Cane toads have had significant ecological impacts on species in northern Australia, disrupting many ecosystems and causing local extinctions of several species. The Pilbara is the last toad-free stronghold for many species that have suffered losses elsewhere in their range. Here we evaluate the likely biodiversity costs if toads spread to the Pilbara.

Toads are currently west of Derby approaching Broome and have been advancing westward consistently at 50km per year. Under a ‘do-nothing’ scenario, toads are predicted to arrive via natural dispersal in the Pilbara between 2035 and 2055. They are predicted to colonise almost the entirety of the Pilbara bioregion. We predict that 25 vertebrate taxa resident in the Pilbara are likely to show population declines driven by lethal poisoning. Of the 25 at-risk taxa, eight are endemic to the Pilbara. We predict that toad colonisation of the Pilbara will regionally impact 10 mammals and 15 reptiles, including the potential for 5 mammals and four reptiles species to be added to the threatened species list, and potentially elevate one already listed as Vulnerable.

But it is not all doom and gloom - there is a unique opportunity to establish a 150km long Toad Containment Zone (TCZ) south of Broome. Here, where the Great Sandy Desert meets the sea, toads will be reliant on artificial water points (cattle dams) for their survival in the dry season. By upgrading this infrastructure to toad-proof tanks and troughs, we will prevent toads from colonising the Pilbara and beyond, thereby protecting biodiversity and culturally important species in 27 million hectares of Western Australia.

The Toad Containment Zone (www.toadfree.zone) seeks to stop cane toads from invading the Pilbara and beyond. In so doing, it will protect some 27 million hectares from toad invasion, avoiding negative population effects on numerous native vertebrates. Through modifying 150+ agricultural water points in a 150 x 50 km zone on the coast between the Kimberley and the Pilbara, and bordered by the Great Sandy Desert, the zone will make these water points inaccessible to toads and halt their invasion.

This talk outlines the proof of concept research that underpins the zone, modelling to find the best zone location, and addresses key assumptions. We detail how knowledge from Karajarri and Nyungumarta traditional owners has been integrated into the zone's design, and outline the consortium of traditional owners, pastoralists and mining interests that are collaborating to implement the zone. Finally, as the zone must exist in perpetuity, we discuss long-term funding arrangements for its longevity.

Introduced predators, such as foxes, are responsible for the extinction and endangerment of many native animals in Australia and globally, resulting in a decline in biodiversity. These predators also prey upon livestock causing substantial economic losses to the agricultural industry. Poison baiting has been effective at reducing the immediate threat of foxes, however, it often results in a rapid incursion of new foxes and off target poisoning. Additionally, poison baits do not directly deter foxes from attacking livestock or native animals. Conditioned odour aversion is a non-lethal alternative to poison baiting that couples a prey animal odour to a non-lethal illness to create an aversion to that prey odour. Therefore, conditioned odour aversion can potentially be used for deterring foxes from preying upon livestock and native animals. The goal of this project is to develop a novel bait formulation that offers a prolonged release of a synthetic prey odour mimic (e.g., lamb) and is palatable to foxes.
Sustained odour release baits incorporating a synthetic lamb odour mimic and Levamisole, a conditioned aversion agent, were developed using a gelled emulsion formulation. The synthetic baits were then used in field trials on a pre-existing dual bait network in the Ginninderry Conservation Corridor (ACT).
Field trials revealed that the synthetic baits have the same uptake as dried meat baits, indicating the foxes did not discriminate between the two baits types. Furthermore, with the introduction of Levamisole in the baits, bait uptake dropped to ~4% following 9 days of baiting, whilst the control network containing meat baits retained ~95% bait uptake. Following the removal of the Levamisole, synthetic bait uptake increased to ~50% immediately, indicating the aversion was produced to the taste rather than the odour of the baits. Therefore, future work will move towards taste-masking and microencapsulation of Levamisole in the synthetic baits.

Tracking and improving effectiveness of ecosystem management presents a key challenge, especially when the stakes are high. We used strategic adaptive management in the creation and management of a ‘Wild Training Zone’ in Sturt National Park, NSW – a 10,500 ha area where we aimed to establish bilbies, quolls and bandicoots to live in situ with controlled densities of feral cats to improve their naivete to these novel predators. We initially set explicit high-level objectives to guide our day-to-day management actions and monitoring framework. We set a maximum cat density threshold of 0.3 cats per km2 but subsequently found that density estimates were an impractical management trigger. A rapid-score activity index from camera trap detections proved superior for real-time on ground management and our current threshold is set at 5 detections per 100 camera trap nights. To suppress cats, we trialled Felixer grooming traps, nocturnal shooting and conventional traps and adjusted the intensity of their usage in real time, based on monthly activity index data and survival monitoring of translocated species. Quolls, bilbies and bandicoots were translocated to the Training Zone once the threshold was reached and sustained for three months. So far, translocated mammal populations have met short term success criteria, surviving, reproducing and recruiting in the presence of suppressed feral cats over the first 12-18 months. Implementing this framework for adaptive management over longer timeframes and larger landscapes will enable us to further test and innovate techniques and improve the outcomes from vertebrate pest management for the benefit of key threatened species.

Abstract:
The reintroduction of the Red-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale calura) to the Gawler Ranges National Park in South Australia marks another major milestone for the Bounceback program — a long-running collaborative conservation initiative between the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) and the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME). Building on the successful reintroduction of Indya (Western Quolls) into Ikara-Flinders Ranges and Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Parks, this latest effort establishes the Gawler Ranges as one of three "safer havens" — large, unfenced landscapes (~500 km²) where adaptive, intensive feral predator control enables native species to thrive.
Since May 2024, 101 Red-tailed Phascogales have been released into the Gawler Ranges, supported by captive breeding at Cleland Wildlife Park and Alice Springs Desert Park. The reintroduction is guided by scientific research and ongoing monitoring, including radio tracking to assess habitat use and movement. Early results are promising: 30 young were born in the first year post-release, and in the second breeding season, over 15 nest boxes within the core area have shown signs of repeated female use and ongoing breeding activity. Additional releases are planned over the next 12 months to strengthen population viability.
Crucial to the success of this program is the adaptive management of feral predators, particularly cats and foxes. A multi-tool approach has been deployed across the landscape, including the use of Felixer™ grooming traps, cage trapping, targeted aerial and road-based baiting, ground shooting, and the deployment of thermal drone technology for night-time detection and control. This project highlights the vital role of integrated, landscape-scale predator control in facilitating the successful reintroduction of endangered species into unfenced, wild habitats in arid Australia.

The Fitz-Stirling region is in south-west Western Australia. Bush Heritage Australia has invested significantly in acquiring land to protect remnant bushland and establish connectivity by revegetating cleared areas. To prevent further local species declines, the organisation established a five-year integrated pest management project.

The primary objectives of the project were:
• To protect native fauna through enhanced habitat condition and extent.
• To encourage recruitment from surrounding areas.
• To create conditions to facilitate future reintroduction programs of rare or locally extinct species.

A secondary objective was to work collaboratively in partnerships to deliver a tenure-blind approach. Most dedicated landscape-scale conservation initiatives are limited to areas within conservation estate managed by state government. This project saw engagement of 14 private landholders.

The methods used adopted an integrated approach to both species and control measures. The effectiveness of this management was evaluated through remote camera monitoring of foxes and feral cats and tammar wallabies.

The data analysis did not reveal statistically significant downward trends in cat or fox numbers. For cats there were not clear differences between the managed and reference areas. The data were slightly more promising for foxes, with a marked increase over time in the difference between managed and reference areas, with higher numbers observed in the unmanaged reference area.

These findings could be due to several compounding factors driving up populations of both prey and predators including above average rainfall and fragmentation leading to constant reinvasion. Encouragingly, however, our findings showed that the occupancy of our key indicator native species – the tammar wallaby – increased over time.

The data demonstrates that effective management within fragmented, multi-tenured, landscapes requires long-term commitment to achieve effective protection of native species. Even in the five-years of this project, achieving all the above objectives in a scientifically measurably way is ambitious.

Fox Watch is a simple user interface on the shiny platform enabling users to arrange and analyse tagged remote camera data to estimate the abundance of foxes in the study area. This enables managers to assess if control is having an impact. The analysis uses the simultaneous count method in which repeat sampling of ‘unmarked’ individuals is used to infer abundance assuming a binomial distribution. Samples are inferred to be independent during a sampling period, i.e. 24 hours, while allowing lack if independence between sampling periods. The application enables user to use a powerful statistical method without having to learn the mathematics or coding it is based on. The application is built in R using JAGS to perform the analysis.

Excessive herbivory by macropods is a growing concern in many Australian ecosystems, as it can lead to the extinction of endemic plant species. Zieria obcordata is a threatened plant species in New South Wales, which is overbrowsed by swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor). Like all plants, Z. obcordata emits a suite of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A subset of these VOCs occur in reliable proportions, providing odour information that foraging herbivores depend on to find and recognise the plant as food. Our aim is to test a novel approach to reducing browsing of Z. obcordata by manipulating odour information so herbivores can no longer use it to find the plants. Odour emitted by Z. obcordata has been analyzed to identify the specific informative VOCs. We have then deployed artificial odours imitating the informative odours in combination with artificial odours designed to distort the relative proportions of the informative VOCs so they become uninformative odour noise. In using this odour misinformation, we predict herbivores will no longer recognise the plants, thus delaying and reducing browsing. Given that traditional approaches to problem browsing, such as fences, can be limited in efficacy, costly, and disruptive to the ecosystem at large, odour manipulation as a management strategy presents the opportunity to implement an effective, minimally invasive, and cost-efficient approach to endangered plant conservation.

Mammal browsing damage varies significantly spatially with some areas being heavily browsed and others experiencing minimal browsing pressure. Despite this variation and the knowledge that young trees can recover from light browsing pressure, mammal control is conducted as part of establishment operations at almost all coupes in forestry estates nationwide. This one-size-fits-all policy costs the forestry industry millions of dollars annually in potentially unnecessary control operations. Moreover, the overuse of lethal mammal control can negatively impact public perceptions of forestry. A better understanding of the spatial drivers of mammal browsing damage could facilitate profiling of coupes into high and low browsing risk enabling a targeted approach to mammal control that would reduce unnecessary implementation, saving money and improving wildlife welfare outcomes. Using two major forestry systems , softwood plantations and native regeneration forestry, we demonstrate a modelling approach that combines easily accessible spatial data with decades of mammal browsing damage surveys to produce predictive models for overall browsing risk and browsing severity. We discuss the differences between the models for the different forestry systems and provide a framework for how these models can be integrated into industry planning protocols to facilitate improved pest mammal management. We suggest a workflow that can be followed so that equivalent models can be produced for forestry systems around the globe.