Identifying and creating safer situations for wildlife within large, unfenced landscapes

Project start date: 01/09/2023
Project end date: 30/06/2028
NESP funding: $80,000 (GST-exclusive)

The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is a nationally endangered marsupial and one of 110 priority species under the Australian Government’s Threatened species action plan 2022–2032. This project aims to understand the causes of population decline for the eastern quoll in Tasmania and develop tools to safeguard this species in its last wild stronghold.

Conservation ecologist David Hamilton from the Tasmanian Land Conservancy microchips the released quolls to help with further tracking. (Photo: Cath Dickson)

Researchers are experimentally introducing captive-bred quolls to bolster wild populations in Tasmania and to provide information on what is causing the observed declines in eastern quoll populations. This project is also informing how well the translocations of captive-bred animals works as a management tool and developing evidence-based protocols for using captive-bred translocations to improve recovery of eastern quolls and as an early intervention for other declining species.

This research will collect data on how to proactively address species’ declines before populations become critically small and less likely to recover without significant intervention and investment. Project results will be directly translated into on-ground management of eastern quolls.

Key research areas

To help prevent the further decline of eastern quoll populations and other species, this project is:

• collating information and determining the key drivers of eastern quoll presence and abundance
• developing evidence-based protocols for eastern quoll translocations (e.g. site selection, quoll selection, preparation, release strategies, site management)
• establishing a framework for using experimental translocations as an early-intervention strategy to understand and combat species declines.