As drones become more widely used in research and management, we need to ensure they’re not just effective—but also less invasive. Evidence like our paper is critical for maintaining high ethical standards and supporting responsible wildlife monitoring.
Spotlighting told different story. Animals were over 19× more likely to show vigilance compared to drone observation. Some species (e.g. gliders) were more sensitive than generalists like possums, but still far less reactive to drones. We also saw seasonal effects, with higher vigilance in autumn.
Using 900+ drone recordings from eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia, we assessed how nocturnal arboreal mammals respond behaviourally to these survey methods. The result: minimal disturbance from drones. Only 17% of animals noticed them, 11% showed vigilance, and none initiated flight.
Drones are on a strong trajectory to becoming standard tools in wildlife monitoring, improving survey coverage and detection of hard-to-observe species like arboreal mammals. But a key question remains: do they disturb wildlife?
Our new paper is out this week, assessing the potential behavioural impacts of drone surveys on nocturnal arboreal mammals. An invited contribution to @csiropublishing.bsky.social Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria:
connectsci.au/rs/article/d...
With: @enviroadventure.bsky.social
Twenty-three years of potoroo poo shows that these mycophagists are eating different ectomycorrhizal #truffles under #ClimateChange.
#OpenAccess article: doi.org/10.1002/ecog.08410
🧪 #mycology #ecology #WildOz
Our findings highlight that post-fire management that removes resprouting trees can unintentionally strip away critical food and shelter, and that tree composition (not just diversity) is key when assessing habitat quality for folivores before and after fire.
However, this is not true everywhere: forests dominated by a few low-protein or non-resprouting species may offer poor-quality habitat after fire.
In many mixed-species forests, #epicormic foliage can still provide enough protein and acceptable levels of defensive chemicals to support specialist leaf-eaters like koalas and greater gliders, helping surviving populations persist and recover.
After the 2019–20 Black Summer #fires, vast areas of eucalypt forest shifted from mature foliage to epicormic regrowth – the fresh shoots that emerge after fire. We analysed the chemistry of this regrowth and found it differs from mature #leaves in ways that depend on #eucalypt species and subgenus.
Excited to have our research on impacts of post-fire on nutritional quality in eucalypt forests for species such as the endangered southern #greaterglider and koala out this week in @elsevierconnect.bsky.social's Forest ecology and Management.
Find the open access paper here: go.unimelb.edu.au/qjr2
After decades of research, our new book on the eucalypts of WA's goldfields has finally arrived! Designed, compiled and printed in Australia.
Looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks of this one.
For more information, sample pages and to order:
www.dn.com.au/Eucalypts_of...
I recently gave a talk about Wilkerr (dingoes) at #ESA2025 (ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...). Many call them 'wild dogs' in S.A. Below the dingo fence they are to be _eradicated_, by law. But the only true wild dog I knew of was the legendary dachshund, Valerie. #DadJokes @ecolsocaus.bsky.social
Very happy to have my #drone photo of East Gippsland’s beautiful lowland mixed species eucalypt forests printed alongside other amazing photographers and ecologists in the new @csiropublishing.bsky.social ,Ecology Matters’. Launched at this year’s @ecolsocaus.bsky.social #ESA2025 conference!
Big thanks to @deannicolle1.bsky.social for generously showing us around his Currency Creek Arboretum this morning. What a wonderful and unique place to explore all the wonderful Eucalypts that are out there! Great way to wrap up @ecolsocaus.bsky.social #ESA2025 in #adelaide.
Grateful that I got to present some of my fire research on beautiful #KaurnaCountry at #ESA2025
Big thanks to the Gulbali Collaboration Kickstarter award for getting me here.
#EcologicalSocietyOfAustralia #EcologyAustralia #BiodiversityOnTheBrink #Adelaide
Also, see the other talks from current and former members of our research group, such as @enviroadventure.bsky.social @mandaloca2.bsky.social, Emily McIntyre and Anu Singh. See times below:
Join us tomorrow (Wednesday 26.11) in the Gilbert Suite for three jam-packed sessions exploring and celebrating Australian Landscape Ecology at #ESA2025, starting at 10:30am!
Thermal drones are a promising tool for monitoring nocturnal arboreal wildlife, including elusive endangered species. They matched ground survey detection while covering more areas, greatly expanding our survey abilities. Read more: #unimelb Pursuit article: pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/The...
Drone-derived densities for surveyed areas of 100–200 ha were significantly lower than those extrapolated from 10-ha ground survey results, indicating that ground survey transect placement, accessibility, vegetation density and habitat surveyed significantly drive resulting population estimates.
Drones achieved high detection rates for targeted wildlife and consistently recorded more species and individuals than ground-based surveys. Ground surveys often missed
specialist species like the endangered southern #greaterglider when populations had low densities.
We compared survey results from spotlighting on foot (4-10ha) with drones (up to 200 ha) that used thermal cameras to detect animals’ heat signatures and a zoom camera and floodlight to identify species. All target species were found and >1000 observations made: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TjR...
Wildlife #surveys are vital for endangered species like the #greaterglider, which are usually counted on foot via #spotlighting, which is accurate but restricted in area. Drone tech enables larger scale surveys but had not been tested for arboreal fauna in native forests: youtu.be/xwKcCEbrFEA?...
Happy to be able to share that our work investigating the efficacy of thermal #drones for nocturnal #wildlife surveys is finally published in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecological applications: doi.org/10.1002/eap..... Find a summary in @theconversation.com here: theconversation.com/drones-with-...
@mandaloca2.bsky.social showing us that #dingoes have social networks too. Great talk on social interactions and drivers of population density of vulnerable Victorian dingoes at #iccb2025
At #ICCB2025? If you’re interested in #drones, arboreal #mammals and their recovery patterns in state #forests, I’d be keen to walk you through my poster! See me Monday at 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM in Great Hall 3 & 4 - Poster Board 32.
Looking forward to catch up with friends and colleagues soon!
High deforestation risk were consistently forecasted in lowland regions across four deforestation scenarios. This highlights the importance of protecting high diversity lowlands from future deforestation.
Out now: Our paper on deforestation risks across #newguinea led by Christoph Parsch with @biogeokreft.bsky.social and Bill Laurence. Another output of our fruitful collab between #unimelb and #unigoettingen
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
I submitted some photos to this year’s #VicBioCon25 photo competition. If you like them, consider giving them a vote :)
forms.gle/vzxiEycxEtwS...
Was great to talk about our research in windthrow yesterday at the Ecological Society of Australia conference and have some great chats with people about their own observations across Australia.
