Author: Siosina Katoa Taula Island - Tonga, located in the far south of the Vava'u Group in the north of the country. Tonga is a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, and if it’s hard to picture where it’s situated, it’s above New Zealand, across Australia, next to Fiji. It has 169 islands where residents inhabit 45. The country is divided into four main island groups: 1: Tongatapu group is the main island and the most populous out of the four; 2; Ha’apai group, a cluster of low-lying islands with stunning beaches; 3; Vava’u group, the second most populated island and famous for whale watching and a tourist’s favorite place to visit. The last is the Niuas group, the northernmost island that is a 2-hour flight away from Tongatapu.   My research involves collecting environmental DNA from isolated islands in Vava’u to assess biodiversity. Years ago, rats were eradicated from 3 of these islands. Unfortunately, financial constraints limited follow-up efforts. Here is where I step in.   The adventure begins with a 1-hour flight from Tongatapu to Vava’u in a quaint 12-seat plane almost the same age as me. The real expedition begins after touching down at the nearest airport (the only airport in Vava’u) to the sites. Every morning at 8 a.m., we board a medium-sized steel boat bound for the islands. The timing was crucial as high tide is our window of opportunity. If we miss it, low tide will trap us on the reefs, making the journey to our sampling sites nearly impossible. It took us 45 minutes to 1 hour to get to our destination and back every day.    We collected samples from 6 isolated islands and did sampling at three sites per island, with six 1L replicates per site. So, if we collect samples from 1 island daily, we’d take back 180L of seawater in an ice-cube-filled eski to be filtered. If we try to cover two islands daily, that’s double the weight to carry plus the eski of ice, and you do the math. Our small boat could only take a limited weight capacity, and we were already heavy enough to be on board.  Some days, we’d take only two people to help, plus the captain of the boat, and other days, just one to do the sampling. We removed the seawater and filtered these in a designated small space in our accommodation as we don’t have laboratories on the island. Over 13 days, we collected and filtered 1080 Liters of seawater (using a 50ml syringe), packed them, and sent them off for analysis.   Filtering eDNA samples, with the help of caulking guns! The challenge lay in the logistics of reaching and navigating these remote islands and having limited resources to aid us in the process. Yet, the reward came from uncovering what exists (a load of species) on these islands and the satisfaction of completing this task. Fieldwork in Tonga is not for the faint-hearted, but the combination of challenges and opportunities makes it a remarkable experience. For those willing to embrace the journey, the rewards offer a profound reminder of the wonders beyond the beaten path.  Siosina with a water sample.

Author: Molly Grew Drone shot of Stingrays in Burrill Lake, NSW. Stingrays, often admired for their graceful movements, play a vital role in maintaining marine ecosystems. One of their key contributions is bioturbation, the process of reworking sediments in their environment. As stingrays forage for food, such as polychaetes, molluscs, and crustaceans, they disturb the sediment, creating feeding pits that can last for weeks. This activity not only enhances oxygen penetration into deeper sediment layers but also recycles nutrients into the water column and much more.  Quantifying the impact of stingray bioturbation is challenging, but recent research has advanced our understanding. My recent PhD research, published in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, is the first to combine drones, aerial imagery, and 3D modelling to map benthic topography and identify stingray feeding pits on intertidal and subtidal sandflats. By conducting daily drone surveys in the Brisbane Water estuary, we measured the volume of sediment displaced by stingrays, revealing that these small creatures move an impressive 21,000 tonnes of sediment annually – a greater mass than the Great Sphinx of Giza.  However, declining ray populations due to overfishing, habitat loss, and climate change threaten this important ecological process. With many species at risk of extinction, the reduction in bioturbation could lead to a loss of essential ecosystem services, potentially causing cascading effects throughout the food web. Understanding and protecting the ecological roles of stingrays is crucial for maintaining the health of our marine environments.    Link to my publication below: https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rse2.411   Stingray in Wallis Lake.

Ever since primary school, I've been captivated by bugs. Growing up in an isolated suburb without peers my age, I spent my time hunting bugs, feeding and trying to tame them, and creating small shelters for them using toy building blocks. One vivid memory I have, is of picking up a velvet ant, which gave me a nasty sting. My whole arm swelled up, and my mum initially thought it was a snake bite. I had to give an in-depth description of what had bitten me. Fast forward 18 years from that sting, I began my first degree and devoted my Honours year to studying bugs. These creatures make up a significant portion of the world's biodiversity, yet they are often underappreciated, especially where I come from. Moving to Australia from Zimbabwe for my PhD has deepened my appreciation for this field and its immense potential for citizen science. Invertebrate studies offer a unique opportunity for both scientists and non-scientists to discover new species, as there are more undescribed than described bugs out there. This field is easy to understand because the benefits of invertebrates are intertwined with our daily lives. Invertebrates are not just spineless bugs or creepy crawlies; they are pollinators, bioindicators, decomposers, and ecosystem engineers. I hope my story inspires someone to grab their camera, explore their backyard, and perhaps discover a new, undescribed bug, earning a place in the science hall of fame. Author: Ashton Goronga

Image: Mattea Taylor Shorebirds are a fascinating group of mostly coastal birds. Fairly small, grey-brown, and skittish, they’re not the type you’d expect to fly tens of thousands of kilometres from Australia to the farthest parts of Russia and Alaska and back every year. These summer-chasing birds hold world records for their flying feats ( https://birdlife.org.au/news/bar-tailed-godwit-breaks-record/ ) and are considered extreme endurance athletes. To make these incredible journeys, shorebirds spend the Australian summer eating as much as they possibly can, storing all this energy as fat, which they then burn rapidly as they speed north to breed. Most of their food lives in the mud—things like crabs, shrimp, snails, and polychaete worms—which can only be accessed during low tide, when the mud is exposed. During high tide, shorebirds often have no choice but to find somewhere safe to rest until the tide recedes and they can feed again. These “roost” sites are often beaches or saltmarshes, and sometimes piers or oyster poles. Shorebirds tend not to like roosting near trees or tall shrubs. It’s thought that this is because trees block their view and could leave them more vulnerable to predation. In Australia, the main predators of shorebirds are birds of prey like eagles and kites that patrol the skies around the shores. Shorebirds kick their flight response into overdrive when they feel threatened, using their Top Gun-esque flying skills to evade capture. This is termed a disturbance (or alarm) flight. Flocks take off quickly, together, moving in unison, rapidly twisting, turning, rising, and falling. It is quite a mesmerising and fantastic sight to witness, and photographers often love to capture such moments. Image: Mattea Taylor Unfortunately, it also burns a lot of the energy that the shorebirds have been building up for migration. Too many disturbance flights and the shorebirds might not have enough energy to complete their migration journey. This could mean they might not survive the journey, might not have enough energy to breed successfully once they arrive up north, or might not leave for migration that year at all. Shorebirds aren’t only disturbed by birds of prey. They react to anything they think might be a threat, including people, dogs, and noisy machines like boats or planes. Adding a human element of disturbance to the natural disturbance already present can magnify the effects on shorebirds and make it more likely that they won’t have the energy they need to successfully migrate. When around shorebirds at high tide, it is important to move slowly and give them a wide berth to respect their space and their need for rest. This topic of disturbance forms part of my PhD research in the Hunter Estuary, NSW. I observed shorebird behaviour at various sites during high tide, recording the levels of human and natural disturbances and shorebird flight responses to determine the extent to which shorebirds are disturbed in this estuary. That’s for another blog. Here, I wanted to highlight the importance of giving resting shorebirds space so they can preserve their energy for another day. Their quick aerobatic flights may look fantastic but could potentially be fatal. Author: Mattea Taylor

The Black Summer bushfires that occurred in Australia from September 2019 to February 2020 can be marked as a turning point regarding our nations understanding of fire.  17 billion hectares of Australian land was burnt, and it was estimated that over one billion animals perished (Dickman, 2021). Years after this disaster, experts are still grappling with the full extent and impacts this event had on the natural world. This situation left many questioning whether this environmental emergency could have been prevented, and if we are truly in touch with our country.  Satellite image of fires burning and smoke in NSW, November 9th, 2019 - Source: https://theconversation.com/australias-black-summer-of-fire-was-not-normal-and-we-can-prove-it-172506 Having spent my honours year researching the effects of fire-fighting chemicals on amphibian health, development, growth and behaviour, I have always had a natural interest in fire ecology and methods of fire prevention. This led me to delve into the subject of fires in Australia, guiding me to a book that truly changed my perspective.  Victor Steffensen is an Indigenous filmmaker, musician and consultant that applies traditional knowledge in a contemporary context. His book Fire Country,  tells the story of how he learnt about traditional burning techniques from two elders, Dr Tommy George (TG) and Dr George Musgrave (Poppy). The book provides a guide to reading the country, resulting in finding natural indicators in the landscape for ideal time for burns to occur in a range of Australian habitats. Victor possesses critical and invaluable knowledge, with more than 27 years of experience in Indigenous fire management, and the revival of these practices are needed now more than ever.  Watch the link below to learn more about Victor and his extensive expertise on indigenous fire management:  Author: Kate Tunstill Dickman, C.R., 2021. Ecological consequences of Australia's “Black Summer” bushfires: Managing for recovery.  Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management ,  17 (6), pp.1162-1167.

Matt was invited to India’s Gir National Park (home of the only lion population outside of Africa) by the International Big Cat Alliance ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Big_Cat_Alliance ; @IBCA_official) for a conference as part of World Lion Day in August 2024. What an opportunity – seeing the Gir lions in the flesh, and catching up with a student he is co-supervising (Prashant Mahajan). Unfortunately, the horrific floods in Gujarat and Kerala meant the conference was cancelled, but an online version went ahead. Matt spoke about the impact of a drying climate on the prey preferences of lions in South Africa. He had 101 years of data from six savanna protected areas to test whether prey preferences changed in above average or below average rainfall years. It turns out that there are winners and losers from climate change, although the vast majority of species are uniformly selected by lions reflecting the long evolutionary history of interactions between predators and their prey (e.g., buffalo). Several smaller (sub-optimal) species become more preferred during above average rainfall – likely because there is more vegetation cover available to conceal lions and enable them to opportunistically kill species (e.g., blesbok, nyala or duiker). A couple of species are more frequently killed by lions during drier periods (kudu and eland), and these are the species that may be most at risk at the peak of global warming. Now to get it published!

Overseas experiences are unbeatable ways of gaining a broader understanding of conservation issues, and the Conservation Science Research Group has a global perspective. In February 2024, Matt, Margaret Platell and Mike Mahony took a group of 20 undergraduate students to India to learn about the conservation issues they face over there, as well as experience the Indian culture. We landed in Jaipur, and headed to Sariska National Park to see a site where tigers had been reintroduced a decade or so ago – we missed the tigers, but did see good sightings of leopard and striped hyaena, as well as sambar and chital.   We next headed to Bharatpur and Keoladeo National Park, where we saw waterbirds in their multitudes. We ticked off 75 species in a morning here, as well as learning about how a conservation area surrounded by a large city can function.   We spent a day at the Taj Mahal, before heading down south to Kuno National Park, where cheetahs had been reintroduced in 2023. Unfortunately, they weren’t doing particularly well, and we didn’t see them, but we did see a heap of other biodiversity, and experienced an Indian wedding!   Our last destination was Ranthambore National Park – a renowned tiger sanctuary. And it didn’t disappoint. All groups saw a tiger, and some even had the tiger walk right past their open Jeep. Hectic!   As always, the people make a trip, and it was such a great group of students to experience these amazing things with. India has a much better conservation history than Australia, so there are plenty of lessons we need to learn from them. Author - Matt Hayward Credit: Paul McDonald

The Conservation Science Research Group at The University of Newcastle consists of a team of internationally recognised experts in biodiversity conservation with project experience in the natural environment and biodiversity; environmental monitoring, restoration ecology, behavioural ecology and cognition, instrumentation and analysis; marine pollution impacts; and sustainable adaptation in agriculture and forestry. Our website is still a work in progress, but we are excited to be able to share recent news via blog posts and advertise opportunities to work and volunteer with us. See below some happy snaps of our research group members. More blog posts coming soon!