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Category Archives: Surveys & Monitoring
Sniffing out foxes on K’gari
QPWS has recently utilised the latest weapon in pest animal species management – sniffing out pest animal species that have the potential to severely impact island ecosystems like Fraser Island (K’gari). Foxes are the most recent pest species to have been ‘captured’ on trail cameras installed on K’gari. Foxes can compete with the island’s top native predator, the dingo, for food resources and have the potential to decimate the island’s threatened species such as ground parrot, marine turtle hatchlings, waders and small mammal species. (more…)
Fraser Island -K’gari Symposium: Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Understanding
The Fraser-K’gari Island symposium is being held at the Hervey Bay campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast on the 7-8 June 2018. (more…)
Twelve years of collaboration
Looking back after over 12 years of FINIA’s operations, we can sometimes forget the achievements of the group and its partners. These were brought home at a recent FINIA partner meeting held on Fraser Island (K’gari) to check field sites in addition to identifying new challenges for the World Heritage property. (more…)
Seasonal Migration… and those that stay
It’s that time again! The humpback whale annual migration is heading south and the marine turtle courting and breeding season begins – where adult courting males and nesting females return to their birthplace from areas hundreds of kilometres abroad.
While these migratory breeding cycles increase whale and turtle populations, sadly, some individuals remain and become part of the island’s food-web providing extra sustenance for terrestrial scavengers including the island’s apex predators. (more…)
Bitou Bush Surveillance UAV trial
Bitou bush has the ability to out compete and smother native coastal dune vegetation. Infestations within the Great Sandy National Park have been dramatically reduced since the 1980’s, with only isolated plants being found in the field today.
Where Have All The Birds Gone?
In the last FINIA newsletter, FIDO’s John Sinclair raised concerns about the apparent diminishing number of birds on Fraser Island. He points to the evidence provided by a group of bird watchers who recorded 65 species of birds in a trip across the island in a 24-hour period in November 1968. John said that over five days at Easter on the island this year he managed to see or hear only 20 species through the bush and on the beach.
John asked the question: where have the island’s birds gone? Without being too smart, I could say … to the Anderson bird baths at Eurong. (more…)
Eyes All Around – ‘SNAP’ gotcha!
Trail cameras are an integral part of protected area management throughout the world and a useful tool where resources for field observations are limited. Within the Great Sandy National Park, cameras are utilised and applied to the management of threatened fauna species, feral animal activity, compliance and dingo conservation. The process of going through the images can be long and at times surprising, but the rewards are worth it. (more…)
Persistence Paying Off
FIDO’s Bush Regeneration program has been operating volunteer week-long weeding operations since 2005. However, the number of weeding operations has increased progressively from one in 2005 to 10 in 2016–17. This is to keep pace with the increasing threat, and number, of weed invaders.
Ships Ahoy! Research to Focus on Cruise Tourism
Cruise tourism has witnessed unprecedented growth rates amidst greater interest in terms of new destinations and ships with an impressive array of features. There is some agreement within industry that the sector is likely to continue its growth trajectory given that many cruise tourists are sold to the idea of all-inclusive and value-based pricing strategies employed by many operators. (more…)
Monitoring K’gari’s Weather
FIDO has just installed a second online weather station on K’gari at Eurong as part of an ongoing FIDO program to capture weather data from a broader area to assist in environmental monitoring. Through FIDO’s website, anyone in the world with access to the internet can see the temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and rainfall at both Happy Valley and Eurong in real time and for the previous 14 days. FIDO also feeds the data to Weather Underground and the Bureau of Meteorology, where it can also be seen. They also add FIDO’s weather station input to their permanent storage.
