Arid Recovery is a 123km² predator-proof reserve in arid South Australia, with 86km² free of invasive predators. Five threatened species have been successfully reintroduced into this safe haven. One of these, the burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur), was released 25 years ago. Its population grew rapidly, exceeding carrying capacity and causing ecosystem degradation through overbrowsing. To restore balance, western quolls (Dasyurus geoffroii) were reintroduced in 2018 to fill a trophic niche as native predators.
Since reintroduction, western quolls have established a robust population within the reserve, with >175 individuals recorded to date. Some have dispersed beyond the fence and continue to occur in the surrounding landscape, despite the presence of invasive predators. On average, quolls inside the reserve travelled greater distances between captures than those outside. However, individuals captured just beyond the fence were recorded up to 15 km from their previous location, indicating the capacity for long-distance movement. Despite this, camera trap data from up to 6 km outside the reserve suggest most quolls remain within 2 km of the fence, indicating that expansion is still limited. Recaptures of individuals outside the reserve over several months suggest some level of survival but understanding if successful breeding is occurring or population persistence is due to ongoing emigration from inside the fence is important to investigate.
Arid Recovery’s long-term goal is to restore threatened species to the broader arid landscape. The natural dispersal of quolls beyond the fence presents a valuable opportunity to progress this vision. We are now partnering with neighbouring landholders to collect baseline data on quoll presence and plan targeted predator control. These efforts aim to facilitate the landscape-scale recovery of quolls and other threatened species across the region.

Escape responses in birds are critical to avoid predators and tend to vary with individual experience, breeding status, and local environmental pressures. Habituation towards humans by wildlife living in human-dominated landscapes (i.e. urban areas) resulting in a decreased tendency to escape early has been well documented. However, such responses can pose a particular problem for threatened species living in these landscapes, increasing vulnerability to predation. We investigated individual variation in Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in the threatened hooded plover, Thinornis cucullatus cucullatus, which is actively managed and highly responsive to humans. Breeding hooded plovers have highly camouflaged eggs and chicks and rely on this crypsis as a key defence mechanism, they follow the Leave Early and Avoid Detection (LEAD) strategy and employ tactics such as distraction displays and ‘leading’ to steer potential predators away from their eggs or chicks. Unfortunately, as they are beach nesting birds they are subjected to high levels of disturbance by humans during their breeding season. We anticipate the LEAD strategy decreases their opportunity to provide parental care and increases the vulnerability of chicks and eggs, ultimately contributing to the extremely low fledgling success seen in the species. Therefore, we predicted that FID would (1) be shorter at sites with more frequent human-plover interactions, (2) be longer and more variable in the breeding season, (3) increase with reproductive investment, and (4) be linked to individual reproductive success. We collect over 230 FIDs across the southeast Australian coastline. Our results show clear support of predictions 1-3 however, other ecological factors appear to be more influential of the variation in FID and breeding success seen across locations.

With the frequency, severity, and duration of drought events predicted to increase globally with climate change, there is an urgent need to understand how this will impact wildlife species. Long-term datasets are invaluable in this instance as they provide insight into how animals respond to environmental extremes. We analysed 32 years of body condition data (scaled mass index) on wild southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons; n = 2,685), a semi-arid dwelling marsupial vulnerable to drought, in southern Australia. We found that body condition was influenced by abundance of green vegetation (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index; P ≤ 0.001), and by extension, rainfall (P ≤ 0.001). Adult and subadult body condition displayed seasonal fluctuations associated with resource abundance. Body condition was negatively associated with increasing drought severity (Standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index; P ≤ 0.005). Adult wombat body condition declined significantly, equivalent to 15% (~ 4 kg) on average for a given head width, across the 32-year study period (P ≤ 0.001). This decline was primarily driven by decreasing annual rainfall and abundance of green vegetation and increasing drought severity at the site. Habitat degradation, common across this species’ distribution, may have exacerbated this effect. With rainfall projected to continue to decline and drought severity projected to increase across southern Australia, these results highlight the serious threat climate change poses for this and other semi-arid species, including to their long-term persistence. Future research should focus on effective conservation measures, potentially including increasing habitat quality, to mitigate these negative effects.

Victoria’s faunal bird emblem, the helmeted honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix), is critically endangered, following the extensive clearing of the lowland swamp forest habitat on which this bird depends. It has been the focus of intensive conservation efforts for almost 40 years and there are now approximately 200 birds remaining in the wild, spread across three populations.
The helmeted honeyeater conservation breeding program commenced at Healesville Sanctuary in 1989 and continues to play a central role in their recovery. Releases of birds to the wild commenced in 1995, supplementing the largest population that occurs in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve and have also been used to establish new populations. These most recently established populations provide critical risk-spreading measures against wildfire, climate change and disease.
With the aim of understanding what may influence the post-release survival of helmeted honeyeaters released to wild sites, we investigated a range of environmental, demographic and individual-related factors. We examined the influence of these factors on the survival of over 400 helmeted honeyeaters, using generalised linear mixed models. The findings from these analyses will be used to identify management recommendations aimed at improving the survival of released birds and the effectiveness of the overall release strategy.

Collating and synthesising ecological knowledge is essential for guiding effective conservation and management, particularly as pressures on biodiversity intensify. This task becomes more complex when taxonomic revisions of species and species complexes occur, potentially causing species-specific concerns and management requirements to change rapidly. Until 2020, greater gliders were considered a single species (Petauroides volans) distributed along Australia’s east coast. However, recent genetic evidence has confirmed three distinct species: P. minor (northern), P. armillatus (central), and P. volans (southern). National legislation has not fully kept pace with this revision, with only P. minor and P. volans currently recognised under the EPBC Act, listed as Vulnerable and Endangered respectively. We conducted a systematic review of 178 greater glider studies, categorising them by geography and ecological theme, and assigning them to species based on recent distributional boundaries. Our aim was to inform conservation and management actions and identify future research priorities for the three species. Greater glider research has overwhelmingly focused on the southern species, with most studies addressing habitat destruction, fire, occurrence, and abundance. In contrast, ecological knowledge for the central and northern species remains limited, raising concerns about the adequacy of current conservation responses. In an era of accelerating environmental change, such gaps pose real risks. Threats including climate change, habitat destruction, and wildfire affect all three species, yet the evidence base for informed, differentiated management remains uneven. Addressing these knowledge shortfalls through targeted research is critical for effective threat mitigation and risk assessment. The long-term survival of greater gliders requires coordinated, species- and population-specific conservation strategies informed by research, supported by legislative reform, and underpinned by strong environmental protections. Our synthesis highlights the broader value of re-evaluating research following taxonomic change, to guide timely, informed, and adaptive action.

Effective conservation of threatened plant species can be hindered by gaps in our understanding of critical traits and ecological responses including, life-history strategies linked to key ecological drivers (e.g. fire), breeding system type, seed ecology, population genetics, and how these factors may vary by microclimates. In this study we sought to investigate several key ecological processes underpinning species persistence in the critically endangered, endemic shrub Bossiaea fragrans. This species is known from only one long-unburnt, geographically and genetically disjunct population, with observed declines in mature individuals and limited offspring recruitment. Using a combination of in- and ex-situ experiments, we examined B. fragrans’ seed dormancy and fire response mechanisms, breeding system and the effect of parent relatedness on seed production and offspring fitness. Seeds exhibited dormancy release following heating at fire-related temperatures, suggesting that the species would display a strong post-fire germination response from an old, existing soil seed bank. Additionally, early results indicate that progeny from open pollination and mating between more closely related parents experience higher rates of mortality and poorer fitness. This suggests that the current population may be unable to recruit a sustainable number of fit offspring due to a lack of genetic diversity among neighbouring plants, even if dormancy breaking in the seed bank was to occur. Our results emphasise the importance of considering a diverse range of factors and accounting for population structure and local conditions when examining single species’ ecology, particularly when working with threatened plant species. This research will enable the implementation of informed management activities, such as prescribed burning or population augmentation to potentially promote greater genetic diversity within the population. This work also has broader relevance to the understanding of plant traits and population dynamics in response to shifting fire regimes and landscape fragmentation.

Climate change and habitat degradation are primary threats to birds worldwide, but their combined effect and potential interaction are rarely considered. Developing birds are particularly sensitive to their impacts because they are small, immobile, and unable to thermoregulate, and challenging conditions during development can have life-long consequences and implication for population persistence. Here, we studied the effects of climate and habitat quality on nestling condition and fitness over 10 years in a population of purple-crowned fairy-wrens (Malurus coronatus coronatus), an endangered passerine endemic to the riparian ecosystem of North-Western Australia. Higher ambient temperatures and poor habitat (sparser Pandanus in the mid-story) reduced nestling body condition (mass relative to body size) which compromised survival to adulthood. Poor habitat also directly decreased survival to adulthood, compounding this effect. Taken together, our results show that climate warming and riparian habitat degradation are additive threats to purple-crowned fairy-wren persistence, and future research should address the underlying mechanism of the protective effect of high-quality habitat.

Southern hairy-nosed wombats are a long-lived, slow reproducing marsupial from semi-arid southern Australia. Breeding in this species is thought to be negatively affected by dry times and drought. With climate-change projected to increase drought frequency, duration and severity across its distribution, there is an urgent need to better understand the relationship between rainfall and breeding in this species. Using a 32-year dataset (>1,000 adult females and >500 pouch young), we found the probability of an adult female having a pouch young in the breeding season to be significantly affected by winter-spring rainfall and drought severity, but most strongly by female body condition. All births occurred between July-January, with a notable peak between August-October (87.7 %). Drought in late autumn to early winter significantly delayed births by ~ 29 days. The probability of a female having a pouch young in the breeding season declined significantly across 25 years (34 % decline) associated with a long-term decline in body condition. Both the date of cessation and duration of the breeding season have significantly declined over the study period. Increasing drought prevalence and significant declines in rainfall and vegetation greenness over the last few decades suggest that the breeding season is shortening as a response to the drying climate. As the probability of females breeding is strongly linked to body condition, which is in turn negatively affected by drought, the ongoing effects of climate change pose a significant threat to both our study population, and the persistence of the southern hairy-nosed wombat across its distribution more broadly.

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is increasingly threatened by habitat loss, climatic extremes, and genetic isolation. Kangaroo Island hosts the only introduced population of the species outside its natural range, offering a rare opportunity to examine population resilience under environmental stress. We conducted live-trapping surveys in the Rocky River catchment in 2021 and 2022, following severe drought, bushfires, and flooding, and compared results with historical data from 1998 to 2000. Capture rates in 2021–2022 were approximately half those recorded two decades earlier, with declining catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) observed further upstream, suggesting altered spatial dynamics or reduced abundance. Juveniles were captured in both years, indicating continued reproduction despite recent disturbances. Dietary analysis showed a shift in prey composition, with a higher prevalence of Decapoda in 2022, and blood analyses identified year-to-year differences in red cell counts, haemoglobin, and glucose concentrations. These findings point to a population that remains reproductively active and behaviourally flexible, but potentially vulnerable to ongoing environmental change. Given the catchment’s limited extent, low genetic diversity, and projections of increasing drought frequency and reduced rainfall, this population may face heightened extinction risks in the coming decades. Continued monitoring of abundance, health, and habitat use is essential for assessing long-term viability and informing conservation strategies, both for this population and as a model for managing isolated platypus populations under climate stress.

Kowaris (Dasyuroides byrnei) face possible extinction in South Australia within the next 20 years. There are now an estimated 1,200 left in the wild, restricted to fragmented refuge populations in north-east South Australia and south-west Queensland. Facing ongoing threats from predation, habitat degradation, and climate change, kowaris were uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered under the EPBC Act in 2023. Conservation of this carnivorous marsupial is time-critical.
In 2022, we translocated a small cohort of twelve kowaris (8F, 4M) to Arid Recovery, a 123km2 predator-proof reserve in arid northern South Australia, providing the first safe haven for the species. We aimed to increase overall population size, maintain genetic diversity, and establish a geographically distinct insurance population for future translocations to other safe havens or back to the wild. Through radiotracking, camera trapping, and biannual Elliott trapping surveys, we have monitored the establishment of kowaris within the reserve over the last three years.
We intentionally released seven females with small unfurred pouch young into the reserve. Three months post-release, six females had reared offspring and nineteen individuals were known to persist within the reserve. Ten and eleven individuals were caught in June and November 2024 surveys respectively. Thirty-five known individuals were captured in 2025, including 22 newly identified kowaris and three offspring of founders. Kowaris are being detected up to five kilometres away from the initial release location. To date no known predation events have occurred inside the reserve from native predators, including reintroduced western quolls (Dasuyrus geoffroii).
Kowaris have successfully established at Arid Recovery, and the population size and extent has increased. Continued monitoring and genetic analysis are critical next steps to determine the need for further supplementation. Ongoing research into their little-known ecology continues to support the conservation of this threatened mesopredator.