Copies of presentations given by Biolink staff at the 65th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society (2019).
Abstracts of the presentations are as follows;
Killing them softly with our song... negative outcomes arising from the management of disease in peri-urban koalas (Dr Steve Phillips)
This paper reports on the use of a combination of microsatellite-based population profiling, scaling relationships and parentage-based dispersal analyses to investigate levels and patterns of long-distance dispersal in the koala.
This paper describes the use of regularly spaced transect searches and standard capture–mark–recapture techniques to describe population structure, growth rates, survival and capture probability in a population of the pale-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bitorquatus). Within the red gum forests of our study site, we estimate pale-headed snake density at ~137 snakes/ha. We predict that pale-headed snakes reach sexual maturity after about four years and may live for up to 20.
This paper explores the reasons behind different mortality rates we have observed in some of our radio-tracked koala populations. It examines issues of inbreeding, genetics and disturbance, including such things as research activities.
This is a presentation that formed the basis of a 2016 seminar at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Hosted by Prof. Peter Timms, the intent of the presentation was to examine some of the ecological data from areas supporting 'diseased' koala populations, aspects of which are contrary to what me might otherwise expect to see if disease per se was a key driving force of koala population decline.
The effects of short-term disturbances that result in changes to movement patterns and/or behavior of wildlife are poorly understood. In this study movements of seven koalas were monitored before, during and after a 5-day music festival event. Aversive behavior in the form of evacuation of known ranging areas was demonstrated by three koalas that had core areas within 525 m of the approximate centre of the festival area, the associated responses comprising movements that were perpendicular to and away from staging areas where music was played.
Timber is one of the few truly renewable resources and plantation-grown Australian hardwoods make a significant contribution to the lessening of impacts on biodiversity values in areas of native forest. Unfortunately, koalas residing or otherwise making use of Southern Blue Gum plantations in Victoria and South Australia are being injured or killed during tree-felling operations. This document promotes a Code of Practice (CoP) by which koala populations making significant use of plantation areas can be more sustainably managed.
The Spot Assessment Technique is a multi-faceted koala habitat sampling tool, which when applied either on the basis of a random, stratified approach or more uniformly across the landscape, capably answers key questions associated with the distribution and abundance of koalas.
Traditionally, the capture of koalas for research and/or management purposes involves various procedures, most of which employ a combination of telescopic poles, flags and/or nooses, usually in conjunction with a variable (but by no means commensurate) measure of arboreality on the part of researchers. The purpose of this paper is to describe a lightweight trapping device that has proven effective in the capture of free-ranging koalas.
In order to more effectively conserve Koalas, the National Koala Conservation and Management Strategy 2009 - 2014 recognises the need for development of reliable approaches to the assessment of Koala habitat. This paper describes a tree-based sampling methodology that utilises binary data derived from the presence/absence of Koala faecal pellets within a prescribed area beneath trees to determine whether the use of a given area of habitat by Koalas is important.
Morihei Ueshiba (1883 - 1969)
