Fed: Rate of mosquito-borne diseases could increase

The study, published on Tuesday in the journal BioScience, examines the impact of land clearing in Western Australia and the link between deforestation and mosquito-borne disease patterns.

It says deforestation for agriculture has left more than one million hectares of the nation's south-west affected by waterlogging and dryland salinity.

"Land clearing in this region has had a pronounced impact on the water balance, as the shallow-rooted annual pasture crops use less water than the deep-rooted native perennial vegetation they replace," the study says.

"The resulting increase in recharge and runoff leads to a rise in the water table, thereby bringing saline water to the surface, where halophilic vectors of Ross River virus (mosquitoes) can exploit these new habitats."