Saving the Dingo, Preserving Biodiversity Earth's ecosystems are complex webs. If a single animal disappears from a web, every other organism is affected. Maintaining biodiversity, or a rich variety of plant and animal life, is essential to protecting the survival of all the animals in an ecosystem. In Australia, humans have long poisoned and hunted the dingo, a wild dog species, for killing farm animals. But this destruction of the dingo population has disrupted the
ecosystem of the Australian bush, resulting in adverse effects on the region's biodiversity. A 2014 study of dingo populations found that areas where dingoes had been poisoned suffered a marked decrease in biodiversity. Without predation by dingoes, animals such as wallabies and kangaroos flourished. This led to those animals eating a disproportionate amount of the vegetation that covers the ground of the outback. With decreased vegetation, small mammals such as possums and bandicoots had no place to hide from red foxes, which were happy to make mealsof them. Without a robust dingo population, the red fox has no predators and has taken over the bush. This has drastically reduced the number and variety of small mammals in the ecosystem. The end result of poisoning dingoes is more kangaroos, wallabies, and red foxes, and far fewer small mammals, as well asdecreased levels of vegetation. In other words, the loss of the dingo is a serious blow to Australia's biodiversity. Dingoes were finally designated a threatened species in 2008. But it will be an uphill battle to save them. The dingo has a reputation for killing livestock and attacking humans. Many Australians haveno interest in saving it. But protecting the dingo and restoring its population is essential to restoring biodiversity in the Australian bush. And, without that biodiversity, not a single organism in the bush is safe.
Part 1
1. Reread the first paragraph. What is the central idea of this text?
2. What effect did poisoning dingoes have on wallabies and kangaroos? How does this explanation relate to the central idea?
3. What effect did the loss of vegetation have on small mammals such as possums and bandicoots? How does this explanation relate to the central idea?
4. Why will saving the dingo “be an uphill battle”? How doesthis idea relate to the central idea?