One of Australia's most distinctive reptiles, the Thick-tailed Gecko is a social species with several usually found together. Photo: Mason Crane.

GALLERY: Spring brings out reptiles and researchers

October 7, 2016

Once the warmth of Spring hits eastern Australia, our research team races out to survey our long term monitoring sites for birds and reptiles. Spring is one of the best times to detect many species as they respond to warmer weather conditions. This September included surveys of the Murray Study sites as far west as Moulamein in New South Wales, sites in the heart of the South West Slopes in NSW, and sites as far north as Texas in Queensland for the Stewardship Study.

Despite dry conditions in some areas, the surveys yielded a bumper year of Common Dunnarts. Photo: Thea O'Loughlin.

Long term surveys yield new surprises

September 12, 2016

Six years into monitoring of the Environmental Stewardship Study and the research team is turning up a number of species outside their ranges, and new species to the study. Doing the rounds of the Stewardship Study sites isn’t easy. Over 300 monitoring sites across 153 properties require regular bird, reptile, and vegetation surveys. Furthermore, the sites are located from Narranderra in southern NSW, through to Warwick in Queensland. Despite running for 16 years, the research team is still recording new species.

Better for farmers, better for wildlife: the bearded dragon is one of hundreds of species found in box gum grassy woodlands befitting from the Environmental Stewardship Study. Photo: Chris MacGregor.

A conservation program that works? Now that's good news!

August 4, 2016

The Australian National University has been monitoring the Environmental Stewardship Programme for six years. Now, we have some good news to share. Our researchers outline the benefits of conservation investment on private land in an article in The Conversation.