Koala Ecology - Mackay Harbor, Queensland, Australia

From £1795 per person

Tour Code: SUP_EW_ Koala Ecology

Research Mission
Finding the key to balance in the lives of koala populations.

Situation Report
St. Bees Island, Queensland, Australia — Although koalas on the mainland are in decline, the islands of southern Australia harbor growing koala populations. On the mainland, koalas appear to be destroying their fragmented habitats, the very reserves intended to save them. But on St. Bees Island off Queensland, there appear to be just the right number of koalas, providing the perfect laboratory for investigating a healthy, unmanaged koala population. To help shed light on the question of why koalas are stripping their eucalypt habitat on Victorian and South Australian islands but not here, Dr. Alistair Melzer and Dr. William Ellis are gathering information to estimate the island's carrying capacity, which could guide more successful koala conservation and reintroduction efforts across the continent.

On the Expedition
On St. Bees, a quiet volcanic isle fringed with reefs, rainforests, eucalypt woodlands, and dense grasslands, you will join koala experts Melzer and Ellis in conducting a detailed study of koala ecology. You will gather data on koala demographics, distribution, genetic diversity, health, and habitat use, and do some plant analysis. You will be assigned to rotate through koala tracking, field ecology, and koala capture when necessary. You will do long hikes all around the steep rocky island to help find and track collared animals (sometimes at night to determine tree use). You will also document forest composition and collect and process plant samples. In your free time, you can relax under palms on the beach or snorkel in the lagoon.

Meals and Accommodations
You will share rooms in a cottage with hot showers, conventional toilets, and electricity from solar panels and a generator. You will be living within the study area, so you may hear koalas calling around the house. Meals are a group effort, with each volunteer taking a turn as "king of the kitchen," providing a variety of hearty meals.

Click here to visit the Koala Ecology page at Earthwatch.org