A Brush-tailed Bettong at Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary. © Brad Leue

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) has teamed up with the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute on an innovative new research project that could help inform future wildlife reintroductions. The project, funded by the Australian Research Council, aims to shed light on the historical ranges of some of Australia’s most threatened species, whose populations declined before western science had a good understanding of species distributions.

For the project, samples of soil with the potential to preserve DNA from long-dead animals (‘environmental DNA’) were collected from remote AWC-managed sanctuaries and partnership areas. These include Buckaringa (SA), Newhaven (NT), and Mornington (WA) Wildlife Sanctuaries, Bullo River Station (NT) where AWC works in partnership with owners Julian and Alexandra Burt, as well as Ngalurrtju Aboriginal Land Trust (Central Australia, NT) where AWC works in partnership with the Central Land Council.

Samples were gathered from remote and less accessible caves where environmental DNA is expected to have had some protection from UV light, moisture, human presence and environmental disturbances. The sediment was then sent off to the university for genetic analysis and species identification.

Dr Jennifer Pierson, AWC Senior Ecologist leading the surveys on AWC sites, said environmental DNA has the potential to provide deeper insight into the species that may have been present in less-surveyed inland areas.

“Current models of species distribution are heavily influenced by data collected from areas that have been historically easier to access, such as sites close to European settlements on the coast,” Dr Pierson explained. “We’re now trying to see whether we can detect the presence of species that we suspect may have lived in inland areas, through the traces these species have left in environmental DNA, and in turn improve the accuracy of wildlife distribution models.”

“This information will help shape future wildlife conservation programs, including wildlife reintroductions, as we’ll have more accurate information on their historical whereabouts.”

While the ultimate goal of the project is to reveal the presence of wildlife populations across inland Australia, Dr Pierson said the first phase of the project is to understand the strengths and limitations of environmental DNA sampling.

“It’s important to remember that the failure to detect a species in a sample doesn’t necessarily mean that the species wasn’t once there,” Dr Pierson explained. “It could be that this methodological approach isn’t the right one for detecting that particular animal. For example, we have existing evidence and historical writings to confirm Bilbies were present at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, but they mainly live in the sandplains, and the species – or their bones and scat, which are sources of environmental DNA – may not have made their way up into the caves in the range country where we have collected samples.”

“In contrast, we expect smaller species like native rodents to be more likely detected from caves, even in cases where they lived mainly on the sandplains, because their DNA can be transported to the ranges by owls which prey on rodents and roost in caves.

“These types of comparisons will help us refine our understanding of what this research can and can’t tell us about wildlife distribution. We are hoping the technique provides a powerful tool to look into the past distributions of native species which will help inform future translocation programs.”

For more information on AWC’s work with eDNA, click here.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is a pragmatic, on-ground global conservation leader, conserving landscapes and providing hope for Australian wildlife. Informed by science, we deliver measurable conservation impact at scale to secure the future of our most endangered species and their habitats, including restoring degraded landscapes where necessary.

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