Background
A key aim of the TFF is to effectively restore the Hidden Vale property to support greater biodiversity. Yet restoring degraded landscapes is a complex and uncertain task, and in some cases, restoration efforts can inadvertently do harm to the very ecosystems they aim to revive.
To ensure that the TFF's mission is successful, the Hidden Vale Executive Committee commissioned the establishment of a long-term biodiversity monitoring program.
Designed by UQ scientists, this robust monitoring program will stocktake and track the abundance and diversity of wildlife—native mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians—across the property, providing essential ongoing feedback on the effects of restoration efforts. Together, our work will stand out as one of the most comprehensive wildlife monitoring programs in Australian history
Long-term monitoring programs are vital because they capture population-level changes for longer-lived as well as shorter-lived species and in response to slower restoration practices (e.g., new tree plantings, multi-year fire plans). Long-term monitoring gives us valuable insights into the resilience, health, and vulnerability of animal populations to annual weather patterns (such as droughts, floods, and fires) and longterm shifts in the environment (e.g., climate change), and enables us to determine best practices in restoration activities.
However long-term monitoring is relatively rare because it requires ongoing resources, access, and commitment. As a consequence, conservation programs have suffered from a lack of on-the-ground data. Yet TFF’s unwavering commitment to restoration and conservation of the Hidden Vale property—in collaboration with UQ's leading expertise in restoration and conservation science—has granted us the extraordinary and unique opportunity to establish a long-term Australian monitoring program with lasting impact.
Aims
Understand what fauna species are on the property at the start of the monitoring period, and where they are. Using this baseline information TFF can plan future projects and refine restoration work, UQ can design student research and teaching.
Methodology
- Conduct bird surveys (standard 20 ha 20 minute transects) twice per year once in Autumn and once in Spring.
- Conduct small mammal trapping once per year in Autumn.
- Conduct amphibia, reptile and macro-invertebrate trapping twice per year using pitfall traps.
- Use different layouts and heights of camera traps to target all wildlife.
- Deploy a bat detector twice per year during Autumn and Spring trapping periods to record bat species.
- Deploy and monitor (using camera traps) a variety of nest boxes at the survey sites to identify species utilising these areas.
Expected Outcomes
- Determine if fauna species persist, decline or increase on the property as the vegetation recovers from past disturbance.
- Document how actions to restore vegetation and habitat are improving the condition of the property, and which species are benefiting, over the monitoring period (in the next few years).