In addition to the wonderful project highlights this month, I want to make special mention of two additional highlights.

Last month Victoria’s Conservation Hatchery at Snobs Creek turned two years old. We celebrated the numerous achievements and breakthroughs of threatened aquatic species conservation over that time – from emergency collections, first ever captive breeding events and successful releases.

Victoria also welcomed the start of the Southern Right Whale calving season, with the first whales arriving at Logan’s Beach, Warrnambool. Remember to watch out, boat safely and upload your images to WhaleFace.

This eNews issue features drones as a new powerful tool to support environmental monitoring and research, how modelling was used to identify wildlife disease risk to native and introduced wildlife, and the different survey methods we are trialling at Mud Islands to understand waterbird population changes and inform long-term monitoring programs.

Best wishes

James Todd

Chief Biodiversity Officer and Director of the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (DEECA)

Drones are becoming powerful tools that can take environmental monitoring and research to new heights. When paired with other technologies, such as cameras, thermal imaging, LiDAR and artificial intelligence (AI) they can complement or replace traditional survey methods. To date, ARI has explored the use of drones to support research in tracking wildlife, vegetation mapping and monitoring invasive species.

Wildlife diseases are an increasing threat to Victoria’s wildlife and domestic livestock. In partnership with the University of Melbourne, we used modelling to identify high-risk diseases to native and introduced wildlife, their potential impact, and effectiveness of management options to inform conservation and biosecurity planning, and emergency management.

Mud Islands is an internationally significant RAMSAR site and an important breeding habitat for colony-nesting waterbirds, where populations have changed significantly over time. To better understand these trends and how they can be applied for long-term monitoring programs, ARI is trialling different survey methods, including AI analysis of drone imagery, camera traps and acoustic recorders.

Read our recent Quarterly updates here:

Amtstaetter, F. & Cornell, G. (2026). Connectivity Between a River and Floodplain Wetlands Through Regulators Enhances Bidirectional Migration of Two Species of Small‐Bodied Fish, Freshwater Biology, 71(1), e70162

Austin, C., Ahyong, S., Miller, Raadik, T.A., Lintermans, M., McCormack, R., Zukowski, S., Hammer, M.P., Grandjean, F., Gilligan, D.M. & Beitzel, M., (2026). A prickly problem: Genome skimming reveals varying levels of phylogenetic diversity in the freshwater crayfish Euastacus armatus complex (Parastacidae) with implications for taxonomy and conservation, Ecology and Evolution, 16, no. 4: e73428.

Coulson, G. & Cripps, J., K. (2026) The bare-nosed wombat: a review of biology and management in Victoria. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 138, RS25013.

Crook, D. A., van der Meulen, D. E., Lewis, S., Keating, J., Morris, S., McPhan, L. M., Dennis, R., Sarwer G., Koster, W. M. & Rourke, M. L. (2026). Applying Knowledge of Migration Behaviour to Improve eDNA Detection of a Threatened Fish, the Australian Grayling (Prototroctes maraena), Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 36(1), e70317.

Heard, G., Robertson, P., Scroggie, M., Parris, K., McCarthy, M., Keely, C., West, M. & Scheele, B. (2026). Synergies between disease and urbanization drive the decline of threatened amphibian metapopulations, Ecological Applications, 36, e70217.

Jiang, R., Nitschke, C. R., Trouvé, R., Cripps, J. K., Durkin, L. K., Lumsden, L. F., Nelson, J. L., Scroggie, M. P., Robinson A., & Baker, P. J. (2026). High resolution LiDAR and environmental variables enable fine scale predictions of hollow-bearing tree abundance across a complex temperate forest landscape, Forest Ecology and Management, 603, 123440.

Rowland, J. A., C. Sato, T. Regan, Keith, D. A., Ferrer-Paris J. R., Balmer, J., Camac, J., Green, K., Kirkpatrick, J., Lee, C. K. F., Lester, R., Morgan, J. W., McDougall, K., Muir, A., Murray, N., Plumanns-Pouton, E., Sumner, E., Taylor, C., Tolsma, A., Toth, A., Traurig, M., Umbers, D. D. L., Venn, S., Vernon, C., Verrall, B., White, M., Whinam, J., Wright G., Williams, D. & Nicholson, E., (2026). Risk Status of Australia's Alpine and Subalpine Ecosystems, Austral Ecology, 51, e70214.

Straka, T.M., Carew, M.E., Valenzuela, I., Griffiths, S.R., Lentini, P.E., Lumsden, L.F., Rane, R. & Ree, R., van der (2026). Urban bats show dietary flexibility in aquatic arthropod consumption at urban and rural waterbodies, Wildlife Biology, e01518.

Satoh, S., Ito, T., Sowersby, W., Morita, M., Kutsukake, N., Tashiro, F., Hori, M.N., Awata, S. & Okuno, S. (2026). Mouth- and substrate-brooding cichlids display contrasting trade-offs and diverse evolutionary pathways of egg investment. The American Naturalist, 207, 564-577.

Wootton, H. F., Audzijonyte, A. & Morrongiello, J. R. (2026). Harvesting that Preserves Large Fish Might Help Mitigate the Worst Impacts of Warming, Fish and Fisheries, 27, 571–590.

This year we have hosted two seminars:

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Compiled by Raras Santosa

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