Ms Tracey
Hollings
PhD student
Topic: Assessing the
ecosystem consequences of declining devil populations
University of
Tasmania
The Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus harrisi, is the
largest extant marsupial carnivore in the world and is only found
on the island state of Tasmania. The devil is now facing extinction
with the threat of a transmissible and consistently fatal disease
termed Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). This disease was first
discovered in 1996 and has since been attributed to nearly 90%
decline in population numbers in some areas of the state. The
disease currently covers over 50% of the state and is continuing to
spread. Despite any advances or developments in the near future to
stop or limit the spread of the disease, devil populations are
likely to decline over much of the state. The impact of the loss of
devil populations is an important issue for the Tasmanian
environment as the Tasmanian devil is the top mammalian predator in
Tasmania and as such exerts a significant influence in the
ecosystems in which it is found.
This
project aims to quantify the ecosystem consequences of declining
devil populations in order to develop and implement appropriate
management strategies to alleviate such effects. Information
gathered will allow us to: (a) investigate changes to smaller
native and introduced carnivores (b) assess changes to prey
populations; and (c) examine changes to the health status of these
populations with diseased individuals no longer actively controlled
by devil predation and also in context of the likely increase in
feral cats and a possible associated increase in the protozoan
parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. Preliminary results from
extensive trapping and spotlighting indicate feral cats and quolls
are increasing. This study will try to resolve some theories of the
role of carnivores in the landscape and identify management
priorities to maintain ecosystem function in the absence of the
devil.
My supervisors are Professor Hamish McCallum, Dr Menna Jones and Mr
Nick Mooney.
I am supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Qantas
Tasmanian devil research scholarship. This project is funded by
grants from the Dr Eric Guiler Tasmanian devil research, Holsworth
Wildlife Research Trust and ESA.
This project is part of the CRC for Forestry Biodiversity
Project (4.2), subproject 4.2.5 on management of forest species of
high conservation significance, including threatened species. To
browse other PhD projects available with the Biodiversity Project,
click
here
