Tim Low

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Tim Low AM (born 1956), is an Australian biologist and author of books and articles on nature and conservation.

Contents

Early life

Low became interested in reptiles as a teenager, regularly visiting the Queensland Museum after school to study the lizard collections under the guidance of then-curator Jeanette Covacevich. He contributed to the discovery of several new lizard species, collected on travels around Queensland. He described the chain-backed dtella (Gehyra catenata) and had the dwarf litter-skink (Menetia timlowi) named after him. [1] It was later renamed Pygmaeascincus timlowi . [2]

Career

Low worked part-time at the Queensland Museum as an interpretation officer before developing a career as an independent environmental consultant and writer. For twenty years, he wrote a column in Nature Australia magazine. [3] For two years (2013–2015), Low was co-editor of Wildlife Australia magazine. For two years, he wrote the Wild Journey blog for Australian Geographic and contributed many articles to the magazine. He co-authored a 2023 report that reviewed the causes of Australia's modern extinctions. [4]

His report, Climate Change and Queensland Biodiversity, was announced in Queensland parliament by environment minister Kate Jones in June 2011. [5] In that year, Low traveled to Europe and Alaska to study climate change under the Churchill Fellowship. Low also ran a workshop in Canberra, writing up a report titled Climate Change and Invasive Species. He has written journal articles that caution about the weed threats posed by biofuel crops, agroforestry trees, and pasture plants.

Low lives in Brisbane. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to conservation, and environmental education and awareness". [6]

Publications

His seventh book, Where Song Began: Australia's Birds and How They Changed the World, tells the story of Australia as a land of aggressive birds that gave the world its songbirds and parrots. Published in Australia by Penguin and internationally by Yale University Press, it won the Australian Book Industry Awards prize for best General Non-Fiction in 2015 and People's Choice at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. It was also shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History Awards. [7]

The New Nature: Winners and Losers in Wild Australia (2002) explains that some native species benefit from human impacts, sometimes going on to cause environmental problems. It won the inaugural Westfield-Waverley literary award, now called The Nib and received a special mention at the Centre for Australian Cultural Studies National Awards. Because of this book, Low was invited to serve on the advisory committee (Biological Diversity Advisory Committee) of then-environment minister, Senator Ian Campbell.

Feral Future: The Untold Story of Australia's Exotic Invaders (1999) surveyed the problems caused by invasive species. It was republished by the University of Chicago Press. An extract was read out in the Australian Senate. Low appeared in a TV New Zealand episode of Assignment named after the book. Feral Future inspired the formation of an NGO, the Invasive Species Council. [8] Low had spoken about its formation at the 18th Global Biodiversity Forum in Mexico in 2001.

His four earlier books helped popularise Australian bush tucker. [9] Four of his books have won national prizes.

He has written chapters and sections for many books.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

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The fauna of Australia consists of a large variety of animals; some 46% of birds, 69% of mammals, 94% of amphibians, and 93% of reptiles that inhabit the continent are endemic to it. This high level of endemism can be attributed to the continent's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and the effects of a unique pattern of climate change on the soil and flora over geological time. A unique feature of Australia's fauna is the relative scarcity of native placental mammals. Consequently, the marsupials – a group of mammals that raise their young in a pouch, including the macropods, possums and dasyuromorphs – occupy many of the ecological niches placental animals occupy elsewhere in the world. Australia is home to two of the five known extant species of monotremes and has numerous venomous species, which include the platypus, spiders, scorpions, octopus, jellyfish, molluscs, stonefish, and stingrays. Uniquely, Australia has more venomous than non-venomous species of snakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisbane Water National Park</span> Protected area in New South Wales, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eungella National Park</span> Protected area in Queensland, Australia

Eungella National Park is a protected area in Queensland, Australia. It is on the Clarke Range at the end of the Pioneer Valley 80 km west of Mackay, and 858 km northwest of Brisbane. Eungella is noted for the national park which surrounds it. It is considered to be the longest continual stretch of sub-tropical rainforest in Australia. The original inhabitants are the Wirri people. The park is covered by dense rainforest and is known for its platypuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feral</span> Wild-living but normally domestic animal or plant that has returned to the wild.

A feral animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species. The removal of feral species is a major focus of island restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Introduced species</span> Species introduced by human activity

An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, and either deliberately or accidentally. Non-native species can have various effects on the local ecosystem. Introduced species that become established and spread beyond the place of introduction are considered naturalized. The process of human-caused introduction is distinguished from biological colonization, in which species spread to new areas through "natural" (non-human) means such as storms and rafting. The Latin expression neobiota captures the characteristic that these species are new biota to their environment in terms of established biological network relationships. Neobiota can further be divided into neozoa and neophyta (plants).

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The term Australian megafauna refers to the megafauna in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are contested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasive species in Australia</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife conservation</span> Practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and their habitats

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brumby</span> Feral horse in Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lace monitor</span> Species of lizard

The lace monitor, also known as the tree goanna, is a member of the monitor lizard family native to eastern Australia. A large lizard, it can reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in total length and 14 kilograms (31 lb) in weight. The lace monitor is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

<i>Amalosia rhombifer</i> Species of lizard

Amalosia rhombifer, also known commonly as the zigzag velvet gecko and the zig-zag gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Diplodactylidae. The species is endemic to Australia.

Scottsdale Reserve is a 1,328-hectare (3,280-acre) nature reserve on the Murrumbidgee River in south-central New South Wales, Australia. It is 79 kilometres (49 mi) south of Canberra, and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Bredbo. It is owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia (BHA), which purchased it in 2006. The purchase was supportive of projects aiming to connect existing fragmented remnant habitat such as K2C. Since the 1870s up until 2006, the land was used for agriculture – primarily sheep grazing with some minor cropping. A significant component of the Reserve has been cleared of native vegetation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dubious dtella</span> Species of lizard

The dubious dtella, native Australian house gecko, or dubious four-clawed gecko is a species of gecko in the genus Gehyra, native to Northeastern Australia. The lizard is found in a variety of habitats, including acacia and eucalyptus woodlands, and in human-developed habitats, such as house walls in urban areas. Its urban presence makes it known as a common house gecko in Queensland. These geckos are often confused with the Asian common house gecko, which was introduced to Australia from Indonesia, but G. dubia has distinct rounded feet and quieter calls.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat predation on wildlife</span> Interspecies animal behavior

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The Invasive Species Council is an Australian environmental non-governmental organisation founded in 2002 to provide a specialist policy and advocacy focus on reducing the threat of invasive species that threaten the environment.

<i>Gehyra versicolor</i> Species of lizard

Gehyra versicolor, commonly known as the eastern tree dtella. is a native Australian gecko occurring in temperate forests of eastern Australia.

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<i>Ctenotus brooksi</i> Species of lizard

Ctenotus brooksi, also known commonly as Brooks' wedge-snouted ctenotus, the wedgesnout ctenotus, and the sandhill ctenotus, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Australia and found in semi-arid regions.

<i>Eomurruna</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

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References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Low, Tim (1979) A new species of gecko, genus Gehyra (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Queensland. Victorian Naturalist (1979) 96: 190-196.
  2. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Low, T.", p. 161).
  3. ↑ https://museum-publications.australian.museum/
  4. ↑ "Since 1960, Australia has lost 23 native animals in an extinction wave". ABC News. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Record of Proceedings, Queensland parliament, 14 June 2011, page 1764, from a Ministerial statement by the member for Ashgrove, Hon. Kate Jones.
  6. ↑ "Mr Tim Low". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "New South Wales Premier's Awards" (PDF). SL Magazine. Vol. 8, no. 4. Summer 2015. p. 36.
  8. ↑ Faulkner, Jane; February 6, 2003; "Noxious Nasties"; The Age; newsstrore.fairfax.com.au. Access date: November 17, 2016
  9. ↑ Improving Access to Bushfood Production & Marketing Information Publication No. 99/158 (1999) Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

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