Aim 4. Evidence-based management actions
Project outputs will quantify the threat from WNS to bats across southeastern Australia and direct the application of management actions to prepare for and respond to the impacts of a WNS outbreak among Australian bat populations. We have partnered with key agencies responsible for emerging wildlife diseases and managing the risk posed by WNS to Australian cave-roosting bats. The quantitative vulnerability mapping will improve their capacity to make the most effective management decisions at each of the pre-arrival, invasion front, epidemic and recovery stages of the disease. It will provide solid justification for resources to be allocated where and when they are most required.
Management guidelines for responding to Pd incursion are drafted by Wildlife Health Australia and our research findings will allow the detailed revision of these recommendations, thereby improving Australia’s preparedness for the disease. Our research will direct the application of targeted biosecurity measures and longitudinal screening programs to monitor potential Pd transmission pathways. Project outcomes will inform decisions about the management of critical hibernation cave-roosting sites.
Our research partnerships will also investigate options for interventions that could reduce the impact of a WNS outbreak (linking to intense research activity in this area currently in North America). Even relatively mild detrimental effects of WNS could have serious consequences for the extinction risk of Australia’s cave-roosting bats, which already face a number of threats. Our research will deliver information needed to develop conservation measures to increase the long-term viability of threatened cave bat populations.
Management guidelines for responding to Pd incursion are drafted by Wildlife Health Australia and our research findings will allow the detailed revision of these recommendations, thereby improving Australia’s preparedness for the disease. Our research will direct the application of targeted biosecurity measures and longitudinal screening programs to monitor potential Pd transmission pathways. Project outcomes will inform decisions about the management of critical hibernation cave-roosting sites.
Our research partnerships will also investigate options for interventions that could reduce the impact of a WNS outbreak (linking to intense research activity in this area currently in North America). Even relatively mild detrimental effects of WNS could have serious consequences for the extinction risk of Australia’s cave-roosting bats, which already face a number of threats. Our research will deliver information needed to develop conservation measures to increase the long-term viability of threatened cave bat populations.