Back from the Brink - The Podcast

Episode 23 sees the Natura Pacific team exploring Queensland's Granite Belt; a unique landscape in the state's south. Here, ancient geology and rich biodiversity have resulted in some intriguing relationships between endemic plants and insects. One such relationship is that linking the Border Boronia (Boronia repanda) and its heliozelid moth pollinators. The teeny-tiny moths are the subject of increasing research looking at how their population is directly correlated with the population of the beautiful boronias they support. Without each other, they'd both go extinct. But how is farming in this highly productive region impacting on these kinds of reciprocal connections and what can people do to ensure they persist together, in harmony? We find out as we meet Secretary of the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium, Liz Bourne, and University of New England PhD student, Peter Pemberton. 

To find out more about the amazing Border Boronia and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 5 Episode 3 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/OR0FkYAj-2Y?si=YpC3hNbDHcucMqlI

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub 

Episode 22 heads into the remote dry, vine-thickets of South East Queensland to meet a remarkable reptile. With Australia's commitment to the 30 by 30 pledge (a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030), we look at what protected areas do for threatened species. The Nangur Spiny Skink (Nangura spinosa) is one such species. With its entire global population occurring in just a handful of national parks, this species is just hanging on at the mercy of climate change, disease, weeds, feral animals and more. With so few places left, and so many threats, these parks are quite literally saving this little lizard from extinction. We meet with Dan Ferguson from the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science to learn what his team are doing to keep this friendly skink, and its protected areas, safe.

To find out more about the amazing Nangur Spiny Skink and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 5 Episode 2 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/5vzwapxrYYc 

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub 

Episode 21 takes a look at an exciting project taking place across a series of South East Queensland correctional centers. Named the Connecting Communities Native Seed Project, Natura Pacific have helped create a green production-line that is buzzing away behind the scenes to help protect threatened plants like the beautiful Plunkett Mallee (Eucalyptus curtisii) along with their respective vegetation communities. Native plant seeds are collected, processed and delivered to prisons, where prisoners grow the seed into young plants called tubestock, obtaining skills development and certified training in the process. The plants are then planted out at a variety of important conservation areas and given away to landholders and schools at special events. The result? A connected community working together despite adversity, for a common environmental good. Find out more as we join the project's founder, and director of Natura Pacific, on a visit into Borallon Training and Correctional Centre. 

To find out more about the amazing Plunkett Mallee and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 2 Episode 1 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/s6-ehkIHwWc

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub 

Episode 20 celebrates National Bird Week 2022 with a story of enduring passion for a rather cryptic little brown bird, or LBJ - little brown job, as they're lovingly known in the birding world! The Eastern Bristlebird is an incredibly rare bird in Queensland these days, found only in a tiny slice of grassy upland woodland on the border with northern New South Wales. Even in the species' stronghold, further south in Jervis Bay, it is struggling against the pressures of climate change, introduced feral animals and development. We join a panel of three remarkable women in science, who have dedicated much of their careers to helping support this bird: Liz Gould, Principle Scientist at Healthy Land and Water, Kelly Roche, Senior Threatened Species Officer at NSW Department of Planning and Environment and Shannon Maguire, a consulting ecologist on the project. These three have one thing on their minds, to bring the Eastern Bristlebird back from the brink!

To find out more about the amazing Eastern Bristlebird and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 5 Episode 1 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/lJHSTDbsA0A

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 19 celebrates National Threatened Species Day 2022; a day when Australians come together to remember extinct species, and put thought to curbing future biodiversity loss. We look at celebrating one of Australia's conservation success stories, the Nest to Ocean Program which sees thousands of people across Queensland's coasts working together to support nesting sea-turtles. For the Loggerhead Sea-turtle, who's South Pacific population is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, it's especially vital to maximise nest and hatchling survival rates. We join Dr Col Limpus (OAM), Chief Scientist at the Queensland Department of Environment & Science and Associate Professor of the University of Queensland. He takes us on a remarkable journey of the last 50 years of his life spent researching, teaching and empowering people to save Loggerhead Sea-turtles, and other species, from extinction.

To find out more about the amazing Loggerhead Sea-turtle and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 4 Episode 5 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/mFQqLR9Bm8c 

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 18 brings us the story of one of the Gold Coast's best-kept secrets. Hidden deep in the rainforest valleys of Ormeau and Kingsholme is a myterious giant that not many people know about. The Ormeau Bottle-tree is a monster of a plant, growing to 35m tall in the wild and bearing a similar bottle-shaped trunk to its closest relative, the Queensland Bottle-tree found in our drier regions. Until relatively recently, this magnificent tree was unknown to science; its still so new in fact that it lacks a formal scientific name! Join legendary Queensland amateur botanist Glenn Leiper as we delve into a world of discovery, recovery and the art of taxonomy!

To find out more about the amazing Ormeau Bottle-tree and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 4 Episode 4 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/ikdOyh7xbKg

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 17 looks at the amazing success citizen science can have when tailored towards the monitoring of threatened species. For the Glossy Black-cockatoo, the smallest of Australia's black-cockatoo species, one particular NGO has been working tirelessly to help understand and protect its dwindling populations. For years, the Glossy Black Conservancy has worked with community and policy-makers across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, to map, report and put pressure on politicians, to ensure this charismatic bird doesn't get left behind. We join Sam Morris, events-coordinator extraordinaire, to learn more about the Glossy Black Conservancy and its annual birding day that takes place each year to support this awesome species!

To find out more about the amazing Glossy Black-cockatoo and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 4 Episode 3 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/vXEt_du1Ysk

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 16 takes a trip through time as we recount the awe-inspiring conservation success story of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. For conservation to be successful it requires a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on the skills and abilities of society as a whole. This has been the strategy of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science which has worked closely with numerous partners to save this large marsupial from extinction. For over 50 years, the project has played out in central Queensland working hard to save the last population of this Critically Endangered animal. Dr Alan Horsup has been at the project's helm for 30 years and has played a pivotal role in its success. Join us as we learn from him about the trials and tribulations of quite literally bringing this species back from the brink.

To find out more about the amazing Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 4 Episode 2 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/eH_hAGkn_SI

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 15 submerses us in the cool waters of Queensland's southern rivers to meet a living fossil. The Australian Lungfish has survived as a relatively unchanged species for about 145 million years, which means it's not only out-lived the dinosaurs, but it also pre-dates many of them! This incredible fish, having survived for so long in Australia, is facing an uncertain future as we dam our waterways and pollution from run-off causes underwater eelgrass reserves to die off. We meet with Dr David Roberts, a fisheries scientist working with Seqwater, to learn more about this remarkable fish, its incredible adaptations to life in our rivers and what we can all do to ensure this oldest of creatures remains a part of our Australian heritage for generations to come. 

To find out more about the amazing Australian Lungfish and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 4 Episode 1 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/0fcEPHM2uW4

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub

Episode 14 zooms into the world of insects. Despite being often poorly-known and out-of-sight, the value of insects to society, and the environment globally, is immeasurable. Some species have, in recent years, been given a shred of limelight, allowing people to understand the amazing life-cycles and ecosystem services these animals perform. For one species, the large and gaudy Southern Pink Underwing moth, only recently discovered, scientists are now appealing to the community in an effort to raise its status as a flagship species and to celebrate its beauty. Join retired eminent CSIRO scientist Dr Don Sands as we delve into a lifetime of adventure and discovery and learn just how an increased focus on insect conservation may be a saving grace for the rest of our living planet.

To find out more about the amazing Southern Pink Underwing and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back from the Brink - Season 3 Episode 5 available on YouTube, LinkedIn, IGTV and the Natura Pacific Facebook Page, or watch here: https://youtu.be/HKktUTJLhP4

Visit our new Action Hub webpage: www.natura-pacific.com/actionhub