Koala drinking stations can reduce impact of climate change
Koalas driven to drink by climate change
A long-held view that koalas get all their hydration from eating leaves has been overturned by new research published today from Dr Valentina Mella and colleagues at the University of Sydney.
The study in offers hope in the fight to conserve this threatened species, with researchers finding that koalas will regularly use artificial water stations, particularly during hot and dry conditions.
鈥淒rinking stations could help koalas during heat and drought events and might help mitigate the effects of climate change,鈥� said from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences.
Dr Mella also said drinking stations could prove a useful strategy to support other arboreal folivores such as gliders and possums in Australia and sloths, lemurs and some monkeys on other continents.
Koala populations along Australia鈥檚 east coast have been declining due to lost habitat from deforestation, diseases such as chlamydia, attacks from feral animals, fire and vehicle collisions.
The Australian that combined koala populations in Queensland and New South Wales declined from 326,400 in 1990 to 188,000 in 2010, a drop of 42 percent.
However, koalas are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, suffering heat stress, Dr Mella said, and because the trees they rely on are affected by temperature and rainfall change.
Dr Valentina Mella with koala joey in Gunnedah.
Koalas can鈥檛 simply eat more leaves to compensate for reduced water content in their favourite food. This is because koalas are limited in their food intake by leaf toxins.
鈥淚t is predicted that increased CO2聽emissions will increase the level of phenolics and tannins in eucalyptus leaves,鈥� Dr Mella said. 鈥淭his means koalas will need alternative strategies to find water 鈥� and that鈥檚 where we can help with drinking stations.鈥�
Dr Mella has been conducting field work in Gunnedah in western NSW where, in 2009, a heat wave killed an estimated quarter of Gunnedah鈥檚 koala population.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 sure if the water stations could be used to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events,鈥� Dr Mella said. 鈥淏ut our results clearly show koalas will regularly use these stations to supplement their water needs.鈥�
During the first 12 months of the study, Dr Mella and her team recorded 605 visits to 10 pairs of water stations, with 401 of these visits resulting in koalas drinking.
They found that the total number of visits and total time drinking doubled during summer compared to other seasons.
鈥淔requent access to water may be fundamental for koalas to assist thermoregulation when temperatures are high,鈥� Dr Mella said.
Initial findings about koalas鈥� drinking behaviour聽聽with videos that showed widespread use of water by the iconic mammals, particularly during drier periods.
The release of these findings prompted聽聽at the University to support further research into koala conservation that raised more than $150,000.
Dr Mella's study聽has influenced the direction of state and national koala research, with water supplementation聽, through the NSW Koala Strategy and used by聽the North West Local Land Services as a central concept to koala management聽on private properties.
These results also聽聽to install drinking stations for koalas.
鈥淲e need to monitor how effective these are 鈥� as the stations can also attract feral animals and predators. Fortunately, we haven鈥檛 seen any deaths from predators near the drinking stations in Gunnedah,鈥� Dr Mella said.
To mitigate this risk, her team has now developed drinking stations that are inaccessible to ground-based predators.
鈥淥ur next steps will be to see if disease, such as chlamydia, influences koala drinking behaviour,鈥� Dr Mella said. 鈥淎nd we will also monitor individual koalas to examine these drinking behaviours over a longer time period.鈥�
Background information
Bigger and better drinking stations for koalas this summer聽NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
聽NSW North West Local Land Services.
聽NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
Funding statement
There was no external funding for the 12-month research period covered by this study.
Funding for the second year (2017) and third year (2018) was: the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage; North West Local Land Services; The University of Sydney Industry and Community Engagement Seed Fund. Funding for current research comes from The University of Sydney Pave the Way Campaign and WWF-Australia.