Wildlife Ecology and Management
Contents
Introduction
The ecology, conservation and management of Australian wildlife is an important component of the fields of Environmental Science and Natural Resources Management. ‘Wildlife’ includes native or introduced animals that interact with, or affect humans to the degree that some maintenance or manipulation of their populations are considered necessary. Wildlife management is a very dynamic field, and it represents an exciting and challenging discipline at UNE. Not only does the New England Tableland Bioregion boast a diversity of charismatic fauna such as quolls, rock-wallabies and koalas that require careful management for the long-term maintenance of their populations, but it also has its fair share of introduced and feral species like foxes, deer and horses that are over-abundant and in need of population control.
Our research and teaching focus at UNE therefore includes conservation and management of the region’s rare and threatened fauna on the one hand, and understanding ways to mitigate the impacts of exotic species on the other. Through our research, we have developed strong links with fauna agencies in north eastern NSW and southeastern Queensland.
Why Study Wildlife Ecology and Management at UNE?
At UNE, you don’t have to travel for hours to see wildlife and study their ecology and management – you are there already! Our field research station ‘Newholme’ is only minutes from campus, with excellent lab facilities and accommodation, and it supports a good representative of New England’s wildlife. UNE is also central to some of the most spectacular scenery in northeastern New South Wales, and students get to experience coastal wetlands, escarpment rainforest, and a range of woodlands and forests during field trips to study the region’s wildlife. On-campus facilities include an extensive teaching museum of skulls and skins; a kangaroo enclosure; facilities to house and study live animals; wildlife autopsy room and modern wildlife laboratories. Research students can access specialist field gear including mammal traps of every imaginable size, mist-nets for catching birds and bats, harp traps and ANABATs for bat research, radio telemetry and animal GPS equipment, night-vision goggles, and tranquillizer guns.
Projects undertaken by our wildlife ecology and management students are diverse, such as fox predation on seabird eggs, the management of feral horses in rugged wilderness, mala conservation in the central deserts, management strategies for birds in inner-city Sydney and the human dimension of wildlife management. But our postgraduate students don't just work and study within Australia - international projects include tiger and panda conservation in Bhutan, primate conservation in Malaysia, and the impacts of rabbits on Australia's sub-Antarctic Islands.
Courses
Undergraduate:
Bachelor of Environmental Science
Bachelor of Environmental Science/Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Natural Resources - no longer offered
Bachelor of Natural Resources/Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning - not offered to new students in 2011
Bachelor of Science
Postgraduate Research
Master of Resource Science
Doctor of Philosophy
Postgraduate
Graduate Certificate in Natural Resources
Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources
Master of Environmental Management
Master of Natural Resources
Professional Doctorate in Science - no longer offered
Bachelor Honours
Bachelor of Environmental Science with Honours
Bachelor of Science with Honours
Units
CANI310
EM323
EM353
ECOL203
ECOL204
GEPL111
GEPL341/541
ZOOL203
Careers
Students that study Wildlife Management at UNE as part of applied degrees such as the B. Env. Sci. or B. Nat. Res. are highly competitive in a job market that increasingly needs well-trained practitioners in the management of Australia’s natural resources. Do you see yourself as a wildlife ecologist working for a government department like DECC or DPI, or a private environmental consultancy firm? Our wildlife management students have gone on to work in ecosystem rehabilitation for large mining companies, the biodiversity and conservation divisions of state and federal natural resource agencies and as consultants for private companies. Of course, if your passion is research, studying Wildlife Management at UNE will set you up in a research career, following in the footsteps of some of Australia’s leading wildlife ecologists that have graduated with degrees from UNE.
Partnerships, Networks and Industry Links
UNE’s School of Environmental and Rural Science supports multi-disciplinary teams of researchers that provide unique opportunities for postgraduate students to undertake meaningful research that tackles real world problems. Our focus on the management, conservation and rehabilitation of the environment allows students to undertake wildlife management projects within the broader framework of mine site rehabilitation, river restoration, threatened species management and natural resources policy development, to mention just a few areas. Postgraduate students benefit from industry partnerships with State Government Agencies (such as DECC, Forests NSW and DPI), Large Corporations (eg. X-Strata, Country Energy, SKM, CRCs), Community Groups and small environmental consulting companies.
Facilities
The Newholme Field Station
The Newholme Field Laboratory is a 2000 ha field station operated by the University of New England (UNE) about 10 km north of the UNE campus. The property contains a mixture of cleared grazing country and forest at lower elevations (~1000 m asl), and forested slope rising though several distinct forest types to the summit of Mount Duval at 1400 m asl. Included within the greater Newholme Field Laboratory is the Duval Nature Reserve, managed principally for its high conservation value. ‘Newholme’ has been used as a teaching and research field station since the mid-1970s and has been instrumental to practical teaching into environmentally-related degrees ever since. The teaching and research undertaken at Newholme is also highly valued by the farming community on the New England Tableland.
Newholme is unique among UNE’s rural property estate in having large tracts of natural forest cover (with several forest types) giving it an overall high conservation value. Part of what makes Newholme so valuable to research is the partitioning of the property into grazed and ungrazed components, in both woodland and pasture. Approximately one third is forested; a third is woodland, and the remainder native pasture, and samples of the forest and woodland types and riparian zones have been de-stocked (since 1982) to provide contrasting land management treatments. Most of the property is managed in an agriculturally un-manipulated manner other than grazing, to maintain research and teaching options (e.g. imposition of particular land and water treatments) as well as land and water uses representative of the surrounding region. Embedded in the property is Mt Duval Nature Reserve, supporting old-growth native forest and surrounded by Newholme’s main conservation zone, the 300 ha Mountain Paddock.
Newholme has a strong tradition as an outdoor classroom for the teaching of undergraduate students in theoretical and practical methods related to natural resource management, zoology, botany, ecology and agricultural sciences. One of the great practical strengths of Newholme as a field laboratory is it’s proximity to the UNE campus, thereby making field demonstrations of theory learned in the lecture theatre highly achievable. Few other universities can have their environmental classes in the field within 15 minutes of leaving the classroom, and at a research site that is rich with long-term research data, and the support of laboratory and other research facilities. Students of Wildlife Management at UNE will visit Newholme for academic activities such as weekend camp-overs, afternoon practicals and residential schools. Many of these students undertake research in their final years at Newholme, or go onto higher degree research that draws on the research value of the property. The property is ideal for long-term research, and has many innovative and informative research sites to learn from.
Research
Go to Wildlife Ecology research information
Contacts
For general and administrative enquiries:
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For further information about studying Wildlife Ecology and Management at UNE:
Dr Karl Vernes
kvernes@une.edu.au
ph: +(61 2) 6773 3255