Foreword
Fifteen years ago I took the plunge and left my home state of Victoria to seek a career in wildlife conservation in northern Australia . Based at James Cook University I soon realised that most of the students and researchers there had a very myopic view of what constituted the tropics . It was all reef and rainforest , that tiny wet sliver of country plastered onto the edge of the continent , like some sort of biogeographic joke designed to distract us from the true character of northern Australia . I soon discovered to the west lay the rest of the tropics - the tropical savannas - a vast exciting frontier that kept rolling for miles and miles , until it faded into the Indian Ocean .
This was the country for me , and I decided to pursue my studies in a particularly fantastic part of this region - the Desert Uplands . What I also discovered was another community of Queenslanders ; the graziers and their families of the extensive rangelands tirelessly working to make a living from a sometimes less than forgiving environment . These were kindred spirits unified by their love of these woodland landscapes . And though the researcher and the land manager speak different languages , we share the same aspiration ; keeping healthy the plants , animals and people of our unique savanna rangelands .
Therefore , I hope this book provides an interpretation of sorts ; a small guide into the language , of the wildlife boffins . The aim is to return to the community some of the experience and knowledge on the wildlife of the tropical savannas that I have gleaned through my research over the years .
Along with my co-author , Eric Vanderduys , another tropical savanna devotee , we hope this small book provides a valuable resource for land managers to further appreciate and learn about the biodiversity of the tropical savannas of the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM region , so to continue their often unappreciated task of stewardship of the most significant natural landscape remaining in Australia .
Alex Kutt and Eric Vanderduys , CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
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