Aerial operations to remove invasive species are increasingly common and can be highly effective towards reducing damage and disease threats to anthropogenic resources and native biota. This study compared a variety of shotshells used during aerial operations to optimize lethality and overall effectiveness of removal efforts. We recommend maximizing the number of pellets delivered downrange within limited distances at which sufficient energy is retained to maximize penetration and lethality. Photograph by Michael Lavelle.

Understanding the drivers and trends of plant and animal populations is an essential part of conservation management. This study assessed the effects of fire, rainfall and vegetation condition on the long-term trends of a threatened lizard in the central and western deserts of Australia. Our results showed contrasting trends in populations, with fire extent and frequency a major driver of population change. Photograph by Rachel Paltridge.

Habitat use by wildlife may depend on health, food availability, and predation threat. We found that an arboreal snake used microhabitat, as measured by estimated height of detection, based on size, individual condition, and prey counts. Snakes had lower detection heights when prey was less available or their condition scores were lower, and as their size increased. Arboreality as measured by detection height was a plastic behavior that changed in response to prey availability, individual condition, and snake size. Image by Scott Goetz and Melia Nafus.

Understanding and accurately describing species distributions is an ongoing challenge. We used the citizen science website iNaturalist.org to locate geographically anomalous records of Australian skinks. Our study provides a novel and versatile method for locating populations undocumented in the literature. Photograph by Jules E. Farquhar.

Understanding what hunter behaviors lead to greater harvest success can be a powerful tool, thereby maintaining hunting as a viable management option, especially in areas with overabundant deer. Our objectives were to assess hunter behavior and evaluate how these behaviors influenced deer observation rates. Our results suggest that hunter movement and habitat use influence the number of deer observed during a hunt. Image by Alyssa Meier

Feral cats are a highly adaptable invasive species, widespread across mainlands and islands in Australia and globally. We aimed to test the influence of the landscape and migration of seabirds on the cat movement on lunawanna-alonnah/Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia. The sudden change in prey following seabird migration could present a threat to native wildlife if cats prey-switch, but offer an opportunity for lethal control because cats will be hungry, more mobile, and therefore more likely to encounter control activities. Photograph by Matthew Pauza.

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a destructive invasive species that are exceptionally detrimental to flora and fauna native to isolated islands, especially in rugged and remote terrain where population control is difficult. Better wild pig control methods are needed for remote situations where use of high-tech traps utilizing cell phone technology are not an option. We compared corral traps, box traps, and passive net traps and found that passive net traps increased the effectiveness and efficiency for removing wild pigs. Photograph by Justin Fischer.

Vehicle collision is a significant mortality source for threatened wildlife. We analysed major determinants of vehicle collisions with southern cassowaries, and found that road density at the landscape scale and high cover of higher-quality habitats along straight sections of road were positively associated with collisions at the local scale. Mitigation measures at very few locations could avoid most vehicle collisions with cassowaries. Photograph by Ruchira Somaweera (CSIRO).