Hope for Melbourne grasslands under threat from urban sprawl

About 60 of the country’s brightest early- and mid-career research scientists from a range of disciplines will gather in Brisbane this week to find new ways to help manage one of the nation's most vulnerable ecosystems increasingly under threat from the urban sprawl: the Melbourne grasslands.

Victoria's temperate native grasslands have been destroyed by agricultural practices such as grazing and cropping, with only 0.5% remaining since European settlement. Some of the last intact grasslands in Melbourne's north and west, home to many threatened plant and animal species, are at further risk from expanding suburbs.

The 2011 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank, Stressed Ecosystems: Better decisions for Australia’s future, is being held in Brisbane on 29 and 30 September, to tackle some of the challenges facing these stressed ecosystems.

Their conclusions will be published on the Australian Academy of Science website and used for future policy development.