Ryan Adams – u7123730

Koala! Koala! Koala!

Have I got your attention? Those three words are perhaps the most effective means of conjuring up Australia in the minds of those who listen. One of our most iconic (and marketable) animal assets, the Koala is a treasured species. However, in some parts of the nation, the koala is at risk of an early retirement.

Our native bear isn’t doing so hot. In NSW the population has declined 26% over the last two decades. The bears up north aren’t faring better. QLD once had the largest population of Koalas on the planet, however by 2010 populations had declined between 40-68%. Why isn’t a mystery: habitat degradation and fragmentation, worse droughts, more bushfires. The fact nearly half has chlamydia is certainly not helping. There is currently a very real risk our New South Welsh Koalas may become extinct by 2050.

How Can I Help?

Good question. We can’t all go around planting eucalypt forests, or spending millions on habitat buyback, or curing chlamydia. Don’t fret however, there is a way. Indeed the last few years have shown us we can do a lot from the comfort of our own homes.

It’s called DigiVol. DigiVol, accessible here, is a citizen science program run between the Australian Museum and the Atlas of Living Australia. How it works varies between projects, however much of the work consists of aiding with digitisation of text or in the case the identification of animals.

The project I partook in was part of the Koala Camera Surveys run by the NSW Government Department of Planning and Environment at the sites in Kosciuszko National Park. I was simply given an image taken from a wildlife camera, which I then had to identify from a preselected range of options. Easy stuff. 

As part of the Governments current Koala Strategy, work such as this will hopefully be used to identify the best way to monitor Koala populations.

Citizen science approaches like these are a fantastic way to approach wildlife cameras. These are a cheap and efficient tool for monitoring, too effective in fact. A problem is the sheer volume of data they create. However in leveraging a wide network of keen volunteers, this data can be processed far more efficiently.

And it is certainly a wide network. The project I completed had nearly 30 other volunteers. It’s the type of work I recommend doing in the background while you watch Netflix or make dinner. Don’t worry about messing up an ID as well, there is a verification process.

So Did I Save The Koalas?

Only time will tell. Things like these obviously have a smaller impact, but are a great way to get involved in your spare time. So get back in bed, fire up DigiVol, and save the Planet!