A PhD student with a passion for protecting Queensland’s biodiversity is helping secure the future of the Mary River turtle after recently releasing over 20 juvenile turtles into the wild as part of ongoing research.
Thanks to a local community group in Tiaro, north Queensland, UQ researcher Mariana Campbell is using the latest technology to track the endangered species.
Miniature acoustic tags have been attached to the shells of 24 turtle hatchlings to monitor their location and behaviour once they enter the Mary River.
Mrs Campbell said the research was an important step to gaining knowledge about the ecology of the turtles.
“Every year hundreds of young turtles enter the river from the nesting banks, but no hatchling or juvenile turtles are captured or seen in this part of the river,” she said.
“There are existing programs aimed at protecting the nests, but we don’t know what’s happening to the turtles when they get to the river – where do they go, how long do they survive, what are their main predators and how far do they move – so we are trying to answer some of these questions.”
“The tags we’ve used will last for one year and will inform us where the turtles go, if and when they die, and will give some clues about possible reasons for the mortality.”
The Tiaro and District Landcare Group has strongly supported Mrs Campbell’s research by raising $5,000 a year through the sale of chocolate turtles.
Project Leader of TLDG Marilyn Connell said the community was determined to help prevent the extinction of the Mary River turtles.
“The TLDG has been protecting nests for many years and we decided we needed to learn more about the species, so we established a Mary River turtle support scholarship,” she said.
“Through our chocolate turtle fundraiser we’ve been able to accumulate enough money to pay for Mariana’s support scholarship and the acoustic tags.”
Mrs Campbell said the partnership with TLDG has greatly enhanced the primary goal of turtle conservation.
“This group is so passionate about these animals and having this partnership has not only funded a great deal of my research, but has enabled us to apply for a government grant.”
“This collaboration is a great example of academia and community coming together to further the biological understanding of this species and other threatened freshwater turtles.”
Mrs Campbell’s research project is led by Professor Craig Franklin at UQ’s School of Biological Sciences and along with TLDG, is supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant.
A decade ago, TDLG initiated a nest-protection scheme to increase the number of hatchling turtles entering the river. Since then, their work has helped more than 2,000 eggs develop into hatchlings. This number is still a far cry from previous population figures when up to 15,000 hatchlings were sold each year into the pet trade.
Media: Mariana Campbell, School of Biological Sciences (3365 1390; m.campbell4@uq.edu.au; http://uq.edu.au/eco-lab/mariana-campbell) or Caroline Bird (UQ Communications; 07 3365 1931 or c.bird1@uq.edu.au)
