Bogong moths have returned in large numbers across eastern Australia this spring after years in which the species almost vanished from its alpine haunts, The Guardian reports.
Formal surveys have not yet been published, but sightings logged by citizen scientists on the iNaturalist platform show a sharp rise in the population this year. Researchers say as many as four billion bogongs once migrated to the Australian Alps each summer to shelter in cool caves.
Numbers fell gradually from 1980 and collapsed in 2017, when the moth was described as undetectable in alpine areas. The ecologist Ken Green has blamed the drought of 2017 to 2019 for most of the crash, with pesticides and light pollution adding to the longer decline. The revival is good news for the plants bogongs pollinate and for the endangered mountain pygmy possum, which feeds on them.
Source: The Guardian
