Koala Conservation Program

Today koalas face a number of conservation challenges which vary dramatically across their range. In Queensland and New South Wales koalas are threatened by extinction due to habitat fragmentation, car accidents, dog attacks and disease. These processes have led to the recent listing of koalas as Vulnerable to extinction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in New South Wales and Queensland. However, in Victoria, koalas face different challenges. In a number of areas high density koala populations are believed to be contributing to habitat decline. The rate of tree dieback in Cape Otway’s manna gum woodlands has recently accelerated to an alarming rate with real fears for the welfare of koalas as their food trees die. Our works aims to address the decline of habitat so that Cape Otway will be able to support a sustainable population of koalas into the future and the unique manna gum woodlands will be restored to a healthy state.

In order to achieve this CEC has begun numerous studies to investigate effective regeneration and revegetation techniques as well as learning more about the ecology of koalas on Cape Otway.

Manna Gum Recruitment, Germination and Seedling Establishment

We have established experiments to investigate the effectiveness of a range of techniques to encourage the recruitment of manna gums in declining manna gum woodlands on Cape Otway. These experiments will isolate the effect of soil carbon, soil disturbance, browsing, fire and vegetation complexity on the success manna gum germination, seedling establishment and survival. These experiments will guide the CEC’s future revegetation efforts.

Manna Gum Leaf Analysis

In collaboration with the University of Western Sydney, the CEC is investigating the chemical composition of leaves from manna gums on Cape Otway. The project will sample leaves from trees of differing age class and health status in a bid to better understand their nutritional qualities to koalas and their palatability along the tree decline gradient. This project will hopefully provide insight into the browsing ecology of the local koala population.

Monitoring Koalas and Their Habitat

Conserving koalas and their habitat is currently a management priority for Parks Victoria, but very little is known about the local koala population. With thanks to a Healthy Parks, Healthy People grant the CEC is carrying out surveys to assess population size and the condition of the habitat. We plan to extend this project to include studies of population dynamics and gain insights into habitat use by koalas.

The Otways contains mixed habitat and more than one preferred koala food tree species, so this site provides a novel opportunity to gain insights into why some preferred koala food trees are in decline and to assess the determining factors behind local koala food tree selection.

The Influence of Climate on Koala Distribution and the Potential Impact of Future Climate Change

Koalas have very specific habitat requirements and in order to plan for their future it is important to consider the effects of climate change on these habitats and to be able to understand and predict what this will mean for koala ecology. A number of studies are addressing these issues:

The University of Melbourne is currently investigating how koala distributions are influenced by climate, and the potential impact of future climate change. As part of this study, Natalie Briscoe is measuring how koala body size and fur characteristics change across their range. It is widely recognized that koala fur characteristics and body size vary across their range, with Victorian koalas having longer fur and larger body size than koalas in Queensland. However, these differences have not been quantified. Understanding this variation is important if we are to predict how climate change may affect this species, as both body size and fur properties strongly influence how animals are affected by climate. As well as measuring koala specimens held within museums around Australia, Natalie is taking more detailed measurements of fur properties from koala pelts from both Victoria and Queensland. The CEC is assisting with this research by collecting small pelt samples from deceased koalas that are brought into the Centre so that their fur properties can be measured.
The University of Sydney is undertaking a study assessing the genetic diversity of the koala population in the Otways lead by Prof David Phalen and Dr Kellie Leigh. The CEC is assisting this research by collecting saliva swabs.
Melbourne Zoo, is undertaking research into the disease status of several koala populations across Victoria, in particular the prevalence and effects of Chlamydophila and Koala Retrovirus lead by Dr Jade Patterson. The CEC has been providing swabs and blood samples from Otways koalas. Collecting samples from wild koalas can be extremely stressful for them, as they need to be captured and handled. Our wildlife rehabilitation program enables us to collect samples from sick and injured koalas while they are sedated for examination, or from deceased koalas. This has provided an extremely valuable sample pool for researchers.

Although it is perhaps Australia’s most iconic marsupial, the koala has had a rough history. Historically, koalas were hunted for their fur throughout Australia and driven to near extinction. Today koalas face a number of conservation challenges which vary dramatically across their range.

Today the koala is threatened by human overlap with their habitat. Fragmentation of habitat, car accidents, dog attacks, habitat decline and disease all threaten the koala’s existence across Australia.

Our work focuses on koala population dynamics and habitat restoration and resilience.

Damp sands herb-rich woodland habitats dominated by Eucalyptus viminalis provide key koala habitat. This Ecological Vegetation Class is listed as vulnerable and rapid declines in tree health combined with a lack of E. viminalis recruitment in fragmented remnants are concerning. While popularly attributed to increasing densities of koalas, the cause is unknown and may be related to climate change, therefore over-browsing by koalas may be a symptom of declining tree health, rather than a primary cause. The CEC is investigating other potential factors behind the habitat decline while also developing new techniques for managing koala browsing behaviour to decrease pressure on declining habitat.

Habitat Restoration

The restoration and reconnection of habitat across multiple land tenures is vital for ecosystem conservation. The CEC has implemented a number of successful revegetation projects and will be investigating new methods of enhancing the success of rehabilitation efforts and building habitat resilience.

The influence of climate on koala distribution and the potential impact of future climate change

The University of Melbourne is currently investigating how koala distributions are influenced by climate, and the potential impact of future climate change. As part of this study, Natalie Briscoe is measuring how koala body size and fur characteristics change across their range. It is widely recognized that koala fur characteristics and body size vary across their range, with Victorian koalas having longer fur and larger body size than koalas in Queensland. However, these differences have not been quantified. Understanding this variation is important if we are to predict how climate change may affect this species, as both body size and fur properties strongly influence how animals are affected by climate. As well as measuring koala specimens held within museums around Australia, Natalie is taking more detailed measurements of fur properties from koala pelts from both Victoria and Queensland. The CEC is assisting with this research by collecting small pelt samples from deceased koalas that are brought into the Centre so that their fur properties can be measured.
The University of Sydney is undertaking a study assessing the genetic diversity of the koala population in the Otways lead by Prof David Phalen and Dr Kellie Leigh. The CEC is assisting this research by collecting saliva swabs.
Melbourne Zoo, is undertaking research into the disease status of several koala populations across Victoria, in particular the prevalence and effects of Chlamydophila and Koala Retrovirus lead by Dr Jade Patterson. The CEC has been providing swabs and blood samples from Otways koalas.

Collecting samples from wild koalas can be extremely stressful for them, as they need to be captured and handled.
Our wildlife rehabilitation program enables us to collect samples from sick and injured koalas while they are sedated for examination, or from deceased koalas. This has provided an extremely valuable sample pool for researchers.

Australian Geographic meets our koalas

Learn more about koalas in this video as Sorrel Wilby from Australian Geographic visits the Conservation Ecology Centre.