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Beyond wind-tortured dunes

The unique wilderness of Australian deserts
by
May 2022, no. 442

Australian Deserts: Ecology and landscapes by Steve Morton

CSIRO Publishing, $59.99 pb, 304 pp

Beyond wind-tortured dunes

The unique wilderness of Australian deserts
by
May 2022, no. 442

Ecologist Steve Morton’s new book opens with a telling anecdote: as a young scientist in Alice Springs, he often advised visiting film crews about promising locations for their nature documentaries. When one group returned after a week in the desert, they reported back on a single hitch in an otherwise successful trip – a lack of wind-blown sand dunes. To fix this problem they cleared spinifex off a dune, creating a large expanse of bare sand, the illusion enhanced by accommodating morning winds.

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