Ecology Matters

“If you maintain that curiosity and pursue your passions in ecology and conservation, you know, I don't know anyone who hasn't gone on to wonderful things by doing that.”

Professor Ritchie leads the Applied Ecology and Conservation Research group in the Centre for Integrative Ecology and School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Deakin University.

He has been a finalist in the Eureka Prizes three times: 

- the 2013 Eureka Prize for Environmental Research as part of a team demonstrating that large predators like dingoes can affect the behaviour and abundance of invasive predators and herbivores such as the red fox, feral cat and feral goat.

- the 2020 Eureka Prizes as part of a large, national team examining the impact and management of feral cats in Australia.

More widely he has become a prolific science communicator, appearing regularly on television, in print and on radio. For this he was a finalist in the 2022 Eureka Prizes for his work promoting the understanding of science.

In 2021 he was awarded the Australian Ecology Research Award in recognition for his outstanding ecological research.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Euan works on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Christine Cooper

“Doing something that is so novel, and something where we could probably start making changes now, is super exciting.”

Tropical forests are increasingly at risk of fire, largely as a result of climate change and the impact of agricultural and logging practices. Ebony completed her Honours research looking at the flammability of tropical forest species and has now started a PhD extending this work.

She won the 2021 Applied Forest Ecology Scholarship for this research as well as the 2020 Sir Joseph Banks Medal for excellence in botany from James Cook University.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Ebony conducts her research on the traditional lands of the Yirrganydji and Yindinji peoples.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Erika Roper

“I’m trying to understand how we can use or manipulate herbivore foraging behaviour just using plant odour rather than having to use fences or shooting or all these quite abrasive control methods."

Patt is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney and was awarded the 2021 Jill Landsberg Trust Fund Scholarship.

With his supervisors, Patt was among the first to show that mammalian herbivores like the swamp wallaby and the African elephant, use smell to find and choose between food options. Now, Patt is looking at whether introducing the smell of less-favoured or unpalatable plants can be used to deter herbivores from other, high-value plants.

Patt’s research aims to provide alternatives to lethal control or fencing for land managers wishing to protect ecologically or economically valuable plants from browsing damage.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Patt conducts his research on the traditional lands of the Kurrin-gai.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Henry Lydecker

“Can you imagine you have little to no nitrogen and you put all the nitrogen that you have in these young leaves that are just doomed? That's not very smart. Plants are smarter than that!”

Gian is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales, investigating the mechanisms behind delayed greening in plants.

Delayed greening occurs when plants withhold chlorophyll from leaves until they’re mature, resulting in the young expanding leaves being a myriad of colours, from red and pink to purple. Delaying the input of chlorophyll in this way may help the plant to reduce its loss of nutrients to herbivores. This makes sense when you consider that young leaves are often more tender, and therefore more appealing to herbivores than the tougher mature leaves. Gian plans to look at whether the withholding of chlorophyll from young leaves is linked to soil fertility, a question particularly pertinent in Australia, where many regions are known for their nutrient-poor soils.

His research received the 2021 Wiley Fundamental Ecology Award.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Gian conducts his research on the traditional lands of the Gadigal and Bedegal people.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Alison Haynes

“Over time I understood that you can't really protect the local environment without involving the local communities, without involving landowners.”

Dr Jellinek is a research fellow with the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Water. He has a particular interest in restoration ecology and the role that local communities play in natural resource management. He has worked as an ecologist for WWF, Greening Australia and the South Australian State Government and in 2021 won the ESA Members Service Prize.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. The Traditional Owners of the lands on which Sacha works are the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Dominic Ruefenacht

“It was a dream come true to come back and work for the Park so I often feel like I've got the best job in the world.”

Mel Wilson is the Natural Resource Manager of the Norfolk Island National Park. In partnership with PhD student Allie Nance, Mel designed an innovative way to manage invasive rodent populations on Norfolk Island. This work has led to improvements in the way that endemic plant and animal species on the island, including the endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot, are protected from rodents.

For this work Mel was awarded the Ecological Impact Award in 2021.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the islanders of Pitcairn descent and their families as the custodians of Norfolk Island.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Dominic Ruefenacht

“That's the whole reason why conservation researchers are in this field, right, because we want to make a difference and we want our research to help.”

Allie is completing her PhD looking at the nesting success of endemic songbirds on Norfolk Island, which includes understanding invasive rodent populations and designing innovative control methods.

Invasive rodents are seen as a key threat to native plant and animal species on Norfolk Island, including breeding seabirds and the endangered Norfolk Island Green Parrot.

Allie’s research has already led to changes in the way that rodents are monitored and controlled on the island. It has also been incorporated into the current review of the Norfolk Island Region Threatened Species Recovery Plan.

*Since this interview was recorded Allie has started a position as an NRM Ranger at Norfolk Island National Park.*

Allie was awarded the 2021 Ecological Impact Award in partnership with Norfolk Island National Park Natural Resource Manager Mel Wilson.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the islanders of Pitcairn descent and their families as the custodians of Norfolk Island.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Luke Halpin

“It's an ongoing battle but I do think a lot of these major environmental problems are not really about lack of knowledge.”

Professor Kingsford is the Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of New South Wales Sydney.

He is a river ecologist and conservation biologist whose work has improved our understanding of how water resource developments impact river and wetland ecosystems.

For over 35 years he has led the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey, which covers about a third of the continent, and is one of the longest and most extensive surveys of ecosystems in the world.

For the past six years, he has led the Wild Deserts project, which is restoring a desert ecosystem by reintroducing seven locally-extinct mammals into Sturt National Park in north-western NSW.

Professor Kingsford’s work has been awarded both Eureka and Banksia Awards and earned him Fellowships of both the Royal Society of NSW and the Australian Zoological Society. In 2021 he was awarded the ESA Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to ecology.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Peter Berney

"There’s been that big shift where people are starting to appreciate cultural knowledge a lot more than what it would have been appreciated in the past.” - Shandell Cummings

Shandell Cummings is a Merningar woman and Indigenous consultant. Dr Alison Lullfitz is a cross-cultural researcher and conservation biologist at the University of Western Australia. 

Together they explore and map the many linkages between Indigenous and western ecological knowledge, working closely with Shandell’s family in Noongar Boodja of south coast Western Australia. This work brings together different frameworks of thinking with the shared goal of improving biodiversity conservation and social wellbeing.

Shandell and Alison were awarded the 2021 Bush Heritage Australia Right Way Science Prize and recently presented at the inaugural TedX Kinjarling program. ‘Right-way’ science recognises the sovereignty, connection and knowledge of Traditional Owners across the country. Right-way science is also referred to as ‘cross-cultural’ science and ‘two-way’ science. It is an exchange of knowledge and a chance to learn based on mutual respect, responsibility and connectedness. It is a collaborative approach based on recognition of the value that each group brings to a project and when all groups have a shared interest in the outcomes. Learn more about right way science.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit: Alison Lullfitz. 

Ecology Matters is a podcast from the Ecological Society of Australia, a not-for-profit organisation supporting ecologists and ecological science in Australia. The first episode will launch July 2022 and can be found at www.ecolsoc.org.au/publications/audio/ecology-matters.

Meet ecologists from around Australia, discover what makes them passionate about Australian ecology, and what their hopes and fears are for the future of our natural world.

And more!

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form) or by becoming a member (www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member).

The music in this podcast is ‘Glow’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au