A Wild Start to National Science Week: Ensuring that species Survive and Thrive in the wild

By Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson MRSV
Chair, National Science Week Victorian Coordinating Committee

Under the gaze of a giant T. rex aptly named ‘Victoria’, National Science Week was officially launched in Victoria on 9 August at Melbourne Museum.

Attendees were  welcomed to the museum by Dr Nurin Veis, Director of the Museums Victoria Research Institute. The location was fitting for the launch of National Science Week, given the stories of history, culture, and science housed by the museum.

The event was an opportunity to hear from the different Inspiring Victoria program partners about their work, and what they had planned for National Science Week.

Dr Djuke Veldhuis, Chair of the Inspiring Victoria Partnership Board reminded us of what National Science Week is all about: highlighting how science and society come together and shape all our lives.

This intersection can be explored in so many ways – from learning how to be sustainable in your daily life, to understanding the myriad plants and animals that shape our state. With hundreds of events around Victoria, National Science Week is a wonderful opportunity for the curious to explore, learn, and engage in science each year.

Spotlight on Survival

The major program presented by Inspiring Victoria for this year’s National Science Week was Survive and Thrive. Whether we’re talking about people, flora and fauna, ecosystems, or the relationship between humanity and the natural world, one thing holds true: we’re stronger together.

Australia’s biodiversity is declining. Around 100 endemic Australian species have been listed extinct – not even counting invertebrates, which would increase the number 10-fold. A further 1,700 plant and animal species are currently classed as ‘threatened’. As no species exists in isolation, entire ecosystems are at risk. We have much work to do to save our species.

Representatives from three Inspiring Victoria partnership organisations shared their work on ensuring that species Survive and Thrive.

Zoos Victoria

Dr Marissa Parrot showcased the conservation work of Zoos Victoria, dedicated to the recovery of 27 threatened native animal species, including the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. The home of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot once stretched from Melbourne to the South Australian border. The species was declared ‘Extinct in the Wild’ in 2013, but has since been reclassified as ‘Endangered’, thanks to the dedication of Zoos Victoria and their partners. 

This is a first for a threatened Australian species.

Marissa has since turned her attention to the Bogong moth and mountain pygmy-possum. Each spring, the moths used to migrate to Victoria’s alpine regions in the billions. At the same time, mountain pygmy-possums – Australia’s only hibernating marsupial – also wake from hibernation, hungry for the nutritious Bogong moths to eat. The pygmy-possums are classified as ‘Critically Endangered’, with fewer than 2,000 left in the wild, and their most urgent threat is the loss of their food source. During spring 2018, in the worst affected population, more than 95% of females lost their young when moths largely failed to arrive.

To combat the destructive cycle, Zoos Victoria have produced “Bogong bikkies”, which are delivered by ZENA (Zoo Emergency and Nutrition by Air). These biscuits mimic the same nutrients of moths, and helped the pygmy-possums survive the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires. 

Zoos Victoria are working hard to protect both species, including using data from citizen scientists to better help the moths with Moth Tracker – we can all do our bit.

You can read more about the plight of the Bogong moths and mountain pygmy-possums from Dr Marissa Parrot and her colleagues in July’s edition of Science Victoria.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

Dr Noushka Reiter told the story of three orchids that she is working to save at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. There are over 1600 flora species in Victoria threatened with extinction – many of them orchids. Victoria has more than 400 species of native orchid, with many occurring nowhere else on the planet.

Orchids have the smallest seeds of all flowering plants, and a reliance on single pollinator species (i.e., only one species pollinates the plant), and/or a single fungal species at their roots to germinate. This makes many orchids quite vulnerable to changes in their ecosystem.

On 24 June this year, Noushka and a team of scientists introduced the critically endangered Frankston Spider-orchid (Caladenia robinsonii) back into the wild. It was once commonly found in Frankston, Black Rock and along the Mornington Peninsula, but the species had declined to less than 300 plants due to habitat destruction. Reintroducing the orchid into its native bushland was the culmination of seven years of research: of the orchid, its pollinator, and the fungi that supports its germination.

Noushka’s aim is to create self-sustaining populations of many threatened plant species. The team has grown over 30,000 orchids and introduced them to over 40 sites across the state to give them a fighting chance.

Museums Victoria

Australia is estimated to be home to 600,000 species of flora and fauna, yet 70% do not have a scientific species name. It is through a name that a species is given meaning and becomes part of our perception of nature.

Dr Ken Walker, taxonomist and Senior Curator of Entomology at Museums Victoria, wants all species to have names, because “how can we conserve a species that does not have a name?”. He spoke of the power of data from museums collections and citizen scientists in ensuring that we can identify and name species.

If we continue at the current rate, it will take 400 years to name them all and many will have become extinct in that time (while new ones may emerge). 

Museums are wonderful archives of the past: where did a species occur and when? The gaps in data of where species occur today are now being filled thanks to citizen scientists. Increasingly advancing technologies, such as genetic sequencing and artificial intelligence, together with citizen science might speed things up.

Once a species has a name, we can identify it and track its status through our era of rapid change, to better help them to survive and thrive.

Planting seeds of curiosity and a captive interest in science

Everything within an ecosystem is interconnected. Plants are a source of food and shelter for animals, and animals aid in seed pollination and distribution. Animals (including humans) and plants rely on other animals and plants being available at certain times of the year. If one cog is broken, the whole system can break.

National Science Week is a part of the Inspiring Australia program, a community science engagement initiative funded in Victoria by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources and the Victorian Department of Education. There was a vibrant range of events on offer for communities across the state – thank you to all who joined in the celebrations!