Australian researchers seeking to learn about one marsupial ended up with an unexpected discovery about another, according to a press release from the University of South Australia, per Bioengineer.org.
Conservationists had installed nesting boxes for pygmy possums on Kangaroo Island following wildfires that had destroyed much of their natural habitat. While researchers were monitoring these boxes, they managed to find small marsupials called dunnarts also using the accommodation.
This was peculiar, as dunnarts were understood to live on the ground, and the nests were installed high in trees.
"The last thing I expected to find in one of our pygmy-possum nest boxes some distance up in a mallee eucalypt was a dunnart," report author Peter Hammond said in the press release. "It was a wonderful surprise."
The trail cameras researchers used are an invaluable tool in gathering information on especially rare and endangered wildlife. With more accurate information, research such as this can better inform animal conservation. This includes both when fresh efforts are needed and when validating results of previous work.
For example, Australian conservationists have recently been able to legally hold the government to account for not sufficiently protecting the dunnart.
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Shifts in climate have imposed steep costs on biodiversity, which has the potential to eliminate ecosystem services humans don't even know they rely on. Conservation methods such as these nest boxes are one way of picking up the pieces after a pollution-induced heat wave and drought set natural habitats ablaze.
A better strategy still is reducing pollution from the onset and avoiding the aftermath altogether. Some of the best opportunities for reducing personal pollution are upgrading to an electric vehicle, switching to a home heat pump, relying more on solar power, and trying a plant-based diet.
Researchers were keen to keep observing nest boxes on Kangaroo Island to uncover more details about wildlife survival in a recovering landscape.
"Our continuing research on the use of nest boxes will allow us to understand better the interactions of some of the species that use hollows, and the fascinating drama taking place inside our trees," researchers said in the press release.
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