We studied the behaviour of wild boars in hunting-permitted (agriculture) and prohibited (nature reserves) landscapes. Under hunting pressure, yearling males are more vigilant than yearling females and yearling males tend to remain in their family group and not disperse. Furthermore, adult females are more vigilant than adult males and show preference for hunting prohibited lands. We propose that hunting pressure alters wild boars’ behaviour and social structure. Photograph by Liron Tal.

Bat surveying and monitoring often rely on detection and identification of echolocation calls. Common methods involve using mobile hand-held devices on transect-based activity surveys (good spatial coverage; poor temporal coverage) or passive fixed-point monitoring (good temporal coverage; poor spatial coverage). There have been few published accounts that directly compare data from the different acoustic survey methods. We used 2349 h of acoustic data, on which 12 European bat species were recorded, to identify strengths/weaknesses of each method and to highlight how they could be combined to improve accuracy, precision and reliability. Photograph by Samantha Perks.

Providing supplemental water is a conservation technique that can provide an immediate positive impact to wildlife. This study aimed to assess the potential negative effects of predator presence and disease transmission at water stations constructed for koalas. We show that the risks associated with the use of water stations is low, but still exists for visiting wildlife and managers of the water stations. Photograph by The University of Sydney.

Feral cats have been implicated in driving declines of small native mammals in northern Australia, but it remains uncertain to what extent cat predation is primarily responsible for such declines, or for suppressing their recovery. We monitored population responses of native mammals to cat exclusion, and the potential interactive effects of fire. Native mammal populations did not increase in response to cat exclusion but are negatively impacted by frequent burning regimes. Photograph by the Northern Territory Government.

Synchronised acoustic recorders can be used as a non-invasive tool to detect and localise sounds of interest, including vocal wildlife. This study compared the efficacy of a commercial, high-end acoustic recorder with a newly developed low-cost recorder, finding that although the commercial recorder was more sensitive, the acoustic localisation capabilities of the two were comparable. The ability to use low-cost recorders for acoustic localisation provides new avenues for tracking, managing and researching a wide range of wildlife species. Image by Bethany R. Smith.