PhD Studies

From school students to PhD scholars, Marna Banggara provides a host of educational opportunities. Here’s a glimpse of how students have embraced on-ground learning on southern Yorke Peninsula.

Mentors at the Zoo

Mentors at the Zoo (MATZ) is a Zoos SA program that trains university-aged and older volunteers as mentors to lead high school students (Youth at the Zoo – YATZ) in conservation work. In February 2018, seven MATZ volunteers walked 16km of beaches and walking trails to help with rubbish collection, weed control, beach baiting and Hooded Plover surveys. More than 30kg of rubbish was collected from the beaches, five Hooded Plover pairs were recorded, five high priority beaches and tracks were baited and some polygala was removed from around the Stenhouse Bay Hall area.

Two more MATZ and YATZ visits occurred in April and December 2018. In May 2019, a MATZ crew combined with Chipembele, a Zambian conservation team, to help with site preparation on the sensitive coastal dunes of Hardwicke Bay.

PhD Studies

Chloe Frick | University of Adelaide

Project proposal: Reintroduction Biology of the brush-tailed bettong on the Southern Yorke Peninsula

Andrea Stiglingh | University of Adelaide

Project proposal: Soil Corrosion Research (PhD)

This project aims to assess the applicability and performance of our newly developed Soil Corrosion Risk Index in the soil environments present along the Southern Ark Feral-Proof Fence on the Yorke Peninsula. We intend to use this information to produce a soil corrosivity risk map for this area to be used as a case study in Andrea’s PhD Thesis. The soil and fence corrosion rate data generated from this experiment will be used to refine the corrosion point allocation system of the newly developed Soil Corrosion Risk Index.

Tom Jameson : University of Cambridge

Project proposal: Goannas and Rewilding – Marna Banggara and collaboration

As part of the Marna Banggara project, it is necessary to understand how the conservation interventions used will interact with different components of the ecosystem and what knock-on effects this will have on conservation targets.

Results from this study will provide the first data on the involvement of large reptiles in a rewilding project from which transferable conservation recommendations can be devised for global use.

Natasha Harrison | University of Western Australia

Project Proposal: Quantifying the loss of anti-predator responses in havened woylie populations

Honours Studies

Stacey Dix | University of Adelaide (2021)

Project: Reintroduced Tammar wallabies at Dhilba-Guuranda Innes National Park (DGINP) and their genetics.

Kelly Meaney | University of Adelaide (2019)

Artificial nest boxes to aid eastern barn owl control of introduced house mice in the Australian wheat belt. A preliminary assessment of nest box design, external monitoring and prey intake measures

Mark Laws | University of Adelaide (2017)

Poison baiting control of foxes in South Australia: modelling factors that influence bait uptake