Ecology Matters

"The Elders that I have met over that time, they have really influenced my thinking and inspired me to keep going."

Emilie Ens is an Associate Professor at Macquarie University where she leads the Cross-Cultural Ecology and Environmental Management lab. She is passionate about creating respectful cross-cultural partnerships with Indigenous people and organisations to better understand and manage Australia’s diverse ecosystems.

"That's an issue that affects an animal over time, as they grow, and as these entanglements constrict them."

We have known for decades that plastic pollution has a detrimental impact on marine life. We know that species like the Australian fur seal are heavily affected. And yet, there are many questions we do not have answers to: How does entanglement affect the growth, behaviour and survival of young seals? Where do these seals forage and disperse in relation to plastic accumulation and fishing hotspots within Bass Strait?

Adam Yaney-Keller is attempting to answer those questions in his PhD with Monash University and Phillip Island Nature Parks. 

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Adam lives and works on the traditional land and sea Country of the Bunurong people.

"My ultimate goal would be to enhance the way we restore seagrasses at the moment."

Joining us today is University of Sydney PhD candidate Renske Jongen. Renske’s career has taken her from dreams of veterinary science, to studying the effect of climate change on winter moths in the Netherlands and juvenile fish species in South Australia. She is now investigating the role of sediment microbes in seagrass response to environmental stress and how we can use that knowledge to aid restoration of seagrass beds.

"We're [...] using language to inform the restoration and environmental work that we do."

We are lucky to have two guests this episode. Lynda Maybanks is managing director of Wirrinyah First Nations Conservation Services, an Engagement Consultant with Maybanks Consultancy, and Manager of the Yugara Dancers in Ipswich. Eleanor McCall is a linguist and a Masters student at the University of Queensland, researching links between Aboriginal land management practices and language revival.

Lynda and Eleanor were awarded the 2022 Bush Heritage Australia Indigenous-led science prize.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Lynda and Eleanor live and work on Yagara country.

"I've always been kind of fascinated with what the landscape would have looked like before Europeans got here."

"One of the most outstanding conservation concerns in Australia [...] is the extent of loss of [...] endemic mammal species."

Professor John Woinarski has been involved in research, policy and management of Australian biodiversity for over 40 years. His career has crossed several fields, including reserve design, fire ecology, biodiversity monitoring, invasive species, the impacts of forestry, pastoralism and mining, and island biogeography.

He has been awarded a Eureka Prize for biodiversity research, a Serventy Medal for life-time contribution to Australian ornithology and an Australian Natural History Medallion.

He sat down with us during the 2023 ESA conference in Darwin to discuss the impacts of feral cats on wildlife. 

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. While his work takes him across the continent, John lives on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

"There are a number of criteria for keystone resources and sandalwood [...] fits quite a few of them."

Our guest this episode is Dr Richard McLellan. Richard is an experienced ecologist, conservationist, and program manager. He held senior positions within WWF-Australia and WWF-International, focusing on native vegetation management, forest conservation, sustainable resource use, and ecological footprint reduction. He is the chair of the Forest Conservation Fund and the Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association, an ambassador for the Western Australian Parks Foundation, and a long-time member of the World Commission on Protected Areas.

In his spare time, Richard recently completed his PhD with Charles Sturt University and Bush Heritage Australia on the ecological importance of Australian sandalwood in Australia's rangelands.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Richard works on the lands of the Yamaji, Nanda, Badimia, Martu, and Wajarri-Yamaji peoples.

"We only know about the species that we are exposed to."

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so they say. Our guest this episode is looking at precisely this idea - what role do wildlife images play in conservation? How can images influence public attitudes and behaviours towards wildlife? And what effect does this have on long term wildlife conservation? Meghan Shaw is a PhD candidate at Deakin University looking into these big-picture ideas.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Meghan works on the lands of the Bunurong and Wurundjeri people in Australia and on the lands of the Dakota in the United States.

"Nobody has looked at whether [fenced reserves] could potentially be a conservation measure for bats."

Bats are the second most-diverse order of mammals, in Australia and around the world, and provide vital ecosystem services like pest control and pollination. However, more than 30 percent of bat species are threatened, largely due to habitat alteration and introduced predators.

In this episode, UNSW Sydney PhD student Oli Aylen joins us to discuss this fascinating group of animals and to outline his research on the role of fenced conservation reserves on bat communities in arid zones.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Oli works on the lands of the Wangkumara and Kokatha people.

"We know so little about the variety of species that exist on these spectacular islands."

Dr Jenn Lavers and ranger Hayleigh Graham work with the Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation to understand and protect the delicate ecosystems of the Esperance region along the south coast of Western Australia.

They joined Ecology Matters to talk about their efforts to restore seabird colonies on some of their offshore islands, and the importance of cultural burning to these species. 

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Hayleigh and Jenn work on the lands of the Wudjari people.

"A lot of people just don’t realise what we have in our blue backyard on the Southern shores of Australia, and how precious that is."

Dr Elodie Camprasse is a Research Fellow at Deakin University and citizen science project lead with 'Spider Crab Watch'.

Every winter, spider crabs gather in huge underwater piles along Australia’s southern shores. The spectacular gatherings attract considerable attention, even featuring in a BBC documentary, but scientists know very little about the species. How many spider crabs are there? Where do they go after they disperse? What signals to the crabs that it is time to come together? Why do the crabs congregate in one location for several consecutive years then not return?

Listen as Elodie discusses these mysterious creatures and the importance of the Great Southern Reef. 

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Elodie works on the lands of the Wurundjeri, Wadawurrung and Bunurong peoples of the Eastern Kulin.

"I got interested in plants as ways of regenerating landscapes."

Associate Professor John Morgan is a plant ecologist with the Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology and the Research Centre for Future Landscapes, at La Trobe University. He is a leading authority on the ecology of native grasslands in Australia, specialising in understanding how disturbances like fire and grazing determine the long-term dynamics of plant communities.

"I can see myself definitely advocating for Antarctic protection and climate action for the rest of my life."

When you think of Antarctica, do you imagine patches of verdant green? Moss beds so dense they support their own microecosystems? Georgia Watson joined Ecology Matters to share her work on these important, and largely unknown, sentinels of Antarctica. And she also came to explain why actually talking about them, and about Antarctica more generally, is so important.

Hear how she moved through projects in forest ecology with Prof Kris French and Dr Luke Collins, to her work as research officer within the ARC SRI Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future at the University of Wollongong.

What do ecologists do? What happens when they reach those inevitable bumps and twists in their career path? How do they end up studying sometimes strange and obscure species? And why are partnerships and communication more than just trendy buzzwords when it comes to ecology?

Welcome to Ecology Matters, a podcast from the Ecological Society of Australia, where we explore these questions and more. 

Learn more about the ESA - www.ecolsoc.org.au

"It’s important not to just conserve the skinks because of their ecological significance but also importance to people and culture."

Dr Holly Bradley is a Research Fellow at Curtin University. As part of her PhD, Holly worked in partnership with the Badimia people of Western Australia to study the Western Spiny-tailed Skink.

As a result of that work, Holly and her Badimia colleagues are writing a dual language picture book, that will act as a teaching resource and a way of conserving the critically endangered Badimia language.

“It's important to think about how you get the broader public to understand why what you've done is important.”

We’re pleased to bring you this special bonus episode of Ecology Matters, all about why communicating ecological science is important.

Professor Richard Kingsford is a well-known and well-respected river ecologist who is regularly sought by media to comment on water and wetland-related issues.

In this episode, Professor Kingsford explains why communicating to the broader public should be an essential consideration for every scientist and why the outcomes of speaking truth to power can be much greater than potential short term costs.

Professor Kingsford has been awarded Fellowships of both the Royal Society of NSW and the Australian Zoological Society. He was awarded a Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science in 2008 and in 2021 received the ESA Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to ecology.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

“Understanding how disturbance changes things within a system to me seemed a fundamental way to actually manage and restore landscapes more effectively.”

Dr Neilly is a postdoctoral researcher with the Australian Landscape Trust, based at Calperum Station in South Australia.

Her work focuses on how disturbances can alter the structure of vegetation and affect fauna. With colleagues, she is looking at how features such as spinifex grass perform as thermal refuges for small reptiles and mammals under a range of different fire and grazing treatments.

“The best qualities of leadership are listening to people and building a path forward that is inclusive of everybody else's ideas.”

“If you maintain that curiosity and pursue your passions in ecology and conservation, you know, I don't know anyone who hasn't gone on to wonderful things by doing that.”

“Doing something that is so novel, and something where we could probably start making changes now, is super exciting.”

Tropical forests are increasingly at risk of fire, largely as a result of climate change and the impact of agricultural and logging practices. Ebony completed her Honours research looking at the flammability of tropical forest species and has now started a PhD extending this work.

“I’m trying to understand how we can use or manipulate herbivore foraging behaviour just using plant odour rather than having to use fences or shooting or all these quite abrasive control methods."

“Can you imagine you have little to no nitrogen and you put all the nitrogen that you have in these young leaves that are just doomed? That's not very smart. Plants are smarter than that!”

Gian is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales, investigating the mechanisms behind delayed greening in plants.

Delayed greening occurs when plants withhold chlorophyll from leaves until they’re mature, resulting in the young expanding leaves being a myriad of colours, from red and pink to purple. Delaying the input of chlorophyll in this way may help the plant to reduce its loss of nutrients to herbivores. This makes sense when you consider that young leaves are often more tender, and therefore more appealing to herbivores than the tougher mature leaves. Gian plans to look at whether the withholding of chlorophyll from young leaves is linked to soil fertility, a question particularly pertinent in Australia, where many regions are known for their nutrient-poor soils.

“Over time I understood that you can't really protect the local environment without involving the local communities, without involving landowners.”

“It was a dream come true to come back and work for the Park so I often feel like I've got the best job in the world.”

Mel Wilson is the Natural Resource Manager of the Norfolk Island National Park. In partnership with PhD student Allie Nance, Mel designed an innovative way to manage invasive rodent populations on Norfolk Island. This work has led to improvements in the way that endemic plant and animal species on the island, including the endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot, are protected from rodents.

“That's the whole reason why conservation researchers are in this field, right, because we want to make a difference and we want our research to help.”

Allie is completing her PhD looking at the nesting success of endemic songbirds on Norfolk Island, which includes understanding invasive rodent populations and designing innovative control methods.

Invasive rodents are seen as a key threat to native plant and animal species on Norfolk Island, including breeding seabirds and the endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot.

Allie’s research has already led to changes in the way that rodents are monitored and controlled on the island. It has also been incorporated into the current review of the Norfolk Island Region Threatened Species Recovery Plan.

*Since this interview was recorded Allie has started a position as an NRM Ranger at Norfolk Island National Park.*

“It's an ongoing battle but I do think a lot of these major environmental problems are not really about lack of knowledge.”

"There’s been that big shift where people are starting to appreciate cultural knowledge a lot more than what it would have been appreciated in the past.” - Shandell Cummings

Shandell Cummings is a Merningar woman and Indigenous consultant. Dr Alison Lullfitz is a cross-cultural researcher and conservation biologist at the University of Western Australia. 

Together they explore and map the many linkages between Indigenous and western ecological knowledge, working closely with Shandell’s family in Noongar Boodja of south coast Western Australia. This work brings together different frameworks of thinking with the shared goal of improving biodiversity conservation and social wellbeing.