Excited to announce the publication of my PhD fieldwork. Studying the role of reptiles as scavengers and the implications for #rewilding. 🦎🪰🐀 https://t.co/syMBSMQdEg

With more conservation fences being built, turtle tunnels set an inspiring precedent: a simple, effective design that ensures safety and mobility for wildlife. #TeamTurtle #ConservationScience 🐢💚 8/n

Beyond turtles, this research highlights the importance of balancing species protection with ecological connectivity. Conservation innovations like these benefit ecosystems as a whole. 🌱🦜🐢 7/n

Costing AUD $1000 each, these tunnels are a scalable solution for reducing fence impacts on migratory turtles. We recommend including such designs in conservation fence standards. 🌏🐢 #WildlifeConnectivity 6/n

We note some key knowledge gaps in understanding of conservation transit devices and recommend some areas for targeted research to move the field forwards. 5/n

We tested these tunnels with great success: 100% of turtles entered, and 44% crossed completely. Long-term monitoring showed 73 successful crossings and no fox intrusions. A win for turtles and conservation! 🐢✅ 4/n

🐢 Conservation fences save native species from predators but can block the migration of others, like Eastern Long-Necked Turtles. Enter turtle tunnels: innovative underpasses designed to keep turtles moving safely. 🌊🚧 #ConservationInnovation 3/n

A fantastic collaborative effort from @WWF_Australia, Booderee National Park and Botanical Gardens, and the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community! See below for a summary 2/n

Early Christmas present! Our paper on turtle transit devices for conservation fences was published open access today in Ecological Management & Restoration. https://t.co/Txt01DtUup 🐢 @RewildingOZ 1/n

Do you like woodland restoration by natural processes? Do you like rigorous long-term experiments? Do you like posters? If so come visit my poster at stand 4.23 at #BES2024. 🌳🌲@BritishEcolSoc @Forest_Research @FR_LUES

Exciting #rewilding research project I’ve been working on for the last year with @RewildingOZ. Let us know if you’ve got any more juicy data to include!

Fantastic day or rich inspiring discussion with @Rewilding_BES. Great to meet so many passionate and knowledgeable rewilders and excellent facilitation from the SIG team.

Fantastic to see some of our work @RewildingOZ getting noticed. Here we came up with a solution to the issue of conservation fences disrupting migration pathways of turtles 🐢.

#quollgoals for rewilding Australia.

Great write up of our new paper on “sky island safe havens” for #rewilding from the Conversation! Full paper here:

Great write up of our new paper on “sky island safe havens” for #rewilding from the @RewildingOZ team! Full paper here:

This work was a fantastic team effort from the amazing @RewildingOZ with support from @WWF_Australia colleagues and @NewsomeTM and colleagues @Sydney_Uni 10/n

If mesas do prove to be effective safe havens we can hope to see the mountain-top forests of NSW and beyond teeming with native species once again! These could be excellent reintroduction sites for animals like this eastern quoll. 9/n

BUT mesas are by no means a silver bullet for rewilding. They’re only available in some areas, and the very isolation that makes them useful also makes them difficult to access and manage. Mesas won’t replace fenced areas BUT offer another tool in the conservationists toolkit.8/n

We believe that mesas could offer a cheaper alternative to fenced safe havens in mountainous areas, and may provide additional advantages, allowing some dispersal of native species back into the wider ecosystem under a “leaky fence model”. 💧💧💧7/n

This work represents a first step in investigating the suitability of sky islands as safe havens. Now we know that mesas can provide refuges from introduced mammals and that lots are available in NSW, more work is needed to investigate their suitably as sites for rewilding. 6/n