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Remnants is a game where players describe the land use and environmental attributes of a farm in Australia's temperate woodlands. The program then describes how these attributes influence biodiversity on and around the farm. Remnants is not detailed enough to apply to any specific farm, but the rules that determine the final score are based on the results of the Birds on Farms Survey.
Birds as indicator species
A farm with a rich diversity of birds will also have a relatively high diversity of trees, shrubs, mammals, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates. For this reason birds are recognized as 'indicator species', their presence indicating the presence of many other species, and thus the environmental health of the farm.
The Birds on Farms Survey
The results presented by Remnants are based on a two-year survey of birds on 330 farms in southern and eastern Australia, between 1995 and 1998. Specific management recommendations are also based on other research and expert opinion.
The average farm size was 608 ha (excluding the ten largest farms), and most were sheep, beef or wheat-sheep properties. Around 500 volunteers participated in the surveys, mostly farmers or people working with farmers (76 per cent). A more extensive report, outlining the methods and describing the results of the Birds on Farms survey, is available as a download.
Playing Remnants
Remnants will perform best when used with versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator later than 4.0.
The first Remnants question asks you to name your imaginary farm, while the remaining questions are all answered by selecting an option from the pull down menus. Detailed information is available for many of the questions, simply click on the "More info" icons and the information will appear in pop-up windows.
After you hit the 'Get Results' button your results will appear in a new window from where the text can be printed or saved.
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