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Posted: 2022-04-04 01:55:00

He added it was important not to use too many pesticide sprays in a bid to get rid of insects because it could do more harm than good.

“You may be using them to kill pests, but the beneficial insects could be collateral damage – those include insects that benefit frogs or lizards that use them as a buffet,” he said.

Following weeks of heavy rain, many people are finding unwanted house guests.

Following weeks of heavy rain, many people are finding unwanted house guests.Credit:Nick Moir

Richard Kingsford from the University of NSW’s centre for ecosystem science said that, while the heavy rains could cause significant issues for biodiversity in the short term, they could also have long-term benefits.

These include more fruitful breeding seasons and a greater abundance of food sources. But he said the more intense and frequent droughts, fires and floods become, the less time ecosystems will have to recover.

“The question will be, ‘Can plants and animals build up the resilience to deal with [more frequent and extreme events] happening?’ We really don’t know that for sure,” he said.

Professor Kingsford added that climate change posed increasing risks for already threatened species, whose status was caused by human activity.

“Where you can control those [anthropogenic] threats, we will see a bounce back in whatever part of the environment,” he said.

In the past three weeks, WIRES has received more than 550 rescue and advice calls for birds alone in flood-affected areas of NSW, a 20 per cent increase over the same period last year. The rescues ranged from waterlogged birds unable to fly and fledglings abandoning tree hollow nests that had filled with rainwater to displaced marine birds either blown off course or simply exhausted by gale-force winds.

But if you think the wet weather has brought more snakes slithering into your home then Engadine’s Andrew Melrose, who works for Shire Snake Catchers, has got news for you.

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“It’s all just social media and fearmongering,” he said. Rather, if anything, snake populations have decreased due to the wet weather.

“If someone is really vocal on Facebook, you get one viral image, and it makes everyone think there are thousands [of snakes],” Mr Melrose said.

“It [the rain] has caused a lot of problems with breeding for female snakes; they haven’t had enough time to get food, especially red-bellies ... They are very skinny after giving birth, and normally they would be a better weight and condition, but they haven’t been able to hunt or eat through their pregnancy.”

The thing that people should really worry about, Mr Dallow said, will be the hot summer of 2023.

Termites thrive in moist environments, and the relentless rain over the past few months has meant that houses have unavoidable problems with moisture, and termites love it.

“As soon as we get warmer weather, we will get a lot of termites going crazy,” Mr Dallow said.

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