The Australian fauna and flora - a vivid reminder of biodiversity.

It’s a bit like roaming a new planet, where you cannot entirely be sure nor take for granted what you will find. The magic of seeing common yet unfamiliar animals like oscine birds, or ubiquitous plants not found elsewhere.

Much is still to be learned also on a molecular and mechanistic level. Here just a few questions:

+ How is microbial diversity in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) gut impacting the break down of their eucalyptus diet and the detoxification of harmful compounds (e.g. link) ?

+ How do the monotreme species platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and echidna (Tachyglossus aculeates and Zaglossus sp.) regulate their peculiar energy metabolism with low and variable body temperature (e.g. link)?

+ Which intrinsic and environmental factors influence how newborn marsupials navigate from the birth channel through their mother`s fur into the safe pouch (video about how kangaroos do it)

+ Which immunological processes, or impairments thereof, facilitate the spread of the enigmatic facial tumor disease in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) threatening an entire species with extinction (link)?

As late Edward O. Wilson put it: “We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity“ (link). This serves as a reminder of the great opportunities to study non-model organisms in order to explore the entire tree of life for both human and environmental wellbeing (aka planetary health).