Research into habitat restoration wins scholarship

Climbing up trees searching for possums and endangered birds is just another day in the office for PhD candidate Reannan Honey.

Reannan Honey conducting field work, climbing trees is all part of the fun. Image courtesy of Reannan Honey.

It’s all part of Ms Honey’s current research project investigating habitat restoration for animals that are dependent on hollows.

“Tree hollows take a very long time to form—usually over one hundred years,” Ms Honey said.

“With native forestry, we tend to cut down the trees that are over a hundred years old because they are the big ones that provide the most wood.”

The current strategy to solve this problem is using nest boxes. But so far, they haven’t proved to be very effective, with many endangered animals often rejecting the nest boxes.

Ms Honey’s research is looking at whether artificial hollows can provide an alternative option to nest boxes.

“Artificial hollows are basically hollows that are cut into the tree itself,” she said. “The face plate is removed, the trunk is hollowed out and then the face plate returned with a hole in it, so the animal can enter and exit.”

The project is in its early days with Ms Honey often travelling into the bush, trapping possums and sugar gliders in order to microchip and track them to see which animals are using the artificial hollows, and how.

Now Ms Honey’s research has received a generous boost thanks to the 2017 AWS Wildlife Ecology Science Research Scholarship, which she will spend on data logging equipment that will allow her to effectively measure temperature and humidity.

“Thermochron and hygrochron are the size of a button-battery and they can collect three months of data, such as temperature and humidity every hour—so they’re pretty cool,” Ms Honey said.

Reannan’s research will investigate whether artificial hollows can provide an alternative option to nest boxes for animals, like this possum.
Image courtesy of Reannan Honey.

Ms Honey’s PhD project is also generously supported by the Central Tablelands Local Land Services, the Wettenhall Environment Trust and the Central West Councils Environment & Waterways Alliance who created over 200 artificial hollows to increase habitat for the Superb Parrot.

Ms Honey has been at UTS for six years, starting in a Bachelor of Science in Applied Chemistry, before transferring into a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences. Last year she completed her honours research year investigating whether incubation temperatures affect the learning abilities in hatching geckos.

Ms Honey is also part of the Student Promotional Representative of UTS (SPROUT) team at UTS Science, and is passionate about science communication and talking to the general public about scientific discoveries.

“Communicating science is challenging, there’s a lot more things that both scientists and the media could be doing to help explain scientific research better,” Ms Honey said.

“I enjoy communicating my work to difference audiences and that’s something I hope to develop more at as I progress through my PhD.”

You can follow Reannan Honey on Instagram @reehoney17.

*This article was written by Filip Stempien and originally appeared at www.uts.edu.au

Carp Control Community Briefing Session Bathurst - Monday 27 November

Central Tablelands residents are invited to attend a community briefing session hosted by the National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) and Central Tablelands Local Land Services on Monday 27 November from 6.00-8.00pm.

The community briefing session will be held at Bathurst Panthers Club (on the corner of William and Piper Street, Bathurst) and will provide participants with an opportunity to hear firsthand from the NCCP and Local Land Services as well as for local residents to contribute feedback to the plan.

The NCCP is investigating ways to control carp centered on the use of a species-specific virus known as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (the carp virus) as a biocontrol agent, while also ensuring that risks associated with the potential use of the carp virus are identified and mitigated.

Operating through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) on behalf of the Australian Government, the $15 million NCCP initiative will provide detailed information to enable governments to make a well-informed decision on the best approach for carp control at the end of 2018.

NCCP National Coordinator Matt Barwick says waterways are the lifeblood of many rural and regional communities and they need to be rehabilitated.

“While these community briefing sessions are important for us to share the background, context and desired outcomes of the NCCP, they also provide an opportunity to hear from community members about how the prevalence of carp impact on them, their lifestyle or their business,” Mr Barwick said.

“We want to work collaboratively with the local community - as healthy river systems and waterways result in healthier communities.”

“We value the opinions and beliefs of people in the Central Tablelands region and we want to understand the ecological values of affected river systems and waterways and any likely direct or indirect impacts, be they social, environmental, economic or cultural, that may eventuate,” Mr Barwick said.

Central Tablelands Local Land Services is working with the NCCP to ensure local issues are considered in the National Carp Control Plan.

“We encourage all members of the community to participate in this briefing session and ask any questions they may have in relation the plan.

“The NCCP is a process, not a foregone conclusion so we encourage residents to share their thoughts and opinions and help shape the recommendations to government,” said Senior Land Services Officer, Casey Proctor.

This event is one of more than 40 community briefing sessions which will be held in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT, Queensland and Western Australia in coming months.

The community briefing session will cover research underpinning carp biocontrol, and summarise work underway under the NCCP and what is yet to come. Central Tablelands Local Land Services will provide an update on the issue of carp in our region and a question and answer session will end the evening.

A workshop will be held prior to the community briefing session to allow representatives from key stakeholder groups to inform the NCCP about the prevalence of carp in local waterways, how the waterways are being used by the community and the benefits or impacts carp reduction may have on the community.

To find out where other community briefing sessions are being held and to be kept up to date on the NCCP please visit www.carp.gov.au.

Landholders Help Reverse the Decline of Koalas on the Central Tablelands

Central Tablelands Local Land Services is working with landholders to reverse the decline of our local koala population through replanting, enhancing and protecting koala habitat.

The Central Tablelands Koala Project is providing funding and assistance to landholders willing to revegetate, repair and protect bushland in areas where koalas colonies can be found. The project also works with people whose land provides links to core koala habitat to ensure these connecting corridors are preserved.

Since February this year, Central Tablelands Local Land Services has funded 10 hectares of revegetation to restore koala feed trees, along with 30 hectares of vital blackberry control.

“Koalas are at their most vulnerable when they are on the ground, and blackberry can create an additional barrier which makes it harder for them to move to the next tree,” explained Clare Kerr, Senior Land Services Officer.

“Spraying and removal of the weed is very important in core habitat to help reduce the time koalas spend on the ground, as that’s when they are exposed to predators such as wild and domestic dogs.”

As well as revegetation work and blackberry control, Central Tablelands Local Land Services has helped landholders across four properties to protect and improve the quality of a further 156 hectares of bushland that is used by koalas. Additionally work has been done to create 10 hectares of buffer vegetation to encourage natural regeneration. 

“Habitat loss remains one of the biggest threats to Koalas across the state. By expanding and protecting existing habitat we are doing our part to help reverse the decline of the koala in NSW,” said Clare. 

“Another issue we are facing is that while koalas are frequently seen across the region, very few sightings have been officially recorded in the past decade. This makes it hard to justify and attract funding to continue conservation work”.

“If you have seen koalas on your property or when travelling around the region you can help by recording sightings on the NSW BioNet website,” urged Clare.

Adding records to the NSW BioNet database (bionet.nsw.gov.au) is a simple process which will help ensure the Central Tablelands region is recognised as an important area for Koalas in the NSW Koala Strategy being developed by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage. 

Funding for the Central Tablelands Koala Project has been provided through the National Landcare Programme via the regional Targeted Ecosystems Project.

If you have koalas on your property and are interested in a project to improve or increase habitat please contact Colleen Farrow, Targeted Ecosystem Project Manager, on 02 6363 7874.

Image courtesy of DJM Australia Photography