woodlands – ANU Sustainable Farms https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/news/tag/woodlands/ Supporting sustainable farming to help conserve Australia’s unique biodiversity. Fri, 27 Jun 2025 03:11:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-favicon-32x32.png woodlands – ANU Sustainable Farms https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/news/tag/woodlands/ 32 32 New research shows grazing management at farm dams improves bird biodiversity https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/news/dams-grazing-bird-biodiversity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dams-grazing-bird-biodiversity Fri, 27 Jun 2025 02:19:29 +0000 https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/?p=4349 Research by Sustainable Farms demonstrates how managing farm dams through grazing control and revegetation significantly boosts bird biodiversity.

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]]> Farm dams are common across Australian agricultural landscapes, primarily serving as water sources for livestock and irrigation. Despite their widespread presence, farm dams are often overlooked as potential habitats for wildlife.

The research investigated how different farm dam management approaches affect bird communities. Researchers compared three management types: unfenced dams with continuous grazing, unfenced dams with rotational grazing, and enhanced dams. Enhanced dams are dams that are fenced to restrict livestock access and have revegetation of native trees and shrubs around the dam.

The study, conducted across 109 farm dams on 34 farms across south-eastern Australia’s tsheep-wheat belt, found that enhanced dams supported a significantly greater number of birds and more species.

 

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