DO WE need to release elephants into the Australian bush?
Maybe we do, ecologist David Bowman suggests. He thinks we need to consider such extreme measures to bring stability to the nation's disrupted ecosystems.
He's not sure that elephants are the answer, but they are representative of the suite of megafauna - giant marsupials, birds and reptiles - that disappeared after Aboriginal occupation of Australia.
That caused great disruption to the stability of the continent's ecosystems, massively compounded by the past two centuries of European mismanagement.
Despite big investments in science and control measures, we have been unable to manage the resulting explosions of feral plants and animals, or stop out-of-control bushfires.
Pest programs attempt to control one species at a time, but Prof. Bowman observes that pests are embedded in ecosystems.
In a commentary for the latest edition of the science journal Nature, Prof. Bowman, Professor of Environmental Change Biology at the University of Tasmania, wrote, "I think that another, more holistic approach can address Australia’s ecological problems".
"Specifically, we must try to restabilise food webs, now out of balance because of? the Pleistocene extinctions, the loss of the Aboriginal traditions of burning? and hunting, and the ad-hoc release of non-native animals and plants?."
"We must introduce and manage predators to control the feral animals, and herbivore species to graze the flammable grasses — which we can also better control using small fires …"
This isn't looking back to some unknowable pre-Pleistocene state, Prof. Bowman said, but looking forward to where humans consciously design stable ecosystems.
For instance, we might use elephants or other large introduced grazing animals to control the rampant spread of introduced grasses, like the African gamba grass, in the Top End.
"Elephants are a wild idea, and people will say they are a stupid idea," Prof. Bowman acknowledged.
"But letting these grasses take over the Top End is not a good idea, either. Let's have an open and honest discussion about how we might address these problems."
Another suggestion, unlikely to be welcomed by stock owners, is to stop dingo control.
"Poisoning [dingoes] disrupts their social structure, and research suggests that dingoes in packs act as top predators of smaller predators such as foxes, and more dingoes could better control feral herbivores such as pigs?."
"Alternatively, we could introduce predators such as the Komodo dragon, which would fill the niche of giant lizards that once thrived in Australia."
Or, he added, "because dingoes and big predators pose threats to humans and livestock, it might be more realistic to employ Aboriginal hunters, who could help to control feral herbivores and also restore the traditional practice of patch burning".
Giving Aboriginal people the task of managing designed ecosystems might solve some substantial social problems, as well as ecological ones, Prof. Bowman said.
It would be essential to proceed cautiously with any landscape-scale change, he added, with well-designed studies to monitor the effects.
Publishing his ideas has been "quite terrifying, because they can be massively misconstrued".
"But if we can't have this conversation, does that mean we've cracked land management in Australia? Have we got it all under control?"
Prof. Bowman has heard of the ideas of Allan Savory, whose holistic management methods employ domestic livestock as a modern form of megafauna for shaping healthy landscapes, but has not delved into the ideas in detail.
Meanwhile, his commentary is getting some of the negative feedback he suspected.
Dr Ricky Spencer of the Native and Pest Animal Unit at the University of Western Sydney said Prof. Bowman's comments were "careless".
"His comments about introducing more dingoes to control other feral animals are also irresponsible because the science behind meso-predator release or suppression is in its infancy and at best correlative."
But Prof. Bowman earned some support from Don Driscoll of The Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society.
Dr Driscoll agreed that Australian ecosystems are in "a desperate state of degradation due to invasive plants and animals", and that all options need to be put on the table.
He wasn't keen on the elephant idea, suggesting the costs of management would outweigh the advantages.
But, he said, "it is crucial to consider all of the management options for dealing with invasive species (even ideas that might seem crazy at first), and it is just as crucial to consider their cost and the evidence of the kinds of impacts that each option will have on a range of societal objectives".
VIDEO: Elephants in the bush (via SMH)
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