interaction networks, local-scale climate impacts may precipitate community-wide extinction cascades. We urge future studies to assess climate change effects on interaction networks rather than on singular species or pairwise partnerships.

The arboreal marsupial monito del monte (genus

Wildlife calls are the best witnesses to the health of ecosystems, if only we know how to listen to them. Efforts to understand and inform restoration of healthy ecosystems with environmental audio recordings languish from insufficient tools to learn and identify sounds in recordings. To address this problem, we designed and playtested the Bristle Whistle Challenge prototype with ten players. We explored how to design delightful interactions with audio for gaining awareness of nature sounds and supporting wildlife conservation through citizen science. We found that rather than presenting audio alone, it was necessary to connect sounds to other senses and experiences in creative ways to impart meaning and enhance engagement. We offer recommendations to design creative and contextual interactions with media to build awareness of nature's wonders. We call for greater efforts in interaction design to engage people with nature, which is the key to turning around our environmental crisis.

Conditions capable of supporting multicellular life are predicted to continue for another billion years, but humans will inevitably become extinct within several million years. We explore the paradox of a habitable planet devoid of people, and consider how to prioritise our actions to maximise life after we are gone.

AIM: Species range contractions are increasingly common globally. The niche reduction hypothesis posits that geographic range contractions are often patterned across space owing to heterogeneity in threat impacts and tolerance. We applied the niche reduction hypothesis to the decline of a threatened marsupial predator across northern Australia, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus). LOCATION: Northern Australia. METHODS: We assembled a database containing 3,178 historic and contemporary records for northern quolls across the extent of their distribution dating between 1778 and 2019. Based on these records, we estimated changes in the geographic range of the northern quoll using α‐hulls across four main populations. We then examined how range contractions related to factors likely to mediate the exposure, susceptibility, or tolerance of northern quolls to threats. RESULT: The extent of range contractions showed an east–west gradient, most likely reflecting the timing of spread of introduced cane toads (Rhinella marina). There were clear changes in environmental characteristics within the contemporary compared to the historic geographic range, with the most substantial occurring in populations that have suffered the greatest range contractions. The contemporary range is comprised of higher quality habitats (measured using environmental niche models), characterized by higher topographical ruggedness and annual rainfall, and reduced distance to water, compared to the historic range. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Changes to range and niche likely reflect the capacity of complex habitats to ameliorate threats (namely predation and altered fire regimes), and access to resources that increase threat tolerance. This study highlights the multivariate nature of ecological refuges and the importance of high‐quality habitats for the persistence of species exposed to multiple threats. Our methods provide a useful framework which can be applied across taxa in providing valuable insight to management.

Advancing technology represents an unprecedented opportunity to enhance our capacity to conserve the Earth's biodiversity. However, this great potential is failing to materialize and rarely endures. We contend that unleashing the power of technology for conservation requires an internationally coordinated strategy that connects the conservation community and policy-makers with technologists. We argue an international conservation technology entity could (1) provide vision and leadership, (2) coordinate and deliver key services necessary to ensure translation from innovation to effective deployment and use of technology for on-the-ground conservation across the planet, and (3) help integrate innovation into biodiversity conservation policy from local to global scales, providing tools to monitor outcomes of conservation action and progress towards national and international biodiversity targets. This proposed entity could take the shape of an international alliance of conservation institutions or a formal intergovernmental institution. Active and targeted uptake of emerging technology can help society achieve biodiversity conservation goals.

The ventral visual pathway is directly involved in the perception and recognition of objects. However, the extent to which the neural representation of objects in this region reflects low-level or high-level properties remains unresolved. A problem in resolving this issue is that only a small proportion of the objects experienced during natural viewing can be shown during a typical experiment. This can lead to an uneven sampling of objects that biases our understanding of how they are represented. To address this issue, we developed a data-driven approach to stimulus selection that involved describing a large number objects in terms of their image properties. In the first experiment, clusters of objects were evenly selected from this multi-dimensional image space. Although the clusters did not have any consistent semantic features, each elicited a distinct pattern of neural response. In the second experiment, we asked whether high-level, category-selective patterns of response could be elicited by objects from other categories, but with similar image properties. Object clusters were selected based on the similarity of their image properties to objects from five different categories (bottle, chair, face, house, and shoe). The pattern of response to each metameric object cluster was similar to the pattern elicited by objects from the corresponding category. For example, the pattern for bottles was similar to the pattern for objects with similar image properties to bottles. In both experiments, the patterns of response were consistent across participants providing evidence for common organising principles. This study provides a more ecological approach to understanding the perceptual representations of objects and reveals the importance of image properties.

To maintain perceptual coherence, the brain corrects for discrepancies between the senses. If, for example, lights are consistently offset from sounds, representations of auditory space are remapped to reduce this error (spatial recalibration). While recalibration effects have been observed following both brief and prolonged periods of adaptation, the relative contribution of discrepancies occurring over these timescales is unknown. Here we show that distinct multisensory recalibration mechanisms operate in remote and recent history. To characterise the dynamics of this spatial recalibration, we adapted human participants to audio-visual discrepancies for different durations, from 32 to 256 seconds, and measured the aftereffects on perceived auditory location. Recalibration effects saturated rapidly but decayed slowly, suggesting a combination of transient and sustained adaptation mechanisms. When long-term adaptation to an audio-visual discrepancy was immediately followed by a brief period of de-adaptation to an opposing discrepancy, recalibration was initially cancelled but subsequently reappeared with further testing. These dynamics were best fit by a multiple-exponential model that monitored audio-visual discrepancies over distinct timescales. Recent and remote recalibration mechanisms enable the brain to balance rapid adaptive changes to transient discrepancies that should be quickly forgotten against slower adaptive changes to persistent discrepancies likely to be more permanent.

Providing fruit, nectar, leaves and litter, mistletoes represent important resources for many organisms, linking above‐ground patterns with below‐ground processes. Here, we explore how mistletoe litter affects arthropod availability, especially those taxa preferentially consumed by ground‐feeding insectivorous birds, a group that has undergone widespread declines. We estimated the influence of mistletoe on arthropod occurrence by sampling arthropod communities beneath infected and uninfected trees with pit‐fall traps. Then, we experimentally isolated direct effects of mistletoe litter on arthropods with a litterbag study. Soil arthropod communities beneath infected trees had consistently greater abundance and biomass – total arthropods and the subset of arthropods preferentially consumed by ground‐foraging insectivores – compared to otherwise comparable uninfected trees. Arthropods showed a weak response to litter addition, with maximum abundances recorded from bags with low mistletoe litter, significantly lower abundances associated with higher mistletoe fractions and pure tree litter (after 5 months). Our findings confirm that mistletoe occurrence has a significant positive impact on arthropod availability, especially on those preferred by ground‐foraging bird insectivores. However, only a minor part of this impact is due to the direct, short‐term effects of mistletoe litter, which suggests that additional mistletoe‐mediated effects (e.g. local changes in structural or microclimatic factors, cumulative effects over multiple years) play significant roles. By altering arthropod assemblages within leaf litter and increasing the heterogeneity of resource availability on forest floors, mistletoe plays an important role in improving habitat quality for declining insectivores.

Habitat modification by fire and habitat loss via anthropogenic vegetation clearance and fragmentation both impact animal populations. Yet, there has been limited investigation as to whether animals that decline under one of these types of habitat change also decline under the other, and how their cumulative impacts affect the status of species and communities. Using a ~400-year chronosequence in the world's largest extant temperate woodland in south-western Australia, we examine how time since fire affects bird community richness, reporting rates and composition, and whether taxa grouped on the basis of responses to vegetation clearance and fragmentation in an adjoining agricultural landscape are associated with either recently-burnt or long-unburnt woodlands. Consistent with substantial changes in vegetation composition and structure after fire in obligate-seeder eucalypt woodlands, woodland bird communities were strongly affected by fire. Species richness and total reporting rates increased with time since fire, and community composition changed across the entire multi-century span of the chronosequence. Woodland birds most negatively impacted by vegetation clearance and fragmentation were strongly associated with long-unburnt woodlands. In a regional south-western Australian context, where extensive vegetation clearance has substantially reduced the range and populations of many woodland bird species, the ability of remaining unfragmented woodlands to support populations of these species will be strongly contingent on appropriate fire management. Specifically, as stand-replacement fires have affected 25–30% of extant woodland over recent decades, management to limit the extent of fire in remaining long-unburnt woodlands would appear a priority for conservation of woodland bird diversity.

New evidence of impacts by feral horses in Australia's alpine parks systems confirms they endanger threatened species and extensively damage critically endangered bog communities that could take millennia to recover. These impacts are not confounded by effects of deer and accumulate over time, even when only a small number of feral horses (~100) are present. With protected areas representing only a small proportion of the area of the Australian states of New South Wales (9.3%) and Victoria (17%), allowing feral horses to degrade reserves is not a reasonable management compromise, is contrary to the purpose of the protected area system and conflicts with international obligations. Modelling and decades of management experience indicate that trapping alone does not control feral horse numbers. Trapping and fertility control can work in small populations, but not when there are several thousand horses in remote areas. Aerial culling is needed to cost-effectively and humanely control feral horse populations. The relatively small amount of suffering feral horses experience during a cull is outweighed by (i) avoiding suffering and death of horses from starvation and thirst, (ii) avoiding the suffering of native animals displaced by horses and (iii) avoiding the ethical concerns of driving threatened species towards extinction. Objections to aerial culling on welfare and cultural grounds are contradicted by evidence. Improving knowledge in the general community about what is at stake is long overdue because without this knowledge, small groups with vested interests and unfounded claims have been able to dominate debate and dictate management actions. As a result of ineffective management, horse populations are now expanding and causing well-documented damage to Australia's alpine parks, placing at risk almost $10M spent on restoration after livestock grazing ended. The costs of horse control and restoration escalate the longer large horse populations remain in the alpine parks. It is crucial that feral horse numbers are rapidly reduced to levels where ecosystems begin to recover. Aerial culling is needed as part of the toolbox to achieve that reduction.