A community-based wildlife survey: the knowledge and attitudes of residents of suburban Brisbane, with a focus on bandicoots

摘要

Urbanisation, the process by which rural or natural areas arenconverted to urban and suburban environments, is one of thenmost rapid and influential human activities ever undertakenn(Collins et al. 2000). In North America, this process is nownregarded as the most significant cause of extinction for thatncontinent (Marzluff et al. 2001), especially where develop-nment is encroaching directly into natural areas. The impact ofnurbanisation in certain parts of Australia has been similarlyndramatic; in south-east Queensland, currently the fastest-ngrowing region of Australia (Australian Bureau of Statisticsn2004), the rapid and continuing expansion of the urbannsprawl has massively reduced the total area of bushland andnleft much of that remaining as fragmented patches of varyingnsizes (Catterall and Kingston 1993).