NSW Department of Planning and Environment: Keeping up with the Bellinger River snapping turtle

An article about people working to conserve the critically endangered Bellinger River snapping turtle to learn more about the species and what’s being done to try to protect it. Research to assist recovery of the Bellinger River snapping turtle is ongoing. University of Sydney PhD student Holly Nelson is using Continue Reading

Conversations That Matter: Can genomics save the ‘devil’

For the past 12 years, Dr. Carolyn Hogg has been working with the Save theTasmanian devil Program utilizing genomics as a vital tool to save thisendangered marsupial. Carolyn joined a Conversation That Matters about the role genomics is playing in an all-out effort to save the Tasmanian devil. Listen to Continue Reading

Why I flew halfway around the world to study two small lizards at the University of Sydney

by Tristan Dodge (Fullbright Scholar)​ Now that you’ve been drawn in by my clickbait headline, allow me to introduce myself — my name is Tris and I’m visiting AWGG on a Fulbright Scholarship, which is an exchange program with the United States. I’m an evolutionary biologist. Back home I’m a Continue Reading

Should I be afraid of the humble platypus?

by Adele Gonsalvez (2022 Honours Student) The platypus. Cute, cuddly, a collection of disparate animal features somehow merged into one animal? Sure. Venomous? Surely not. But alas, just when you’d thought this Australian native couldn’t get any more bizarre (being egg-laying mammals and all) you’d be surprised again. Unbeknownst to Continue Reading

ABC Radio National: Will any Koalas be left in the Australias East by 2050

Being one of Australia’s cutest animals hasn’t prevented its slide towards extinction.  Reporter Rachael Brown investigates what is being done to try to curb the koala’s declining population: Listen to the full broadcast here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/will-any-koalas-be-left-in-australias-east-by-2050/13953818

Our new conservation super power: Big data joins genetics in the fight to rescue Australia’s embatteled biodiversity

The grand vision Carolyn is talking about is being coordinated through a new national project called the Threatened Species Initiative (TSI), for which she is the science leader. Find the full article here: https://inside.australiangeographic.com.au/articles/our-new-conservation-superpower

Parice Brandies

Brandies, P. A. (2021). Conserving Australia’s iconic marsupials; one genome at a time. The University of Sydney. In the midst of a global sixth mass extinction event, conservation initiatives are now more crucial than ever. Australia houses the most diverse range of marsupial species in the world; however, the number Continue Reading