Hunter researcher awarded $380,000 to investigate Koala conservation

BY JARROD MELMETH

An early career researcher at the University of Newcastle has been awarded almost $380,000 to investigate stem cells in Australian species to improve conservation efforts of those that are endangered.

The research is the first of its kind and will look at how reproductive stem cells can be used as a conservation tool for endangered wildlife species through biobanking.

Biobanking is the cryopreservation or freezing of reproductive cells which is usually mature sperm or egg cells. This is done to preserve the different genetic information of animals to make sure the gene pool of the species doesn't become too small. When there is only a small population of animals, for instance when they are endangered, they start to become genetically similar which makes them more vulnerable to extinction.

The problem currently with biobanking is in some species the mature sperm cells that are cryopreserved don't survive the freezing process, which means they can't be used to create new individuals in the future and maintain the genetic diversity.

Lecturer in Biological Science, Dr Tessa Lord says one of the species that has this problem is the Koala and its really important to do some work on maintaining the population. 

"My research specifically is looking at the potential for biobanking the spermatogonial stem cells rather than sperm from species like the koala.

"This is something which hasn't really been done before and that's because we don't know a lot about these reproductive stem cells, particularly in wildlife species. We don't really know how to keep them alive in an invitro environment, in other words outside the body.

"My previous research has identified a molecular pathway that we think is important for the survival and maintenance of these reproductive stem cells and we have found the koala stem cells also seem to possess this pathway," Dr Lord said.

The funding for the project comes from the Australian Research Council which Dr Lord hopes to further characterise the molecular pathway.

Based on the results, the team wants to make the first attempts at maintaining the koala stem cells in a culture dish which would be the first pre-cursor step towards the biobanking approaches.

Dr Lord says we urgently need an intervention to make sure our koala population is not facing extinction and the biobanking of the reproductive tissue like the spermatogonial stem cells is one tool that can be used towards doing this.

Sugar Glider Populations Move into Lake Macquarie

BY SAMUEL BARTLETT

Lake Macquarie is quickly becoming home to dozens of new Sugar Gliders.

 The small marsupials have only recently been increasing in numbers in Lake Macquarie's State Conservation Areas indicating the ecosystem is thriving.

Reannan Honey, a PhD Student at the University of Technology, regularly checks up on the gliders and has installed nests and motion cameras to record their nocturnal activities. She says its the first time shes seen this species across 20 sites in Lake Macquarie.

"Understanding how the population changes based on various pressures such as bush fires and drought can help conserve the population," she says.

As part of conservation efforts, the gliders are trapped, weighed and checked for a microchip before finally being released into the wild.

Over time, this research will assist council to protect and avoid disrupting valuable populations of wildlife.

Research sites are situated in suburbs such as Morriset, Rathmines, Eleebana, Tingira Heights, Whitebridge and Dudley.

PhD Student Reannan Honey releasing a Sugar Glider in Lake Macquarie

A Koala can only bear so much...

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Today is Wild Koala Day, and conservation groups throughout the Hunter are calling on the community to help protect the rapidly declining species.

Koala populations in some areas of the Hunter are on the decline, while in other areas they've already completely disappeared.

Port Stephens Local Government Area is home to the biggest population of koalas in the Hunter, but even that is in danger of becoming non existent.

"In Newcastle there might be one or two out near Sugarloaf; Cessnock is the same with maybe one or two there, there's none in Maitland and none in Newcastle. They've been wiped out, because there used to be a big population in Raymond terrace as well, but its gone and ours (Port Stephens) is on the tipping point because of development," said volunteer koala carer Sue Swain.

Wild Koala Day organisers are asking the community to remember the three P's when it comes to koala conservation - Plant a Tree, Protect a Forest and Phone your local Pollie and tell them how important Koalas are.

"Its a public awareness campaign to get people to think about it, maybe lobby the government, plant a food tree on their front lawn, something like that - volunteer for land care group, volunteer for a wildlife conservation group, do something like that so that we can get some voices behind the message," said Sue Swain.

Australia tops the list of being the worlds worst country for native species going extinct and Sue Swain says "something has got to be done and it's got to be done now before it's too late - if it isn't already".

Morpeth up for the state heritage register

BY JACINTA LEE

The town of Morpeth could soon be registered as a state heritage site.

The Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group lodged an application with the NSW Department of Planning today, to help preserve the town's unique identity.

The street layout almost matches its original design from 1845, and conservationists are eager to keep it out of developers' hands.

"A lot of developers and people against what we're doing say we're against progress," Simon Brooker, President of the Conservation Group, says.

"Essentially, we're just trying to protect the valuable heritage of the town for future enjoyment."

AGL Walks Away from Gloucester

After eight years of protests and poor results, energy supplier AGL has walked away from the coal-seam-gas industry in Gloucester.

AGL had high hopes that the Waukivory pilot would provide 15% of the State CSG needs by 2018 however, it has now decided that number is unobtainable.

Protests have been ongoing since the mine opened

"Unfortunately, the economic returns to support the investment of approximately $1 billion were not adequate" AGL said in a statement.

"Consequently, in the interest of our shareholders and customers, this is the most responsible course of action."

Groundswell Gloucester's Judy Lyford has been a strong advocate against the CSG industry and has welcomed this news.

"AGL were on a hiking to no where with the non-existent Gloucester gas fields because of all the inherit problems."

"We respect AGL's decision, now our focus is on the State Government and the collusion and culpability we fell has been happening for many years."

AGL's pull-out comes after Gloucester Council inquired to NSW Premier Mike Baird and asked to buy the CSG exploration license from the company back in November.

"Coal seam gas was a great concern to many people in our community, the lack of science and tech coming out from all over the world continuing unknown's was a real worry" said Gloucester Mayor John Rosenbaum.

"We need to move forward as a community."

"AGL, I'm hoping will be able to work with us and we're prepared to do that and I think the community will be at looking at the long term renewable energy source."

Ms Lyford says the focus now needs to shift to the conservation of the Gloucester environment.

"We to look at what's happening with the waste water, the holding ponds so there's a lot of work for AGL to do in that space."

"[Coal seam gas is] a shocking industry that has no guarantees of safety its been shown to be polluting."

"It's unacceptable and the State Government are really culpable for everything that's happened."

Meanwhile, Mr Rosenbaum is looking forward to getting on with the job.

"I'm looking forward to promote Gloucester (sic) without having this in the background."

"The beauty of Gloucester we have here, I can see the benefit is that now more people are assured that there's an industry [gone now] that they didn't want to live around, they can come and live here in this great environment we have."

"It needs to be protected for future generations."

Image courtesy of Ray Dawes, via ABC (LINK).