We now have four full years of repeat photography available, October 2009 – October 2013. Sequences of still images were converted to video format for display on the YouTube website. During the three years of the project we have learned the strengths and weaknesses of our photography, and how best to present our results. That learning has been incorporated in our latest video.
We believe that these five conclusions are obvious from the visual evidence presented in the above video.
- Within four months, the groundcover in the ungrazed plot (plot 1) changed from a lawn to a grassy stand. That is, there was an immediate response to the removal of grazing pressure.
- On seven of the ten recording dates, the condition of the unprotected, continuously grazed plot (plot 3) remained lawn-like.
- The grassland contrast between the plot grazed by rabbits only (plot 2) and the plot grazed by rabbit plus kangaroo (plot 3) clearly demonstrated that kangaroo grazing far exceeds that of rabbits.
- Even under very favourable rainfall conditions (October, 2010 onwards), the grazing induced grassland changes persisted.
- Therefore, with an unmanaged kangaroo population, the future of the grassy woodlands of Mount Majura Nature Reserve will be as a marsupial lawn.
After viewing the video, we hope you agree with these conclusions.
