esearchers have warned that stream fauna among Western Australia’s towering jarrah forests are at risk of acute loss, as many of the waterways in south-western WA begin to dry out each year under the effects of climate change.
These once-reliable streams create small, aquatic havens for rare species, but records going back to the 1970s reveal drastically reduced rainfall and a formerly lush region now prone to drying – the WA state government records that stream flows in the jarrah forests have more than halved since 1975.
It’s a story that’s playing out, to greater or lesser degrees, around the world. And as a warming climate interrupts water flows and rainfall, precariously balanced ecosystems can struggle to adapt.