Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New South Wales: I. Cause and fate of koalas admitted for rehabilitation (1989–2020)

An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New... ContextThe koala is a threatened species in New South Wales and long-term datasets of koala rehabilitation provide a valuable source of insight into local threats.AimsTo examine the long-term trends of the cause and fate of koalas admitted for rehabilitation to assist monitoring the recovery of koala populations and provide a new outlook on the limitations and strengths of rehabilitation records for koala conservation.MethodsWe used data from long-term records (1989–2020) of the Friends of the Koala wildlife rehabilitation group in north-east New South Wales to identify spatial and temporal trends in 5051 koala admissions.Key resultsChlamydiosis was the most common cause of admission, affecting female koalas more often than males. Admissions of female koalas with chlamydiosis showed a two-fold increase over summer, and admissions for motor vehicle collisions and unsuitable environment increased in spring. The rescue locations of admissions show an increasing geographic spread over time, as well as an increasing density of records. Admission body scores were higher in koalas that were eventually released than in non-released koalas. Other main causes of admission were unsuitable environments, dog attacks, abandonment/orphaning and attacks from other species.ConclusionsWe have produced an analysis and interpretation of a long-term dataset of the relative importance of various threats facing the koala population in north-east New South Wales. However, admissions to rehabilitation do not capture all the landscape-scale problems confronting koalas locally, particularly climate change and habitat loss.ImplicationsWe have provided the baseline necessary to detect future changes in the causes for admission, rates of rehabilitation and post-release survival. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pacific Conservation Biology CSIRO Publishing

An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New South Wales: I. Cause and fate of koalas admitted for rehabilitation (1989–2020)

Download PDF
20 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/csiro-publishing/an-analysis-of-the-long-term-trends-in-the-records-of-friends-of-the-JQxFYq9QCY

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by CSIRO Publishing
ISSN
1038-2097
eISSN
2204-4604
DOI
10.1071/PC22008
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ContextThe koala is a threatened species in New South Wales and long-term datasets of koala rehabilitation provide a valuable source of insight into local threats.AimsTo examine the long-term trends of the cause and fate of koalas admitted for rehabilitation to assist monitoring the recovery of koala populations and provide a new outlook on the limitations and strengths of rehabilitation records for koala conservation.MethodsWe used data from long-term records (1989–2020) of the Friends of the Koala wildlife rehabilitation group in north-east New South Wales to identify spatial and temporal trends in 5051 koala admissions.Key resultsChlamydiosis was the most common cause of admission, affecting female koalas more often than males. Admissions of female koalas with chlamydiosis showed a two-fold increase over summer, and admissions for motor vehicle collisions and unsuitable environment increased in spring. The rescue locations of admissions show an increasing geographic spread over time, as well as an increasing density of records. Admission body scores were higher in koalas that were eventually released than in non-released koalas. Other main causes of admission were unsuitable environments, dog attacks, abandonment/orphaning and attacks from other species.ConclusionsWe have produced an analysis and interpretation of a long-term dataset of the relative importance of various threats facing the koala population in north-east New South Wales. However, admissions to rehabilitation do not capture all the landscape-scale problems confronting koalas locally, particularly climate change and habitat loss.ImplicationsWe have provided the baseline necessary to detect future changes in the causes for admission, rates of rehabilitation and post-release survival.

Journal

Pacific Conservation Biology – CSIRO Publishing

Published: Apr 1, 2022

There are no references for this article.