text: Climate change threatens native animals
  Native Australian animals are at increased risk of extinction due to climate change, according to a report that found invasive species could benefit from rising temperatures.
  Species at risk from higher temperatures and lower rainfall include the albatross, the bilby, rock wallaby, quoll and tree kangaroo, says the report by environment group WWF-Australia.
  These animals are already battling bushfires, loss of habitat and introduced predators such as the cane toad and the European fox, threats likely to be exacerbated by climate change, WWF says.
  "The early signs are that climate change is likely to make all of the existing threats to species worse," it says.
  Professor Lesley Hughes, of the Climate Change Ecology Group at Macquarie University in Sydney, contributed to the Australian species and climate change report.
  She told the ABC that many native species are vulnerable to climate change because they live in small habitats and will not easily be able to move if conditions become unsuitable.
  She says marine turtles could be more directly affected because the sex of their young is determined by the incubation temperature of their eggs.
  "As the temperature goes up, you are capable of getting a skewed sex ratio," she told the ABC.
  "So the ultimate would be that we simply get all the hatchlings as females and no males for them to mate with.
  "That could have obvious population consequences for the turtles."
  The report says weeds and pests can colonise new habitats quickly in a warming climate and even favour changing conditions.
  "The threat posed by invasive species could increase with climate change," WWF says.
  "Pests such as the cane toad will thrive in warmer conditions and move into new areas."
  A WWF spokesperson says Australia already has the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world, with close to 40% of global mammal extinctions in the past 200 years.