Brendan Altlng is a final year PhD Student at the University of New South Wales and an OFF research grant recipient. An audience of 40 watched Brendan present results from his PhD project into interactions between dingoes, an apex predator, and 3 mesopredators – quolls, foxes and goannas. Apex predators, such as dingoes, can exert strong influences on smaller predators, suppressing their numbers, benefitting smaller species in different ways.
Brendan’s work is part of the Myall Lakes Dingo Project, which has been ongoing on the mid-north coast of NSW since 2019.
As part of the project Brendan set up camera traps so he could identify the number of different species in the research area . This resulted in more than a million images, not necessarily all of animals, which had to be checked and identified. Artificial Intelligence was used to assist in this process reducing the amount of work.
One of the project aims is to improve dingo management through collaboration with local residents, national parks, indigenous groups, and council. Part of this includes educating the public to understand dingo behaviour and especially to not feed them. This research indicated that the pure-bred dingoes in the area seem to ooperate within a number of defined ranges.
This presentation can be viewed on OFF’s YouTube channel here.