 The CEO yarn
This week, I was pleased to present at the 2019 Private Land Conservation Conference in Adelaide, which was hosted by the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA). This is the fifth national conference for ALCA and builds on the growing momentum for conservation on privately owned and managed land across Australia.
At the conference, we were once again reminded by Stephen Kearney from the Threatened Species Recovery Hub that invasive species are one of the biggest drivers of extinction for our native threatened species, which was referenced from his 2018 paper.
I presented on our Centre's work in pest management innovation which highlighted our rabbit biocontrol pipeline strategy and digital innovation in products like FeralScan and Wild Dog Alert.
My presentation was followed by a pest animal management panel discussion, which included Professor Mike Letnic from UNSW, Pat Hodgens from Terrain Ecology, Dr Thomas Prowse from the University of Adelaide and Australia's Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer Ian Thompson.
It was a great conference and if you are interested in seeing some highlights you can follow the Twitter hashtag #PLC19
Enjoy this issue,
Andreas Glanznig
CEO | Centre for Invasive Species Solutions
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Feral pig research highlights surprising results
Darren Marshall (pictured) is conducting research as part of his PhD with the University of New England in New South Wales and Penn State University in the United States focused around feral pig behaviour and movement.
Surprisingly, Darren has found from data collected on 120 pigs over two years, that they don't travel far for food and water.
The initial findings are being used to encourage landholders in nine regions to step up control measures such as aerial shooting, trapping and poisoning.
Read the full story via ABC
Watch the ABC Landline segment
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Mortality rates drop as foxes, wild dogs culled in Victoria's east
This is great news!
Farmers in Victoria's east say a coordinated strike on foxes and wild dogs has contributed to one of their lowest lambing fatality rates on record.
Read more via Stock and Land
(image by R Duffy)
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Melbourne man fined for keeping milk snake acquired in Facebook trade for PlayStation
A man who used Facebook to exchange a PlayStation for an illegal North American snake has been fined for his actions.
The maximum penalty for importing, keeping or selling a controlled pest animal in Victoria is $39,652.
Anyone with information about the illegal possession and trade of exotic species is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Read more via the ABC
("Milk Snake taken by Peter Paplanus - CC BY 2.0)
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AVPC abstracts close in just under 4 weeks
Abstract submissions are open now but will be closing on November 3rd, so start to get your abstracts in.
We want the conference to not only promote the research, on ground management techniques and strategies that are being employed today to propel us towards 2051 but also the over the horizon thinking, strategies and developments that will shape vertebrate pest management in 2051 and beyond.
Sessions will be set up to include a variety of different presentations from on ground management through to community engagement practices.
#AVPC2020 is being hosted by our Centre, in partnership with Agriculture Victoria.
Visit the AVPC website to submit an abstract
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Dr Pat Taggart to take lead on rabbit biocontrol project
We welcome Dr Pat Taggart to our CISS community, who is taking on the project lead role to investigate interactions between RHDV2 and other RHDVs and its potential as an additional rabbit biocontrol agent.
Pat recently completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide which investigated factors influencing the presence of cat-borne diseases in wildlife, livestock and people. Over the years, Pat has developed extensive experience in trapping, catching, handling and sampling a wide range of native and exotic wildlife.
Pat, who is employed by NSW DPI as a Research Officer takes over this project lead role from Dr Tarnya Cox (also NSW DPI) who is now going to be working with a different pest animal, feral cats, we wish Tarnya all the best in her new role and look forward to working with Pat over the next few years.
Pat is pictured here (left) with Tarnya and Dr Tanja Strive (our rabbit biocontrol domain leader) and A/Prof Richard Price (our Portfolio Director).
Read more about our RHDV2 project.
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Congratulations Dr Tracey Kreplins on being awarded a Churchill Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr Tracey Kreplins (pictured left) from the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development who has won one of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowships to investigate methods for controlling populations of predators around livestock.
Dr Kreplins is involved with our Centre's project examining control of wild dogs and patterns of stock responses to fencing in WA.
Visit the fellowship website fore more information
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Congratulations to Dr Melissa Snape on placement in the Homeward Bound leadership program
Homeward Bound involves an 11 month syllabus of leadership, science, visibility, strategy and wellbeing. It culminates in a 3 week voyage to Antarctica, during which participants undertake a series of intensive training programs against a backdrop of some of the most confronting scenes of a warming climate.
Our Centre congratulates Dr Melissa Snape, an ACT government ecologist, collaborator with our Centre, and previous PhD student with the IA CRC for successfully receiving placement in the 2020 intake. It is very well deserved.
You can support Dr Snape's fundraising efforts here
Keep updated about Dr Snape's journey via Facebook
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New deer management measures in Tasmania
New measures are to be set in place by 2020 aimed at cutting red tape and increasing opportunities for farmers and recreational hunters to manage deer.
Landholders will be provided with five year crop protection permits for antlerless deer and quotas and tags will no longer be required for antlerless deer for both holders of crop protection permits and recreational hunters.
Recognising the positive role responsible hunters play in wildlife management, the government is also significantly extending the hunting season for antlerless deer, which will now run from February to October.
Read more via the media release
(image by Chris Cobern)
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Vic job opportunity: Risk Assessment Specialist Invasive Species
This position is responsible for undertaking risk assessments of terrestrial, freshwater and marine invasive species and of pathways of spread, to inform Agriculture Victoria's operational activities and development of policy and strategic priorities for invasive species.
The work of this position includes review and improvement of existing risk assessment systems, development of risk assessment systems for new areas of work and communication of the processes and outputs to end users.
The invasive species area of work includes weeds, vertebrate pest animals and invertebrate pests (other than crop pests) in terrestrial and freshwater environments and marine invasive species.
Applications close 20th of October 2019
View the full job description
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NSWs Most Unwanted campaign ramps up over the warmer months
The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) will be running a media campaign to raise awareness of invasive non-native animals and how to report information to DPI.
They have started the campaign with social media posts on the Asian black-spined toad (pictured).
Shipping containers and cargo can provide a pathway for non-native pest animals such as the Asian black-spined toad to enter and establish in Australia.
In August this year a shipping container imported to Victoria was found to contain 39 Asian black-spined toads, a species similar to the cane toad but with the potential to live in cooler climates such as NSW and Victoria.
If it was to establish in Australia, the Asian black-spined toad could harm our agricultural industries and natural environment by directly competing for resources and habitat with our native species, poisoning native predators that try to eat it and potentially spreading exotic pests and diseases.
In NSW, report any unusual non-native animals you happen via this link
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Modeling the distribution of a wide‐ranging invasive species using the sampling efforts of expert and citizen scientists
This paper highlights how citizen science data can play an important role in managing invasive species by providing missing information on occurrences in regions not surveyed by scientists because of logistics or financial constraints.
The research found that additional sampling effort provided by citizens (through platforms like FeralScan) can improve the capacity to capture important elements, improving the capacity of statistical models to accurately predict the geographic range of invasive species and enhance management outcomes.
View the original research
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Carrion flies as sentinels for monitoring lagovirus activity in Australia.
Many wild rabbits and hares die in inaccessible locations or are scavenged before sampling can occur, which may lead to considerable sampling bias.
CSIRO researchers developed an analysis technique to screen field caught carrion flies for the presence of lagoviruses to monitor virus circulation patterns in the landscape - with an aim to establish a new and additional surveillance tool.
The methods reported in this paper are positive and use of carrion flies could provide an additional surveillance tool to monitor lagovirus spread and circulation at a landscape scale, which in turn can help to guide more effective rabbit management programs.
View the original research
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Natural Resources SA Arid Lands
Natural Resources SA Arid Lands works closely with land managers to identify and manage the pest plants and pest animals they may encounter on their properties. They are responsible for strategic management of pest species in the region under the State NRM Plan. The Board has established a Pest Advisory Committee to provide it with expert advice.
Visit the profile
Add your community group to PestSmart
Want your group highlighted in a future issue? Email us here
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7th National NRM Knowledge Conference
17-20 November 2019, Wodonga, VIC
View event information
Australasian Wildlife Management Society Annual Conference
3-5 December 2019, Darwin, NT
View event information
29th Vertebrate Pest Conference
2-5 March 2020, Santa Barbara, California, USA
View event information
18th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference
4-7 May 2020, Melbourne, VIC
View event information
22nd Australasian Weeds Conference
25-29 October 2020, Adelaide, SA
View event information
Holding an event in 2019 and want your event highlighted in a future issue? Email us here
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