Virtual Poster, Presentation Summary Australian Freshwater Sciences Society Conference 2018

Turtles Forever: Securing populations of Bell's Turtle (Myuchelys bellii) (#118)

Adrienne Burns 1 , Paul McDonald 1 , Bruce Chessman 2 , Martin Dillon 3 , Darren Fielder 4 , Geoff Hughes 1 , Brad Nesbitt 5 , Phil Spark 6 , Louise Streeting 1 , Kelly Twigge 3
  1. University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
  2. Chessman Ecology, Pymble, NSW, Australia
  3. Northern Tablelands Local Land Services, Armidale, NSW, Australia
  4. RedLeaf Environmental, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia
  5. Canines for Conservation, Bellingen, NSW, Australia
  6. North West Ecological Services, Tamworth, NSW, Australia

The ‘Turtles Forever’ project aims to secure populations of the threatened Bell's Turtle (Myuchelys bellii), a short-necked freshwater turtle restricted to upland streams in the Namoi, Gwydir and Border Rivers (NSW and QLD). A consortium of partners with expertise in land-management, turtle conservation and research, actively manage, protect and monitor remaining populations. Innovations such as a sniffer dog that detects nesting sites so that eggs can be protected from fox predation using exclusion mesh, and the development of an ex- situ incubation program for eggs are key actions to recover and secure this threatened turtle.