"Turtle Talk"
Welcome to the Murray Turtle Team Newsletter. This is
our first update and we will be providing a newsletter update every three-four
months. The newsletter provides an overview of all aspects of the
project. Please feel free to distribute it.
We finally got underway in November, so we have
been busy getting the team together, applying for permits
and establishing field programs. Once this field season concludes, we will turn
to the inaugural partners forum, where the team and partners can discuss results thus far and plan the project for the next three years.
In this update, I
will briefly go through where we are up to with various projects and new
appointments.
Welcome our new post-doc- Dr James Van Dyke (Van or V-Dawg)
At the
end of last year, we advertised for a vital cog in the project. Van was the
successful candidate and after some visa delays because of the Christmas period, he has been in the field since the beginning of January. Van’s previous research has focused on the physiological and bioenergetic mechanisms underlying
reproduction, and how these mechanisms are affected by
ecological disturbances, including water management, pollution, and
agricultural nutrient inputs. He is
also interested in how reproductive mechanisms have evolved in animals,
especially live birth (viviparity) and placentation. Van received his PhD from
the University of Arkansas (2011), and has held postdoctoral research
fellowships at Virginia Tech and The University of Sydney.
Turtle Population Status
A major
task over winter is to work with state government agencies throughout the River
to collate non-target data (ie. turtles) collected in regular fish surveys. These surveys have regularly occurred for decades in some areas and this historical data will be critical for assessing catchment wide declines and possible causes. In many of these areas, water
flows have changed because of the installation of regulation points. Long-term 'non-target' data in these areas may allow us to assess changes to turtle
species composition and abundance.
Katie Howard, who many of
you may already know, has started as PhD student on this project and will be assessing turtle population status and causes of any decline. Katie is
supported by a UWS Post-graduate award and Yorta Yorta. Katie is deep into her
literature review and project proposal at the moment and the bulk of her
fieldwork will concentrate around the Barmah National Park and Gunbower State
Forest areas, as well as, working with Dr Bruce Chessman in the Yarrawonga
area. Bruce has been trapping turtles and publishing on these turtle
populations since the 1970s. We are planning some large-scale flooding and drying
experiments and have been working closely with the
Commonwealth Water Holder (and his office staff).
Katie
completed her honours at La Trobe University, studying the impacts of
predation on Growling Grass Frog tadpoles. Katie has over 10 years’
experience working on a variety of research, husbandry, survey and monitoring
programs with threatened species both in Australia and internationally. Katie is also a scientist within the threatened species group at the
Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. The focus of much of Katie’s
recent work relates to assessing the response of turtles to drought and flood.
Katie has been leading a project for the past five years (2010-2014) which
assesses the population structure, condition and recruitment of native turtles
in the Barmah-Millewa Forest. Katie is joining the project to complete a
PhD studying extinction risks and management of freshwater turtles along the
Murray River.
Turtle Ecosystem Function
This
project is off to a flying start. Turtles rival fish as the highest vertebrate biomass and they are the major vertebrate nutrient recyclers (i.e. scavengers), a significant herbivore and the top predator. So what would happen if we lost
them? Kristen Petrov is a new honours student on the project and with Van, has
been sampling the whole environment, including mud, plants, invertebrates, fish
and turtles. The project is using stable isotope analysis that combines
both δ13C and δ15N to construct food webs in different habitats and estimate
both trophic position of Murray River turtles in a food web, as well as, the sources
of energy and nutrients. The project will evaluate how food webs are potentially
affected by agriculture and historical water flows. Kristen was a summer scholarship student and was recently runner up for her presentation on the nesting ecology of Broad-Shelled Turtles.
Impact of Dams
The impact of lower population size will be particularly severe if migration among populations is also reduced by dams and water regulators. We are exploring spatial differences in nest predation rates to test theories of source-sink dynamics. With support from the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, we have begun genetic sampling of turtles throughout the whole River to determine the distances where gene flow becomes limited, and thus the extent to which dams interfere with dispersal. This season, we particularly focused on areas where there were gaps in sampling around the Yarrawonga/Lake Mulwala region. We also explored areas of the Ovens River, which is the largest unregulated river that flows into the Murray. Very little turtle work has been done in the Ovens and we have established some long-term monitoring sites that will be very important into the future. More than 1000 samples will be processed this winter at the University of Canberra. The results from this aspect of the project will be vital for understanding the impact of historical environmental flows, the impact of dams, as well as provide estimates of population declines throughout the River.
Fox Management
We are
continuing our fox management programs that we established last year with our
partners, the North-Central CMA and Goulburn-Broken CMA. Last year we
implemented fox control in a range of habitats around the Gunbower and Barmah
Forest regions. Standard baiting was used to reduce fox activity in Autumn
(broad shell turtle nesting) and Spring (short and long neck turtle nesting).
Despite significant numbers of baits taken, nest predation rates in baited and
unbaited sites were no different (90%+). This year, we are trialing targeted
shooting in known nesting areas (based on TurtleSAT entries). We hit an
unfortunate hurdle just as turtles began nesting in March- Duck hunting
season. It was deemed too risky on the first weekend for professional shooters
to be out when so many other people were in the area. We got one night in, but
once things settle down, they will be out again targeting foxes.
In Winton
Wetlands, we are about to start trials using taste aversion. The idea is that
we will put out some quail eggs underground that will be injected with an
emetic to make foxes sick. We will then go in and bury eggs within the month to
observe whether foxes change their behaviour and associate eggs underground
with illness. If successful, this will then be implemented broadly, prior to
nesting season in November. Based on the lack of success with baiting, we know
that it only takes one or two foxes in the area to do the bulk of the damage,
Taste aversion strategies have worked in training quolls to avoid cane toads
and it may become part of an integrated management strategy to reduce the
impact of foxes on turtles.
Indigenous Student Scholarships
Education, culture and indigenous science are
important areas of focus for this project. We are working closely with DEWNR
(Dept of Environment, Water and Natural Resources), LAPs (Local Action
Planning) and ALOC (Aboriginal Learning On Country) groups in South Australia
and last month, we spent a week travelling from the Murray mouth and throughout
the Riverland to meet teams that are using TurtleSAT to record turtle sightings
and nesting activity.
We are also about to establish indigenous youth
scholarships that will integrate traditional science, indigenous science and
indigenous culture to provide high achieving indigenous school children a year
long opportunity to experience university life, summer fieldwork and cultural
education. We are in the infancy of developing the program and are looking
for other partners to be involved. Although the major goal is to provide a unique
and fulfilling experience for students, which will hopefully encourage them
to further their education, the program is an amazing opportunity for partners
to work together to develop long-term education and vocational pathways for
local indigenous youth. So please get your thinking caps on how your agency
can help out. We will devote a session at the partner forum this winter to
discuss how this program can develop.
Headstarting Turtles
We have
just released 2000 hatchling Murray River turtles into Lake Bonney in South
Australia. We will follow the fate of the hatchlings over the next three years.
Headstarting is common in marine management programs, but not often used for freshwater systems.
In partnership with Save Lake Bonney, this program may become part of a broader
management strategy to mitigate the impact of foxes and provide some much
needed recruitment into populations.
Turtle Month
We have created 'Turtle Month'. November each year is
a time where turtles throughout the Murray and much of the country are out and
about, looking for nest sites. With the help of Turtles Australia and the media
(particularly ABC and regional newspapers, we had an amazing response
throughout the country. A few weeks prior to Turtle Month, Fish Fuel co,
sponsored the upgrade of TurtleSAT, which now provides a region-specific species
list, no matter where you were in the country. During Turtle Month, we had more
than 1500 sightings, including endangered species, such as the Mary River
turtle (Tiaro landcare group) and Broad shelled turtle. TurtleSAT has been a
runaway Citizen Science success and we are now looking to further improve it by
upgrading the app so that it will work remotely without a phone connection. We
have raised around $8K of an estimated $20K
required for an app to work on all platforms.
Partner Forum
This winter we will have a partner (and others significantly involved in the project) forum to highlight the research and programs so far, as well as provide a mechanism for stakeholders to provide input into all aspects of the project. It will be a two day program and we are looking for a partner to host the event. The grant can cover some of the costs. Personally, I would like the event somewhere near where the research is being conducted. We could easily host it at one of the Universities in Sydney or Canberra, but for a forum on the River will allow us to have field sessions. Save Lake Bonney have offered to host it at Barmera, but travel may be an issue. Partners could either fly into Mildura or Adelaide and we could organise mini-buses to transfer people to Barmera. We are very much open to any ideas. We are also open to a range of dates. Please click here to select your preferences.Bellinger River Snapping Turtle
Many may have heard about the plight of the
Bellinger Snapping Turtle. In less than month, the species is almost extinct.
Most of the investigators on this project have done significant work on the
species and in the area and we are all deeply saddened about what has happened.
We are leading the recovery. Bruce Chessman, Van and I will be heading up there
in coming weeks to collect any healthy individuals and we will be housing them
at UWS Hawkesbury for up to 12 months. I published an article in the
Conversation last week. Please click below to read about it.
The Team
Investigators and Students
§ Dr Ricky Spencer- Project Leader and Coordinator. Specifically leading fox mitigation
strategies and TurtleSAT. http://rspencer9.wix.com/wildlab
§ Prof. Mike Thompson- Chief Investigator. Primarily focusing on ‘all things South
Australia’-Engagement, education and community. http://sydney.edu.au/science/people/mike.thompson.php
§ Prof. Arthur Georges- Chief Investigator. Primary focus on the molecular ecology aspects of
the project. http://iae.canberra.edu.au/html/staff/georges/georges-about.php
§ Dr Bruce Chessman- Chief Investigator. Population ecology of upper reaches of the Murray.
Bruce has been studying his populations near Yarrawonga for almost 40 years. https://au.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-chessman/35/40b/817
§ Dr James Van Dyke- Post-doc. Coordiantor of field work activities and will focus on
projects associated with population status and ecosystem function. http://rspencer9.wix.com/wildlab#!james-van-dyke-van/cc4u
§ Ms Katie Howard- PhD student. Population status and impacts of environmental flows.
Primarily upper Murray. http://rspencer9.wix.com/wildlab#!katie-howard/c156d
§ Ms Kristen Petrov- Honours Student- Ecosystem Function of turtles. Primarily upper Murray.
http://rspencer9.wix.com/wildlab#!kristen-petrov/c1hqh
§ Rachael Bennett and Heather
Cameron are third year project students involved in the headstarting project.
Focus is in South Australia. Rachel Dinte and Georgia Webb are also third year
project students from UWS that are working on fox mitigation strategies. Their
focus is upper Murray.
Official Partners
·
Mr Nick Clemann- Vic DEWLP nick.clemann@delwp.vic.gov.au
·
Ms Lisa Farnsworth- Winton Wetlands tetrapod_7@hotmail.com
· Mr Tim Barlow- Goulburn Broken CMA. timb@gbcma.vic.gov.au
· Mr Tim Barlow- Goulburn Broken CMA. timb@gbcma.vic.gov.au
Other Partners and People/Agencies Providing Assisstance
·
Mr Graeme Stockfeld- Turtles Australia turtles@iinet.net.au
·
Issy and Ivy Campbell- Ngarrindjeri- Sugarshack
wetlands. issy@ngarrindjeri.org.au; Ivy.Campbell@ngarrindjeri.org.au
· Peter Cale. Calperum Station. peterc@alt.org.au
· John Paul. Dockers Plains Pastoral Co. jpaul@dockersplains.com
· Peter Cale. Calperum Station. peterc@alt.org.au
· John Paul. Dockers Plains Pastoral Co. jpaul@dockersplains.com
Social Media
Ricky Spencer- Twitter
Project in the News
Two thousand
short-necked turtle hatchlings were
released into ...
New mobile app
will help save the turtles on the Murray River
Turtles disappearing
from Murray-Darling river system as foxes ...
Researchers to
study declining Riverland turtle numbers
New smartphone app could help save Australian turtles
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