India, April 4 -- University of Queensland researchers are urging governments to use newly created national data to protect the country's last remaining ecosystems free of human pressures.
The 2 new datasets map the extent of ecosystem disturbance across the country and show while about 30 per cent of Australia is still free or almost free of human pressures, many landscapes are becoming increasingly fragmented.
Lead author Dr Ruben Venegas-Li from UQ's School of the Environment said the publicly available datasets could be instrumental in guiding conservation planning and keeping the landscape intact.
"Australia is facing an extinction crisis with more than 2,100 species and 100 ecological communities federally listed as threatened and ...