SOME of Australia's most vulnerable native animals could die out as climate change take its toll on their already fragile existence. The warning is contained in a report that catalogues the risks facing 11 species from the impact of rising temperatures and rainfall decline. The report, produced by environment group WWF and a research team from Macquarie University, says global warming could skew the sex ratios for marine turtles in favour of females, as sex is determined by the incubation temperature of eggs.

Rising temperatures could also increase the spread of the cane toad — which produces toxins that are highly poisonous to quolls — and reduce the amount of cool mountain-top habitat available for tree kangaroos. Habitats for other creatures, including frogs, hare wallabies and a species of rat kangaroo, are predicted to disappear or become climatically unsuitable, with temperature rises from 0.5 degrees.

The Climate Change in Australia report released last year by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology said the best estimate of annual warming by 2030 was about a degree compared with 1990 levels. Tammie Matson, from the WWF, said while Australian species had adapted to climate change in the past, many were now suffering from habitat loss and introduced predators. "Climate change is just another fact in the mix that could spell extinction for a number of species," Dr Matson said. "It will exacerbate all the existing threats. It will tip some species over the edge."

Other native animals described as at risk from climate change in the WWF report include the Gouldian finch, the bilby and the black cockatoo. The group wants to see more work put into protecting habitats and reducing climate change.

(Por Chee Chee Leung, The Age, 25/03/2008)