A team of On Country Rangers from Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) returned to the Alpine high country last month, continuing a project to help the critically endangered mountain pygmy-possum.
Researchers estimate there are only about 2000 mountain pygmy-possums left in the wild, and the Alpine National Park is one of the most significant remaining populations of this tiny marsupial.
Alpine National Park is one of 14 parks and reserves across Gippsland jointly managed by GLaWAC in partnership with the Victorian Government.
Once thought to be extinct, the mountain pygmy-possum was “rediscovered” at Mount Hotham in 1966.
The Bogong moth, which migrates to the cool climes of the Australian Alps each summer, is a vitally important food source for the pygmy-possum.
In 2017 only about 0.5 per cent of the typical Bogong moth migration numbers made it to the high country.
As a result, more than half of female mountain pygmy-possums in monitored populations lost their entire litters, and in the worst site about 95 per cent of females lost all their young.
GLaWAC’s research in the Alpine National Park focuses on learning more about Bogong moth populations.
Last month, GLaWAC Rangers Kobi Cook, Shakiah Tungai, Anthony Mobourne and Logan Hudson, and project officer Olivia Bowman set up motion sensor cameras at Mount Higginbotham and Mount Loch, to monitor the number of active moths in the area.
“Bogong moths are the pygmy-possum’s most important source of food,” Kobi said.
“And so the number of moths that make it to the mountains each spring and summer has a huge impact on the health of the pygmy-possum population.”
Although the pygmy-possums also eat other insects, as well as seeds, dupes and berries, the high protein of the Bogong moth is hard for them to replace.
Supported by the Federal Government’s Saving Native Species Program and the North East Catchment Management Authority, this project involves GLaWAC working in concert with several partners, including Alpine Resorts Victoria (which manages Mount Hotham and the other resorts in Alpine National Park), wildlife biologist Dean Heinz, Ecological Geneticist Dr Andrew Weeks, and Parks Victoria.
This is the second year that GLaWAC On Country Rangers have installed the motion capture cameras, with images of bogong moths rising from the boulder fields at sunset automatically sent to the rangers via email.
“By analysing these images we are able to estimate the size of the Bogong moth migration,” Shakiah said.
“That then gives us a good idea of how much protein our pygmy-possums are going to get over the summer, which is really important as to whether these little guys will be able to survive and thrive.”
Olivia said that although the causes of the disrupted moth migration in 2017 were not fully known, threats to key insect species include land–clearing, insecticide use, light pollution and climate change.
“As we are seeing here in the high country, what impacts the moth population is not just about the moths,” she said.
“It’s about the entire alpine food web, and that includes the mountain pygmy-possum.”
