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| What is a Woylie? |
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The Woylie is a small kangaroo-like marsupial that weighs less than 2kg, stands about 30cm tall and once ranged across two-thirds of Australia. One of country's great 'silent achievers' of the bush, the Woylie plays an important role in promoting the health of the bush in which it lives.
Woylies are 'ecosystem engineers', each digging around 5 tonnes of soil a year while looking for food (underground fungi, bulbs, tubers and seeds). They help to prepare seed beds, improve water percolation into the soil and recycle nutrients by burying leaf litter. The Woylie also disperse native seeds (e.g. sandalwood). But perhaps their most important role is as 'matchmaker' by dispersing the spores of underground mychorrizal fungi that have a mutually beneficial relationship with most plants by providing them access to nutrients necessary for plant and ecosystem health.
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