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| Koala Ecology |
| Finding the key to balance in the lives of koala populations. |
     
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On The Expedition On St. Bees, a quiet volcanic isle fringed with reefs, rainforests, eucalypt woodlands, and dense grasslands, you will join koala experts Melzer and Ellis in conducting a detailed study of koala ecology. You will gather data on koala demographics, distribution, genetic diversity, health, and habitat use, and do some plant analysis. You will be assigned to rotate through koala tracking, field ecology, and koala capture when necessary. You will do long hikes all around the steep rocky island to help find and track collared animals (sometimes at night to determine tree use). You will also document forest composition and collect and process plant samples. In your free time, you can relax under palms on the beach or snorkel in the lagoon. Meals and Accommodations You will share rooms in a cottage with hot showers, conventional toilets, and electricity from solar panels and a generator. You will be living within the study area, so you may hear koalas calling around the house. Meals are a group effort, with each volunteer taking a turn as "king of the kitchen," providing a variety of hearty meals. More Information 
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Research Summary St. Bees Island, Queensland, Australia — Although koalas on the mainland are in decline, the islands of southern Australia harbor growing koala populations. On the mainland, koalas appear to be destroying their fragmented habitats, the very reserves intended to save them. But on St. Bees Island off Queensland, there appear to be just the right number of koalas, providing the perfect laboratory for investigating a healthy, unmanaged koala population. To help shed light on the question of why koalas are stripping their eucalypt habitat on Victorian and South Australian islands but not here, Dr. Alistair Melzer and Dr. William Ellis are gathering information to estimate the island's carrying capacity, which could guide more successful koala conservation and reintroduction efforts across the continent. Meet the Scientists  Dr. Alistair Melzer Director, Centre for Environmental Management |
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About the Research Area St. Bees Island lies about 20 kilometers east of Mackay on the central coast of Queensland. It remains undeveloped and was gazetted a national park because of its scientific and cultural significance as a koala colony. It is a rugged, continental island of acid volcanic rock supporting a mosaic of wet tropical rainforests, eucalypt woodlands and dense grasslands. Its coastline consists of a sequence of rocky headlands and sandy or rubble bays. Generally a sand dune and coral rubble bank head these bays and create a barrier lagoon dominated by mangroves. Coral reefs fringe the island. The project’s field base consists of three cottages on a small homestead in a bay rightly called “Homestead Bay.” Sunset from the beach below the cottages silhouettes the heights of Eungella National Park on the mainland. St. Bees forms part of the Cumberland group of islands which, with the Whitsunday Islands, are a widely scattered reflection of a mountainous landscape flooded by past sea level rises. They form a dramatic and extremely scenic seascape and the region is a very popular tourist destination within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. These islands and the adjacent Mackay region are a relatively wet part of the Queensland coast, supporting a diverse array of wet and dry rainforest, eucalypt and wetland environments. The rainforest patches are remnants of extensive forests that extended along the east coast 9,000 years ago. The eucalypt woodlands have expanded as the rainforests contracted over the last 9,000 years, bringing with them habitat suitable for koalas. It was from these mainland eucalypt woodlands that the koalas founding the St. Bees Island population were taken. |
Fact Sheet
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Locations shown are approximate.
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