Military training areas can be important wildlife refuges: new study
Bombs and biodiversity can go hand in hand, a new study has found. Military training areas — used for the training of armed forces — can maintain biodiversity and even support species threatened with extinction, despite years of repeated bombing, fires and other disturbances, scientists report in a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation. But the effect of the disturbances varies across species, the researchers found. Military training areas are usually large expanse of lands, typically restricted to the public. These lands are generally free from rural or urban development, cultivation, mining, or other resource extraction activities. Such lands are also repeatedly disturbed by bombs, fires, heavy vehicle tracking, and chemical contamination due to weapons testing and training. Scientists have previously suggested that military training areas create habitats both for species that prefer undisturbed lands and those that need disturbed areas. But studies that quantify the impacts of such areas on different groups of animals have been few, David B Lindenmayer, a Professor at the Australian National University, told Mongabay. At the invitation of Australia’s Department of Defense, Lindenmayer and his colleagues, undertook such a study at the Beecroft Weapons Range, a military training area located about 135 kilometers (~84 miles) south of Sidney in New South Wales.
