Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, is under increasing human pressure from industrial activities. The aim was to (1) provide data on the distribution, encounter rate, group size and behaviour of dolphins, and (2) report on the occurrence of other marine megafauna in the western gulf. The results provided are applicable for the spatial management and conservation efforts of marine megafauna, and aid in informing environmental impact assessments of individual and cumulative pressures. Photograph by Kate Sprogis.

Learned responses of wildlife to trapping can introduce considerable bias into analyses based on repeated or long-duration surveys of a population. This study investigated the ability of freshwater turtles to learn and avoid the locations of traps. We documented learned trap avoidance and make recommendations for avoiding the sampling bias that results from this behaviour. Photograph by Donald McKnight.

White-flash camera traps provide colour night-time photos, but do they cause greater disturbance to target animals than do infrared flash camera traps? This research aimed to investigate the influence of flash type on Eld’s deer behaviour and detection rate, and showed that although some differences in response does occur depending on flash type, this does not affect the detection rate over time. We conclude that white-flash cameras are suitable for population assessment surveys and are more effective in individual identification than are infrared cameras. Photograph by Rachel Ladd.

Reliable monitoring of trends in flying-fox populations is essential for flying-fox conservation. By comparing ground-based counting methods with reference counts derived from drone-acquired thermal imagery, we found that ground-based methods severely underestimate the true number of flying-foxes in roosts and had very limited precision. Drone-based monitoring of flying-foxes can facilitate more effective conservation management of these ecologically important species. Photographs by Justin A. Welbergen (left) and Eliane D. McCarthy (right).