8 March 2023

More than 2 decades of research into the invasive weed gamba grass has been showcased in a new website.

Research through the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program has helped land managers better understand the scale of the gamba grass problem, the serious threat it poses to biodiversity and how research can support successful gamba management approaches.

You’ll find a sobering case study of the rapid spread of gamba in Litchfield National Park to cover 30,000 hectares, how gamba has significantly increased the cost of fire management to up to $100,000 for a single fire and how fine-scale herbicide application and reducing the frequency of gamba fires are helping rangers successfully manage gamba grass on Mary River National Park.

The research also highlights the cost of not funding gamba management – the longer you leave it, the more gamba spreads and the more costly management becomes.

Data, maps, photos, videos, animations and diagrams are used throughout to present the research in informative and easy-to-understand ways.

This is a ‘living’ website, meaning we’ll keep adding to it with findings from current and future research into this high-priority weed.

This animation shows the surveyed and modelled distribution of gamba grass in Litchfield National Park from 2008–32 (Rossiter-Rachor et al. 2023).