Rabbit. description Article from The Helix Number 36, June/July 1994 About a hundred years ago, an amazing fence was built in Western Australia to keep the rabbits out of the wheat fields. It Geraldton in the north. The two-metre high fence was made of wire, and still stands today although its proved useless at keeping out the rabbits. Its reported that there were so many rabbits heading west that they simply climbed over the fence on piles of their own dead! So, why is it such an amazing fence? To find the answer, youd have to take a flight with Peter Schwerdtfeger, Professor of Meteorology at Flinders University (South Australia). He and his team have flown west many times, to view from close-up the interesting changes that have taken place on either side of the fence. Incredible as it seems, rainfall has increased east of the fence and decreased west of the fence. Even though the fence has been a failure at keeping out rabbits, the WA government has maintained the fence as a State Barrier Fence. It serves as the boundary between the heavily cleared and intensively farmed croplands on the west from the native vegetation on the east. The shallow rooted crop plants in the farmed areas dont transpire as much water as the more deeply rooted native vegetation to the west. The native vegetation, a large area of which is trees, also creates greater convection (upward moving air). Convection and water vapour are two important ingredients for the formation of rain. Its an important observation because it clearly demonstrates that widespread clearing of the land can lead to a reduction of rainfall, and alter regional weather patterns and ground hydrology. Environmental impact http://www.csiro.au/communication/rabbits/qa2.htm graphic Invasive. 90 Remove. undetermined      Vr.154, Jan 2009     Readme