While most people love our native wildlife, many don’t get the opportunity to directly help a species and contribute to important research.
Now, you can do both!
Next time you spot a koala on the University of New England (UNE) Armidale campus, take a photo with your phone and upload it here (or send an email to koala@une.edu.au).
Researchers at UNE will use this data to identify koala corridors, which will give us a better understanding of the species’ movements and population numbers, and where koala food trees should be planted in the future.
To find out more about how to get involved and the significance of this citizen science project, we had a chat to lead researcher, Professor Karl Vernes.
Why have you decided to undertake this project?
Koalas are in trouble across NSW, but we are lucky in Armidale that we live at 1000 metres above sea level, meaning we have a cooler climate than the plains to the west, where koalas seem to be declining. They might also be on decline around Armidale - we really don’t know.
I am interested in koala conservation generally, but especially right on the UNE campus where we are really lucky - we share our campus with koalas! If you stop and think about that, it is actually pretty wonderful. We don’t know enough about koalas and how they use the campus, so anything we can learn about their numbers and habitat usage will be good for the species.
What are you hoping to achieve through it?
This project will aim to use citizen science to tell us more about those koalas - where they are, how many they are, and what parts of the campus they use - and hopefully - the specific food trees on campus that are important to them. Our overall aim is to learn more about the koalas on campus so we can better protect our resident koalas, and provide the right habitat for them into the future.
What do people need to do if they spot a koala?
It’s really easy - take a photo - no matter how good or bad you think it is – and submit it here. Alternatively, you can send it to koala@une.edu.au. Our smart phones are great because they record date, time and location coordinates - so even a bad photo should tell us where the koala was, and what tree it was in. Koala spotters can add anything else they like - location description would be great (with as much detail as you can add), and perhaps what the koala was doing when you saw it - but all we need as a minimum is your photos and where on campus you saw the animal.
Image: A koala spotted near St Marks church on the UNE Armidale campus. (Image credit: Paul McDonald)
What will you do with the data? What is the research process?
Over time we can get an idea of where koalas are being seen most often, and what trees they are using. If we can start to recognise individual koalas, we can start to track their movements and activity through the photos, so send photographs whenever you see a koala - even if you think it is the same animal as yesterday! If we get enough records, we can determine koala corridors, and this might help us to work out the best places to plant koala food trees into the future.
Where are some of the koala hotspots on campus?
Keep an eye out in the carpark and surrounding trees near St Mark’s chapel, the woodland between Elm Avenue and Sport UNE, and the trees just south-east of the Northern Carpark. The woodland-covered hill above Ring Road on the northern edge of the campus is also a good place for koalas
What role will our UNE Zoology students have in this project?
We have such wonderfully keen zoology students at UNE - they can help spot koalas, but also to follow up records, record and plot data, and promote the project to other students. University students around the world would be really envious to hear that our students see koalas on their way to class!
What are some of the other things we can do to protect koalas on campus?
Koalas need food trees and habitat connectivity, and they are not great around cars, and can be attacked by dogs. So don’t walk your dog off-leash on campus, and watch out when driving— you want to avoid hitting other wildlife too, such as kangaroos, echidnas, and possums!
