Publications

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 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 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.

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.

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.