Megapodium

Newsletter Summer 2014

Wildlife Queensland (Brisbane Branch)

Mail: PO Box 395, Clayfield QLD 4011

Email: brisbane@wildlife.org.au

www.wildlife.org.au

"WPSQ Brisbane - Advocating Conservation through Education"

"The Branch advocates conservation through a diverse

educational program including expert speakers at Monthly

Public meetings, regular weekend and day trips in and

around Brisbane, Batty Boat Cruises , and a newsletter."

This newsletter is printed on recycled paper

Tuesday 25 Feb Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘Bring Back the

Butterflies’, Ross Kendall

Sunday 16 March Batty Boat Cruise, Brisbane River

Tuesday 25 Mar Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘The Snail

Whisperer’, Dr John Stanisic

Tuesday 22 April Easter / Anzac Day Holidays - NO PUBLIC MEETING

Tuesday 27 May Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘An inordinate

fondness for beetles’, Professor Nigel Stork,

Griffith University

Tuesday 24 June Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘Plastic on the

menu – the impact of marine debris on Australia's

seabirds’ Lauren Roman, University of Queensland

Tuesday 22 July Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘Assisting

conservation of the Richmond birdwing butterfly’ Ian

Gynther, Dept of Environment & Heritage Protection

Tuesday 26 Aug Brisbane Branch Public Lecture ‘A Fine Madness:

Searching for the ephemeral Sea Slugs” –

Nudibranchs, Sunshine Coast

Tuesday 23 Sep AGM & Special event Brisbane Branch Public Lecture

Tuesday 28 Oct Brisbane Branch Public Lecture TBA

Tuesday 25 Nov Brisbane Branch Public Lecture TBA

Upcoming

events

ALL ARE

WELCOME TO

ATTEND OUR

FREE MONTHLY

LECTURES

Regular Public Lectures

The Royal Geographical

Society of Qld,

237 Milton Rd, Milton

(UBD 21 - L1)

7.30pm on the fourth

Tuesday of every month

(except Jan & Dec)

Page 2 Branch Details MEGAPODIUM

Brisbane Branch Executive

President: Leanne Bowden: 3357 9009

Vice-president: Joanne Towsey: 3878 4025

Treasurer: Susan Vernon 0400629685

Secretary: Mary Durrington 3379 5191

Brisbane Branch Committee

Leonie Markwell: 3378 6974

John Markwell: 3378 6974

Greg Miller: 3357 9009

This newsletter is kindly printed by J.R. Durrington & Sons

Ph. 3892 6144

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland - Brisbane Branch Inc.

Mail: PO Box 395, Clayfield 4011 ABN: 98 822 357 323

Email: brisbane@wildlife.org.au Web: www.wildlife.org.au

Head Office: 95 William Street, Brisbane Phone: 3221 0194

Meeting Location & Date

Our meetings are held at The Royal Geographical Society of Qld, 237 Milton Rd, Milton. UBD

Reference Map 21, L1.

Our meeting day is the 4th Tuesday of every month. The starting time is 7.30pm.

Train: Ipswich/Rosewood Line, Milton Stop.

Bus: All Buses along Coronation Drive, Stop 4, both inbound and outbound, then walk 700m to venue.

An electronic copy of

our newsletter is

available from

our website

(wildlife.org.au/)

select "Join your local

Branch ", then select

Brisbane, then select

the link to the

newsletter

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP OR JOIN US HERE BRISBANE BRANCH

Youth

$47 (4 issues) $90 (8 issues) posted within Australia

$135 (8 issues) posted overseas airmail $70 (4 issues)

Page 3 Committees Scratchings MEGAPODIUM

Australian Brush-turkey. Family: Megapodiidae

Image from: John Gould (1804-81) The birds of Australia 1840-48. 7 vols. 600 plates Artists: J.

Gould and E. Gould; Lithographer: E. Gould.

Photo: Research Library © Australian Museum

WPSQ BR

ISBANE

elcome back for another year of wildlife watching and other conservation activities. We start 2014 with the news that 2013 was one of the hottest years on record, with all that implies for wildlife and habitat. We look forward to seeing you at our meetings.

hotographs of wildlife for our Facebook page are much appreciated. If you have a photo (or photos) that could be featured, please send them with a sentence about the animal and where the photograph was taken to Brisbane@wildlife.org.au. Copyright will be noted.

wan Lake was the subject of a submission to the Queensland Government. Though much ado was made of saving the lake itself, much of the land around it will be used to park new cars and the restaurant and other infrastructure will not reopen. Still, a lovely patch of freshwater for the shorebirds!

ueenslanders are tasty burgers from the Grill’d chain. We were one of the three featured charity organisations for the Ascot store during November. Our group received the most to-kens from patrons and are now $300 richer. Thank you to Grill’d Ascot and patrons!

ats are having a hard time – from the recent heatwave and local council decisions to move them on from their chosen roosts. Help bats and treat yourself by joining a Batty Boat Cruise down the Brisbane River to Indooroopilly Island on Feb 9 or March 16. To book, phone 3221 0194 or see http://www.wildlife.org.au/news/2013/batty.html

owena McGuire presented in October about Climate Change litigation. Litigation outcomes are often determined by legal structure within the various states. Unlike NSW, QLD has a fragmented system with no specific court for environmental matters. Local governments are more proactive about planning against future environmental problems. See inside. nside you will find the report from Jon Coleman’s November presentation. The migration of many shorebirds depends on countries where there is very little environmental conscious-ness. We also enjoyed wine and pizza with other members to celebrate the festive season.

nail whisperer and Australia’s foremost expert on snails, Dr John Stanisic, will present at our March meeting. He is the author of Australia’s first guide to snails, some 2500 of them! However, most of the snails you’ll find in your garden are introduced species.

utterflies are the topic of our February 25 meeting. Ross Kendall will show us ways to re-store habitat and attract butterflies to our gardens. On his farm, Ross cares for the butter-flies at all stages of their development, from egg, to caterpillar, chrysalis and then to butter-fly.

pril 22nd meeting has been cancelled because it falls just after Easter. Many people may take the opportunity to extend their Easter break to include the Anzac Day commemoration on April 25. Meetings resume in May with Nigel Stalk’s presentation about beetles.

ovember Batty Boat Cruise took place under overcast skies. An intermittent stream of bats

flew out from Indooroopilly Island and three carers were on board with their orphaned baby bats. We were accompanied by ABC reporter, Rosanna Ryan—you can read her report in-side.

ntertainment books for the 2014-15 year should be released at the end of March and will be available for collection at our meeting on 27th May. Books will be $65. Place your order early to ensure you receive a book, by emailing Leanne or Greg at Brisbane@wildlife.org.au

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Page 4 What’s on MEGAPODIUM

Sunday 9th February – Batty Boat Cruise Join Wildlife Queensland Brisbane Branch on a river cruise to watch sunset from Indooroopilly Island.

Hear educational commentaries about bats and the river along the way. See tiny orphaned baby bats on board. When our cruises started in 1984, the sky at Indooroopilly would be full of up to 160,000 flying foxes flying out from their Island roost to feed. But our environment is ever changing – bat

numbers are decreasing, food availability alters, vegetation changes - and bats move to roosts that better meet their needs. The Indooroopilly fly-out is not the spectacle it once was, but it’s still a fun and educational cruise, and a great way to support Wildlife Queensland (WPSQ). Join us during our 2013-2014 summer season, and help keep the Batty Boat Cruise tradition alive! To book, phone 3221 0194 or see http://

www.wildlife.org.au/news/2013/batty.html Photo: Anna Osetroff

Tuesday 25th February 2014 at 7.30pm – Brisbane Branch Public Lecture “Bring Back the Butterflies” – Ross Kendall, Butterfly Encounters Throughout the world butterflies are loved for their colour and as symbols of life. Ross will talk about some of the

butterflies we have here in Brisbane and of ways to help restore habitat and to attract them to our gardens. Image – Clearwing Swallowtail

Sunday 16th March - Batty Boat Cruise, Brisbane River, as above Tuesday 25th March 2014 at 7.30pm - Brisbane Branch Public

Lecture “The Snail Whisperer” Dr John Stanisic John is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney. He is Australia’s foremost expert on land snails having held the position of Curator of Molluscs at the museum for 26 years. He will tell us all about snails.

Tuesday 22nd April 2014 – NO PUBLIC MEETING. With Easter Monday on the 21st April, and Anzac Day on the 25th April, many of us will be taking advantage of the opportunity to have a week away. So that you won’t miss out on hearing one of our great speakers while you’re away, we’ve decided to cancel our regular

meeting this month, and we’ll catch up in May. Tuesday 27th May 2014 at 7.30pm - Brisbane Branch Public Lecture "An inordinate fondness for beetles" Professor Nigel Stork, Griffith University When the famous philosopher, J. B. Haldane, was asked what he might infer about God from his creation he replied "An inordinate fondness for beetles” So too has the speaker Professor Nigel Stork, who

has been studying beetles for more than 40 years. Early in his career he was fortunate to be the curator of the 12,000 drawer beetle collection in the Natural History Museum in London where he first began his fascination in the question of just how many species there are on Earth. His research

initially involved using insecticide fogging of insects from the high canopy of the super-emergent trees in Borneo where he collected over 5,000 insect species from just 10 trees. After moving to Australia in 1995 he installed a giant industrial crane in the Daintree rainforest to help provide

Page 5 MEGAPODIUM

real access to the upper canopy and his research has continued there ever since. Currently a Professor in the Griffith School of Environment at Griffith University, Nigel has published new estimates of global species richness which suggest that there might be around 5 million

species - mostly insects. More controversially, Nigel also believes that current global extinction rates are lower than many suggest. Photo - Daintree canopy crane Tuesday 24th June at 7.30pm - Brisbane Branch Public Lecture—“Plastic on the menu - the impact of marine debris on Australia's seabirds” Lauren Roman, University of Queensland. Seabirds are

the world’s most threatened group of birds, almost half of the world’s seabird species are in decline and over a quarter are threatened with extinction. Seabirds are an essential part of marine ecosystems, and play a vital role as top predators in the marine environment. Guest speaker Lauren Roman has just completed her BSc(Hons) thesis on plastic

ingestion in eastern Australian marine birds, and will expand her studies to include seabirds around all of the coastline of Australia and New Zealand over the next few years. Come along to find out about plastic in the marine environment, and its impact on marine birds.

Tuesday 22nd July at 7.30pm Brisbane Branch Public Lecture - "Assisting conservation of the Richmond birdwing butterfly in south-east Queensland through captive breeding and release", Ian Gynther, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection & Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network. The RBCN, of which Ian is a committee

member, is a project of Wildlife Queensland. It is devoted to the conservation of this beautiful butterfly and the host vines and habitat that it requires for survival. At the end of 2013, Wildlife Queensland ran a major campaign to raise funds to help this vulnerable species. Ian will share information with us about the work of the Network and the DEHP’s captive breeding and release

program. See our website for more details about the species: http://www.wildlife.org.au/wildlife/speciesprofile/invertebrates/richmodnbirdwing.htm

Tuesday 26th August at 7.30pm –Brisbane Branch Public Lecture “A Fine Madness; Searching for the ephemeral Sea Slugs” David Mullins, Terry

Farr and Julie Schubert from Nudibranchs, Sunshine Coast Sea Slugs (which include the Nudibranchs) are rare in space and time; seldom can one dive and expect to find a specific species. Eleven years of dedicated searching has uncovered 560 species of Sea Slug in our survey area covering from Noosa to Redcliffe. This is

a higher species count than that recorded from the whole west coast of the Americas (Alaska to Chile). The diversity is amazing. Eleven years of recording their habits has uncovered some amazing behaviour. Some of the natural history facts about these creatures are remarkable and our photographic evidence is compelling. Join David Mullins, Terry Farr and Julie Schubert as they take you on a

journey of evolution, diversity, survival and mimicry all swathed in a spectacle of shape, colour, pattern and texture to delight and overwhelm. (Photo – Hypsolodoris emma)

Tuesday 23rd September at 7.30pm – AGM & Special event Brisbane Branch Public Lecture TBA

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Batty Boat Cruise in the Media

On our Batty Boat Cruise of 17th November 2013, we were accompanied by ABC reporter, Rosanna Ryan. Rosanna enjoyed her cruise

and provided the following article to the ABC website, available at: http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/11/20/3895380.htm?site=brisbane

Fickle flying foxes keep bat lovers guessing 20 November, 2013 3:45PM AEST By Rosanna Ryan

Flying foxes have a bad reputation in some quarters, but the spectacle of an

evening flyout has an enduring appeal. A crowd of tourists and locals arrives at Mowbray Park for the first Batty Boat Cruise of the summer, with hopes of seeing hundreds - if not thousands - of flying foxes in their natural environment.

The plan is to head up the Brisbane River toward Indooroopilly Island in time to see the camp leave en masse in search of fruit and blossoms.

As the passengers file on board, Cara Parsons and her mother reach into a pet carrier to

retrieve the cruise's celebrity guests: four orphaned flying foxes, each only several weeks old. "I think once anyone sees a live baby bat they're already turned," Cara says.

"You can't really look at them and call them

ugly or nasty or anything like that. There's just pure love in their eyes."

The Batty Boat Cruise is run by volunteers from Wildlife Queensland and has persisted as a tourist attraction since the 1980s despite fluctuations in Brisbane's bat populations.

Organiser Joanne Towsey says the cruises started off as wildlife cruises where passengers could meet kangaroos and other animals, but in recent years the focus has turned to bats.

"Bats are really common in cities like Brisbane

and Sydney and Melbourne but most people don't know a lot about them," she says. "They're quite misunderstood and sometimes persecuted. We like to focus on the underdog. And they're pretty amazing animals."

Shifting bat populations

The evening is cloudy, and a group of bats fly overhead as the boat travels up the stretch of river between Orleigh Park and Toowong. By the time the cruise gets to Indooroopilly Island, though, the skies are quiet, with the animals flying off the island in pairs or alone.

"Indooroopilly Island used to have anywhere between about 150,000 and 170,000, maybe even up to 200,000 flying foxes over the summer," Joanne says.

"Now we're lucky if we get a couple of

thousand. We still think it's worthwhile coming back because it's such an amazing public engagement and education initiative."

Joanne is working on a PhD at the University of Queensland about flying foxes in urban areas, and she says scientists are not sure

why bats move from camp to camp the way they do. "We know that some of our flying foxes from Indooroopilly Island have probably moved over to a new camp in Toowong. They will do that, they'll shift between camps over time," she says.

"We don't really know why they move and

don't come back. Indooroopilly Island is quite a nice little camp. It's got the river on one side and the golf course on the other so they're not

Page 7 MEGAPODIUM

being disturbed.

"During the 2011 floods the camp

actually went most of the way under, so they did leave then. We're not sure whether it's just taking them a bit of time to

come back."

Falling in love with bats Cara works full time at the RSPCA, is studying to be a vet nurse, and volunteers at a wildlife

hospital - as well as looking after bats in her home. "Since I was little I've always been interested in bats and watching them fly out, that sort of thing," she says.

"At the end of 2011 I started rescuing all animals with RSPCA. It's grown from there to

doing the lyssavirus vaccination thing and doing the bats."

Joanne says often people who are introduced to flying foxes on board the cruise get recruited to become bat carers themselves. "We always need more people who are willing

to stand up for bats," she says. "But most people, when they meet them, just fall in love with them and change their attitudes."

She says they can be a difficult animal to care for -

"basically like dogs with wings". "They start off really cute but when they start flying, it's like having a puppy that

can fly," she says. "Once these guys start flying they're crashing round your house in the middle of the night. It's

maybe worse than having a baby!"

What to do if you find an injured bat Authorities warn that it can be dangerous to touch bats due to possible lyssavirus infection. Still, Cara says people should report any bat

they see on their own during daylight hours. "We'll take the report any time of day, so if you've got a bat alone during the day, any bat that's low on the ground, low on the tree, looks abnormal, take a report," she says. "Even [bats hanging on] power lines. If it

looks like it's deceased, it could have a baby, or it might still be alive and suffering."

Bat Conservation and Rescue can be contacted on 0488 228 134 or the RSPCA can be called on 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625).

Batty Boat Cruise in Wildlife film

On our 5th February 2012 Cruise, we were joined by “Travel Wild” documentary film maker Lin

Sutherland. Our Batty Boat Cruise has a 4 minute segment in her episode on Australian Wildlife.

Here’s a few scenes from the film, starring our own volunteers.

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Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Hair Sampling Project October

2013

Leanne Bowden & Greg Miller

In August 2013, Wildlife Queensland Head Office sought volunteers to assist the Queen-sland Parks and Wildlife Service at Taunton National Park (Scientific), 135km west of

Rockhampton, near Dingo, for its endangered Bridled Nailtail Wallaby hair sampling project. The project was run during September and October, to gain a population estimate and identify the genetic diversity and sex ratio of the animals within this only wild population.

We volunteered from Brisbane Branch. While we were there, we met Ann Hobson and Loraine Hellyer from the Upper Dawson Branch who had also volunteered. We all came equipped with our own campervans

and tents to be self-sufficient, although we did utilise the barracks kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Our role during our time on site, was to work in small teams to collect hair samples from the hair traps that had been set up by previ-

ous teams. For analysis, the important part of the hair sample is the follicle at the bot-tom of the hair, that hopefully protrudes be-yond the edge of the sticky tape. The teams were either one, two or three people, de-

pending on skill level. There were two types of traps. Runways, set across well-worn pathways that the wallabies regularly use,

consisted of 2 little poles around 30 cm apart, with the extremely sticky, tough dou-ble sided tape stretched between them ap-

proximately 23cm off the ground. Triangles set in well-used areas, consisted of 3 of the poles in triangular formation with rope be-tween, also at around 23cms above the ground, and the sticky tape stuck to the 3 sections of rope.

After induction and training, we were up at 5.00am to be off at 6.15am, driving the park roads slowly - GPS in hand - finding and fol-lowing orange tape in trees, to locate the trap. We had kits and supplies that allowed us to re-bait the trap with a handful of moist

lucerne to attract wallabies for the next col-lection run; scissors to excise the tape that contained hair; baking paper to contain the sample, which we had to be careful not to touch so we didn't contaminate the sample with our own DNA; labelled envelopes to

pack it away for its later DNA analysis; and a roll of tape and tongs to replace the miss-ing section. Details of trap numbers sur-veyed, type, condition (i.e. tape straight, twisted, dirty or broken) time, collector and whether hair was present or not, was written

onto a recording sheet. Given the height and sometimes secretive placement of the hair-traps, there was lots of crawling around the ground and negotiating around shrubs and branches. With the heat, we found it easier

to work until 11.00am, then take a break un-til later in the afternoon and head out again until dusk.

There are only around 200 Bridled Nailtails left in the park, so we were pleased to see two of them, one coming down to drink at

the large dam in the evening, and another

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resting in the shade near one of the traps during the day. The Park also has populations of Black-striped wallabies, who made driving in the later

part of the day a very slow process, as groups of them darted across the tracks, looking quite strange with their little yellow front legs extend-ing forward and outward from the body. Popu-lations of Eastern Greys and Swamp Wallabies will mean that not all the hair samples collected

will be just from the nailtails.

We did find time for birdwatching, seeing a flock of brilliant green budgerigars, a few Black-faced Woodswallows, a Swamp Harrier and many Red- backed Fairy-wrens. The dam supported a wide variety of species, including Black-necked stork,

Jacana and Pygmy Geese. Even around the bar-racks, it was possible to sit back and watch the emus parade by, and mixed flocks of Crested, Peaceful and Diamond doves feed together, serenaded by both Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburra. At night, both Boobook Owls and

Tawny Frogmouths called. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Spotted Bower-bird, for which this Park is also a great habitat.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. The QPWS staff were very helpful, we had a good

orientation around the Park, they explained eve-rything well, it was a nice place to work, and it was great to contribute to the project.

Further information about the wallaby is avail-able on the Wildlife Queensland website at: http://www.wildlife.org.au/wildlife/

speciesprofile/mammals/bridled_nailtail_wallaby.html and the Environ-ment Department website at http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened- spe-cies/endangered/endangered-animals/

bridled_nailtail_wallaby.html

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VALE Brisbane Branch member - Dr Gayle Patricia Johnson

Sadly, Gayle passed away suddenly on Christmas Day 2013. She was a long term member of Wildlife Preservation Society, and a current Brisbane Branch member. She has attended many a meeting when the Branch met at Indooroopilly, and then at the Queensland Museum. She was a well-known environmentalist, and also an Adjunct Member of Griffith University’s Environmental Futures Re-search Institute. Gayle achieved her PhD from Griffith in 2003, “Vocalizations in the Grey Butcherbird Cracticus tor-quatus with Emphasis on Structure in Male Breeding Song: Implications for the Function and Evolution of Song from a Study of a Southern Hemisphere Species”. As noted on the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society’s Facebook page, she was also one of their foundation mem-bers and Hon. Treasurer for 11 years. She is remembered as a beautiful, wonderful, generous, kind person with a wicked sense of humour, scientist, educator, lover of nature, music, poetry, adored mother of Ingrid and Kirsten. That more than 200 people came to farewell her on New Year's eve is a tes-tament to the exceptional, charismatic person Gayle was.

FUNDS RAISED FROM GRILL’D BURGERS ‘LOCAL MATTERS’ DONATION PROGRAM In August 2013, we applied to the Grill’d Burgers ‘Local Matters’ community donation program, which donates $500 between 3 causes each month. During November 2013, we had one of the jars at the Ascot store. Customers deposit tokens in the jar of the charity they prefer to support, and more customers chose us as their favourite, which earned us $300. The other 2 jar-holders receive $100 each. We have ear-marked these funds for advertising and promotion of the Batty Boat Cruises.

January 2014 - President Leanne Bowden at Grill’d Burgers Ascot receiving our $300 donation

cheque from the manager

FIND US ON FACEBOOK!

Check out our Facebook page to stay up-to-date with events, news and promotions. The site is updated

regularly with wildlife photos and details of upcoming events. AND... there will be competitions too, the only

entry fee being to ‘Like’ us.

Page 11 Speaker Review MEGAPODIUM

[

Mangrove and Seagrass

Monitoring

Debra Henry

(September 2013)

Our September speaker, Debra Henry, from

the Mangrove and Seagrass Watch program

presented to us in September. Deb has pro-

vided this photo of her on the job surveying,

and the following précis of her talk.

Mangroves and seagrass are indicators of

aquatic health. They provide early warning

signs of change and stress in the coastal envi-

ronment, so much so, that they’ve been

dubbed ‘the coastal canaries’. These ecosys-

tems provide a myriad of benefits and need to

be carefully managed.

But to manage we need to monitor and profes-

sional science is expensive. So in SEQ and

around the world, amateur researchers – citi-

zen scientists - are volunteering to fill the

knowledge gaps. Wildlife Preservation Society

of Queensland (WPSQ) has long supported and

participated in scientific research and provided

compliments of volunteers in nine projects in-

cluding Seagrass-Watch and MangroveWatch..

Seagrass-Watch is the largest scientific, non-

destructive, seagrass assessment and monitor-

ing program in the world. Since its 1998 begin-

ning in Australia, Seagrass-Watch (SGW) foun-

der and Principal Researcher, Len McKenzie,

has expanded the program internationally with

monitoring now occurring at over 300 sites

across 17 countries.

MangroveWatch is a community-science

partnership and monitoring program aimed at

addressing the urgent need to protect man-

groves and shoreline habitat worldwide. It was

devised by mangrove scientists, Dr Norm Duke

and Jock Mackenzie, and began in 2008 in the

Burnett-Mary region. It is currently operating

in five Pacific Island nations as well as many

areas in Queensland.

Why should we bother with the conserva-

tion of seagrass and mangroves? There

are several reasons: seagrasses are nutrient

sinks buffering and filtering nutrient and

chemical inputs to the marine environment.

They also stabilise coastal sediments, provide

food and shelter for many organisms and are a

nursery ground for commercially important

prawn and fish species. Seagrasses – known

as the pastures of the sea – are an integral

part of the marine food chain; high primary

production rates of seagrasses are closely

linked to high production rates of associated

fisheries. It’s now known that seagrass stores

carbon 35 times faster than rainforests, pre-

venting billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases

escaping every year. While rainforests lock in

carbon for a century at most, seagrass does so

for thousands of years.

About 50% of Australia’s seagrasses have been

destroyed by dredging and pollution. When ex-

posed to air, the carbon-rich sediment below

the seagrass meadows begins to oxidise, re-

leasing greenhouses gases into the atmos-

phere and warming the globe.

Failure to protect seagrass may cost Aus-

tralia $45b (Peter Macreadie, University of

Technology, Sydney, 11 February 2013).

Similarly, mangroves are early detectors of

change, providing multiple benefits, some of

which have long been known: coastal kidneys;

essential habitat for species, including those

we like to eat, protection from erosion, visual

and recreational amenity. Like seagrasses,

mangrove habitats have an incredible ability to

absorb carbon. According to NOAA, man-

groves far outstrip seagrass as carbon seques-

ters. Mangrove retention is a far cheaper al-

Page 12 Speaker Review MEGAPODIUM

ternative to built infrastructure.

Moreton Bay supports seven sea-

grass species totally about 25,000

ha which occur in intertidal and

subtidal areas. There are now 20

SGW locations, some with multiple

sites. Within the Moreton Bay Ma-

rine Park there are about 13,500

ha of mangroves consisting of

seven species. MangroveWatch

transect (MW) monitoring has two

sites regularly monitored at

Coochiemudlo and Cleveland. Man-

groveWatch SVAM aims to collect

baseline data covering three sites

from each category i.e. uninhabi-

tated islands, inhabitated islands,

estuaries-creeks, mainland shore-

lines.

MW&SGW transect methodology requires the

citizen scientists to get out at low tide, on foot,

along mainland and island foreshores; the

SVAM requires filming at mid-tide to capture

both the root systems and the canopies of the

mangroves.

SGW and MW transect surveys are usually

done with a team of three-four to use the com-

pass, tape measure, quadrat, camera and if

monitoring mangroves, a pole to measure the

canopy height. Teams assess and record spe-

cies composition, the substrate, height and

other variables. This is important, on-the-

ground methodology which gives a close-up

look not gained any other way.

What’s the outcome from seagrass moni-

toring? Overall seagrass distribution appears

to be relatively stable in Moreton Bay. Al-

though there may have been some minor dis-

tributional shifts within seagrass meadows,

sites very rarely go from supporting seagrass

to being completely devoid or vice versa.

Though the flood dumped over one million

tones of polluted sediment into the bay and the

seagrass cover was reduced by half, it fully re-

covered in less than 12 months.

The SVAM of monitoring provides a different

perspective and compliments the transect

method. The aim is to have a visual baseline

from which to assess future change. Man-

groveWatch filming takes place onboard a ves-

sel in the estuaries and creeks of Moreton Bay,

ideally 25m from shore. The crew consists of a

VideoCam Operator, Photographer, GPS Opera-

tor and Observer-Note Taker.

We’ve reached a milestone in the Mangrove-

Watch program. It’s now a year since some of

the baseline data was collected and it’s time to

monitor these locations again to gain data for

comparison. We’ve been told that this is quite

an achievement. Our MB crew have supported

the Jacobs Well Environmental Education Cen-

tre teachers, students from White’s Hill Col-

lege, the Caloundra-based Water and Landcare

Group Night Eyes, the Oxley Creek Catchment

Association, Pamphlett Sea Scouts and the

Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Cor-

poration.

WPSQ aims to increase community awareness

about the value of seagrass and mangrove

habitats; to improve the community’s capacity

to monitor, and to compile a regional database

of citizen science-sourced seagrass and man-

grove data to contribute to managing these

valuable resources.

If you’d like to be involved with this pro-

gram, check out the Wildlife Queensland

projects site at http://

www.wildlife.org.au/projects/index.html

Page 13 Speaker Review MEGAPODIUM

Speaker Dr Rowena McGuire (right) with visitor, Nick White.

Climate Change Litigation Trends in Australia

Dr Rowena McGuire, Queensland University of

Technology (October 2013)

Rowena, a Senior Lecturer from the School of Law at Queensland University of Tech-nology, gave a talk on the trends of Cli-mate Change Litigation in Australia.

Lessons from mitigation cases (cases that consider emissions from development ap-provals) show that most courts around Aus-tralia are willing to recognise the link be-tween mining development and the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this

recognition, courts have not been willing to date to deny development approval on cli-mate change grounds. Lessons from adaptation case (cases that con-

sider development in hazard prone areas -

flood plains, cyclone regions etc) show that the courts are willing to prevent such develop-ment if the local government planning instru-ments include climate change as a relevant consideration. This means that the courts

have prevented development in areas that they feel are at risk due to climatic change in the future.

The new 2014 | 2015 Entertainment™ Memberships should be available from late March, and so will be available for collection at our next meeting in May (remember – no April meeting in 2014). They will be available in two formats – the traditional Entertainment™ Book and the brand new Entertainment™ Digital Membership – both filled with hundreds of ‘up to 50% off’ and '2-for-1' offers. The cost is still $65.00.

Purchase of your new book will help Wildlife Queensland Brisbane Branch with our fundraising, with 20% of every sale going directly towards our cause. Enter-tainment™ Memberships are distributed exclusively through community groups such as ours. Contact Leanne Bowden and Greg Miller at brisbane@wildlife.org.au to be placed on an order list.

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Migratory and Resident Wader Birds of Moreton

Bay Jon Coleman , Chairper-son QWSG (November

2013) Attendees at our last meeting of the 2013 year enjoyed pizzas before the meeting and a special Christmas supper afterwards.

Our speaker, Jon Coleman from the Queensland Wader Study Group, has provided the following notes to summa-rise his interesting presentation.

"Queensland Wader Study Group is a special interest group of Birds Queen-sland, looking after the interests of the shore-birds that use Queensland's coast and internal water-bodies. Their work is focused in three main areas, education about shorebirds, con-

servation of shorebirds and research into shorebird numbers and their behaviour. The talk highlighted the results from leg flag-ging of shorebirds and the role this has played

in identifying the migration routes and impor-tant staging areas for migrating shorebirds as they travel between arctic breeding areas and southern hemisphere non-breeding areas. The role of individually engraved leg flags was also discussed and how they have provided an-

other level of detail to the information gath-ered about birds. Sightings of engraved leg flags have shown that shorebirds are very

faithful to their roosting and feeding locations

in the non-breeding season both within and between seasons and that feeding areas are normally very close to roost sites. The role of geolocators was then discussed and migration traces from three Grey-tailed

Tattlers banded in Moreton Bay and fitted with geolocators were presented showing almost daily information in relation to the birds on their migration north, their breeding grounds and their return migration.

The talk then moved onto the QWSG count programme in which over 20 years of consis-tently collected data has now been collated. Through a collaborative activity with the Fuller Lab at the University of Queensland this count

data, along with other datasets

from elsewhere have now been analysed and shown that a number of our migratory shorebird species are declining significantly. This research which was published

in the journal Conservation Biology 2011 demonstrates that shorebirds have a number of ongoing issues and the importance of protecting them, both here in Australia, as well as throughout their migration

flyway is becoming increasingly ur-gent and important.

Committee member Greg Miller, with speaker Jon Coleman and QWSG member David Edwards.

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For more information on the Web

Bat Conservation & Rescue Qld. Inc. (formerly Batcare

Brisbane): www.bats.org.au

BirdLife Southern Queensland: www.birdlife.org.au/locations/birdlife-southern-queensland

Birds Queensland: www.birdsqueensland.org.au

Brisbane City Council Active Parks Program:

www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/whats-on/type/Recreation-programs/active-parks/index.htm

Moreton Island Protection Committee:

www.moretonisland.org.au

THECA The Hut Environmental and Community Association Inc: www.theca.asn.au/

The Royal Geographical Society of Qld: www.rgsq.org.au

Wildlife Land Fund Ltd: www.wildfund.org

Wildlife Queensland: www.wildlife.org.au

Did you know that Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (aka WPSQ, or Wildlife

Queensland for short) is the oldest, largest and most respected wildlife-focused conservation group in the State of Queensland? Founded in 1962, the Society is a community-based, non-profit organisation consisting of 17 branches throughout the

State, committed to an ecologically sustainable future for people and wildlife.

Your Brisbane branch is just one of these branches. Information on all the others is available on the www.wildlife.org.au website.

Our Head Office is at 95 William Street, Brisbane, Qld 4000 on telephone (07) 3221 0194 or e-mail wpsq@wildlife.org.au.

They are always in need of volunteers for office work, consultation, fieldwork, hands-on

surveys and special events.

Other Branches in the Brisbane area also

conduct regular meetings to which they invite expert speakers and conduct projects and other activities (contact them or check website first for details).

Bayside Branch: last Friday of the month

At the Redlands IndigiScapes Centre,

17 Runnymede Road, Capalaba

Kedron Brook Branch: 3rd Tuesday of every 2nd month

At the Downfall Creek Bushland Centre,

815 Rode Rd, McDowall (UBD 118 F16)

NEARBY WILDLIFE QUEENSLAND BRANCHES & HEAD OFFICE

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