We sat down with Johanne Martens, PhD candidate studying the ecology and evolution of Beak and Feather Disease Virus (BFDV) in Australian parrots. She is currently at the Centre for Integrative Ecology at Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria. Over some Black Feather cocktails & hazelnut-chocolate slice, we discuss her early research in introduced Amazon parrots in Germany, avian disease ecology and epidemiology, and the impacts of Beak & Feather Disease Virus in Australia. Follow Johan...
Sep 03, 2020•57 min
We’re joined by Professor Sarah Legge, ecologist and threatened species biologist, professor at #ANU, Principal Research Fellow at #UQ, member of the #NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, and co-author of “Cats In Australia - Companion and Killer” from CSIRO Publishing. Along with Black Cat cocktails and cheesecake, we discuss feral cats in Australia and, from her recent work, the impacts of domestic cats on native urban wildlife. For more #TSR updates, follow @TSRHub on Twitter and @nespthreat...
Jul 10, 2020•58 min
#WCC Quarantinis is now in session with the audio only edit! For our first round we're joined by herpetologist and naturalist Scott Eipper. Along with his partner Tie, Scott runs the wildlife education consulting service Nature4You in Brisbane, Australia. He has authored of numerous books and peer reviewed articles on Australian fauna, often with a particular focus on reptiles including venomous snakes. Over gin martinis and chocolate-coffee cupcakes, we discuss a slew of new snake related resea...
May 12, 2020•1 hr 18 min
We're joined by Daniella Teixeira to discuss Black Cockatoos! Currently completing her PhD at the #UQ Centre for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Daniella has over ten years experience as an ecologist and conservation biologist, in roles ranging from threatened species recovery to fisheries & sustainability monitoring. She's a member of the Recovery Team for South-Eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos and the Glossy Black Conservancy, and co-founder of first National Black-Cockatoo Foru...
Apr 19, 2020•1 hr 15 min
Chris Sanderson is an Ecologist and PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland. He joined us to discuss butterflies, birds, threatened species, and IT, over Mexican Butterfly cocktails. Chris is studying how threatened species listings and legislation processes differ across the country, the impacts of data deficiency, and ways to improve these processes. He also works as a project officer on “Butterflies Australia”, a new citizen-science app for recording butterfly sightings and data, includ...
Mar 27, 2020•1 hr 12 min
We’re out in the field with Chantelle “Chilli” Derez, PhD student studying urban snake ecology at the UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, for the first #BrisbanePythonProjectBlitz! Chantelle is treasurer of the UQ Herpetological Society, a wildlife carer with Reptile Rehab QLD, and member of the SaveTheSnakes Advisory Committee. Her research is currently focussed on radio-tracking Carpet Pythons to understanding movement behaviour in natural and urban habitats. After discussing ...
Feb 01, 2020•33 min
We’re joined by Tamielle Brunt, PhD student at UQ studying the distribution and habitat requirements of Platypuses around South-East QLD. Tamielle has a passion for these amazing aquatic monotremes,engaging local communities in WildlifeQLD’s Platypus Watch programs since 2016. We discuss her PhD research, including eDNA monitoring to guide planning for the persistence of platypus populations, urban and naturalized habitat requirements, and much more, over Moon River cocktails and Mudcake! Follow...
Nov 22, 2019•1 hr 18 min
We’re talking all things spidery with Robert Whyte, arachnologist at Queensland Museum. Rob is a scientist, author, editor, photographer, and science communicator with a passion for Australian spiders. In 2017, along with images from Greg Anderson, he authored “A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia”, the most comprehensive account of Australian spiders ever produced. In 2018 he revived the AustralasianArachnologicalSociety.org website & newsletter. Rob has also been working with the BushBlit...
Nov 01, 2019•2 hr 4 min
With huge thanks to Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane’s West End, we were invited to have a discussion with the amazing Darryl Jones, Professor of Ecology at Griffith University, for the launch of his latest book, “Feeding The Birds At My Table – A Guide For Australia” from NewSouth Publishing. Prof. Darryl Jones is the Deputy Director of Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, working on understanding human-wildlife interactions. He’s the author of over 170 scientific articles and s...
Oct 18, 2019•1 hr 6 min
We’re talking all things #Froggy with frog conservation scientists Alannah Filer, Debra Stark, and Callum McKercher! Alannah is a PhD student at the Uni of Queensland studying distribution mapping and bioacoustics in frogs, particularly the low pH specialized acid frogs. Debra, also at UQ, is involved in bioacoustic monitoring of acid frogs, education, and using technologies such as VR to bring students into the field. Callum is currently starting his PhD at Uni of New England, studying alpine w...
Sep 16, 2019•1 hr 28 min
We’re super exited to share some of the amazing conservation students and researchers from the 2019 Student Conference on Conservation Science in Brisbane, Australia! WCC was lucky to score an invite to attend some of the incredible student talks, plenary speakers, poster presentations, and we even managed a handful of special guest interviews (see below for segment times). In this first part, we share interviews with student poster presenters and special guest speakers. With so many amazing stu...
Aug 23, 2019•1 hr 2 min
We’re joined by Blanche D’Anastasi to talk Sea Snakes, along with some insanely decadent Ocean Cake and Negronis to finish #NegroniWeek2019! Blanche is a marine biologist, applied conservation researcher & sea-snake expert, currently completing a PhD on threatened sea snakes at James Cook University. We discuss all things sea-snake related over our very rich drink and dessert pairing J Enjoy, and Happy #NegroniWeek everyone!
Jul 15, 2019•1 hr 11 min
WCC joins Prof. Stuart Parsons, zoologist and bat specialist from QUT, to chat all things batty before his presentation at the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland’s Brisbane Branch! Prof. Parsons is the Head of School in Earth, Environment & Biological Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology. With a broad interest in sensory ecology & animal behaviour, his research ranges from auditory anatomy and biological sonar to mating systems, and more.
Jun 13, 2019•1 hr 14 min
We’re talking cane toads, goannas, and traditional ecological knowledge with Dr. Georgia Ward-Fear while enjoying caramel-vanilla slice and a Sweet Poison cocktail! She is a conservation ecologist at the University of Sydney with a broad interest in evolution, ecology, invasive species, and more. We chat about her fascinating PhD research and conservation program. We also discuss the vital role of indigenous ranger collaboration.
Jun 05, 2019•46 min
WCC is back out at Rainbow Beach for Cooloola BioBlitz 2019, organised by Cooloola Coast Care Inc. and the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation. Cooloola BioBlitz is a weekend of biological survey to record as many of the living species as possible in the Cooloola Sands region, and this second survey is sure to be a blast! We chat with some of the awesome scientific team leaders and organisers about their weekend full of discoveries and citizen science action.
May 26, 2019•1 hr 27 min
We’re back on the WCC couch enjoying Purple Finch cocktails and poppy-seed cake talking Black-throated finches with Dr. April Reside from the Uni of Queensland! Dr. Reside is a keen birder, ecologist, and conservation researcher with a focus on spatial modelling. We discuss Black-throated finch ecology and conservation challenges including habitat loss, land clearing, mining in the Galilee Basin, and much more.
Apr 07, 2019•1 hr 1 min
We chat with Queensland Museum’s Robert Whyte. Rob is a scientist, journalist, author, editor, photographer, and more, with a passion for Australian spiders. He was co-author of A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia. Rob was the leader of the Spider Team at the 2018 Cooloola Bioblitz who discovered 37 species new species. He was guest speaker at the WPSQ Brisbane branch March 2019 presentation: “Citizens doing it for themselves – 2018 Cooloola BioBlitz – Beauty & mystery in new species”
Mar 31, 2019•1 hr 12 min
We cross over to Tasmania to discuss the Rakali, AKA the Australian Water Rat with Cory Young! Cory has extensive experience in wildlife rehabilitation with a broad range of species including the Rakali and is the VP of the Tasmanian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council at TasWildlife.org. He has a passion for the Rakali and is strong advocate for these amazing, otter-like aquatic animals. Check out @taswildlife, or follow Corey on IG@cyoung102, and keep an eye out for @RakaliAwarenessDay on February...
Mar 15, 2019•40 min
We're back for another presentation from the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland with their guest speaker Chantelle Derez! Currently mid-PhD at the UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Chantelle is a keen herpetologist, UQ Herpetological Society Treasurer, member of Reptile Rehab QLD and wildlife carer. We discuss some pros and cons of wildlife rehab in Australia before her talk for the WPSQ's February Presentation - “Wildlife Rehabilitation; the Good, the Bad and the Ugl...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 6 min
In this bat-centric episode, our summer-heatwave continues, as does our climate-change focus. We're joined by Maree Treadwell Kerr from the Australasian Bat Society to discuss heatwave impacts on fruit-bats, while sipping some Tropical Heat cocktails along with fruity bat-cupcakes. Join us for a detailed look at the heatwaves, heat stress events and mass die-offs, particularly in the Spectacled Flying Fox, before we dive into some batty New Research segments.
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, we discuss the ongoing summer heatwaves we're experiencing this in Australia. Specifically, we cover the impacts and mass die-offs of fruit-bats in around the country. We also discuss the concurrent mass fish deaths in the Menindee Lakes region, the process of eutrophication in Australian rivers, and potential mismanagement of the Murray-Darling River system.
Jan 31, 2019•35 min
NEW #WCC!! We're back on the couch with James Dorey and Olivia Davies to talk native Australian bees. Over some honey-cake and mead-based cocktails, we discuss Australia's diverse native bee fauna, the importance of pollinators, and of-course, the incredible macro-photgraphy in James' new book. Check out JamesDoreyPhotography.com.au, or JamesDoreyPhotography on social media.
Dec 18, 2018•42 min
We're back on the #WCC couch for a special episode with @Cesar Puechmarin from @blueshroomstudios and @Jasmine Zelený from @Faunagraphic. We're talking about the new short film “Owls on the Line”, covering Mount Coot-tha's #PowerfulOwls, currently at risk from zip-line development here in Brisbane.
Dec 10, 2018•1 hr 2 min
We're back out in the forests of Brisbane searching for the Powerful Owl with Faunagraphic! The Faunagraphic crew, namely Matt Wright, wildlife photographer and owl conservationist, and wildlife scientist Jasmine Zelený, take us on a secretive night-time walk through the woods. While searching for a known Powerful Owl breeding pair and their chicks, we also find some other fantastic nocturnal creatures. Along the way we discuss Powerful Owl ecology, conservation, and more
Dec 09, 2018•35 min
Nov 9-18 2018 was FrogID week, so we headed out #frogging in Main Range on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Specifically, we were searching for the Red and Yellow Mountain Frog, Philora kundagungan. This amazing little frog is endangered and restricted to this isolated, sub-tropical mountain region, so is quite the challenge to locate. In this amazing environment, we were sure to find plenty of other cool creatures along the way.
Nov 19, 2018•45 min
Prof. John Woinarski from Charles Darwin University returns to WCC and discusses modern extinction and his new book A Bat's End: The Christmas Island Pipistrelle and Extinction in Australia, now available from @CSIROPublishing – publish.csiro.au/book/7791/
Oct 11, 2018•39 min
WCC is back out on the road for another field show! We're headed up to take part in Cooloola BioBlitz at Rainbow Beach, organised by Cooloola Coast Care Inc. and the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation. The WCC crew heads north to Rainbow Beach along the Cooloola Coast on the second day of Cooloola BioBlitz, an intense period of biological survey to record the living species in an area.
Sep 10, 2018•1 hr 25 min
WCC is proud to present the fourth installment in our Book of Hope Conservation Case Studies series. We’ll be exploring some phenomenal plant conservation successes from “Recovering Australian Threatened Species: A Book of Hope” with various chapter authors.
Aug 24, 2018•1 hr 32 min
We're at Avid Reader Bookshop talking to Harry Saddler for the launch of his new book “The Eastern Curlew - The Extraordinary Life of a Migratory Bird” First up is an interview with Harry, followed by a recording of the sit down with Andrew Stafford (32:15-)
Aug 13, 2018•1 hr 26 min
WCC is proud to present the third instalment in our Book of Hope Conservation Case Studies series! In this third series of case studies, we’ll be exploring some of the conservation successes in freshwater species from “Recovering Australian Threatened Species: A Book of Hope” along with chapter authors.
Aug 02, 2018•1 hr 10 min
