Student Volunteer Researcher   Michael Hitchcock 3rd yr Zoology student
Catching and recording mutations of the desert trilling frog from the uranium mine pollution video clip.AVI 13.4Mb	Michael volunteered at "Arid Recovery", an ecosystem restoration initiative based in the South Australian outback and dedicated to the restoration of Australia's arid lands. "Going to Roxby Downs was great; leaving Tasmania for an arid landscape was such a shock." At first glance you would think that there is not much in the way of animal life out there. But during my stay the phrase “If you're not seeing anything then your not looking hard enough” kept coming into my head. As you look closer you can see footprints in the red dunes of hopping mice, Bolam's mice, plains mice, stick-nest rats, bilbies, burrowing bettongs and more. I worked in collaboration with well-known scientists such as Katherine Moseby and John Read in designing and getting a long-term monitoring program of the ground. I spent many hours in the lab creating methods followed by weeks of 14-hour days in the field. The project was aimed at measuring burrowing bettong grazing damage to the native flora, so as to provide an accurate portrayal of a possible overpopulation of bettongs. Being at Arid Recovery for 5 weeks I also had the chance to assist with other projects such as catching and recording mutations of the desert trilling frog from the uranium mine pollution, one way gate trials, native and feral footprint transects, bilby and bettong catching/processing and the huge annual trapping week where I got to see just about every animal in the area including my favourite the central knob-tailed gecko.” Arid Recovery home page
More information about Zoology and volunteering at UTas or email Dr Ashley Edwards Phone - 6226 2617 Room 2/36 School of Zoology University of Tasmania
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