Extending roughly 650km from southwest South Australia into Western Australia, the Nullabor Plain is home to the largest population of the southern hairy-nosed wombat.

However, significant declines in the range and abundance of wombat populations across South Australia have been reported, with stressors like climate change and intense competition for resources disrupting numbers.

Species like the European Rabbit are a threat to wombat populations, as they erode the soil and eat more than their fair share of the vegetation on the land.

University of Adelaide researcher and PhD candidate Natarsha McPherson was successful in using satellite data from Google Earth and Bing Maps to remotely map out wombat and rabbit warrens.

You might like

In Depth

Cyclone Alfred starts beach monitoring debate

In Depth

Dinosaur secret unearthed after hiding in plain sight

“A major challenge with the scale and remoteness of Australia’s remote arid and semi-arid regions is that we often lack the funding and accessibility to identify and monitor these populations. So, using satellite imagery can be very useful to identify presence, extent, and density,” McPherson said.

“Using accessible options ensures that not only is it a convenience for research, but remains a feasible approach outside of it.”

While using satellite imagery to identify and assess animal populations is not necessarily new, this South Australian study provides a comprehensive assessment of the technology’s effectiveness and constraints, while also being a first to determine that it can be used to capture data on two interacting species with a high degree of accuracy.

“Bing Maps and Google Earth display available imagery and reduce the manual workload that would be associated with sourcing from less accessible options,” McPherson said.

The more that conservation researchers like McPherson can track and gather information on where wombats and rabbits live, the better they can recommend conservation activities that protect native species and control the invasive ones.

“As ecosystem engineers, [wombats’] digging behaviour largely regulates soil productivity and can provide refuge for a range of other species,” McPherson said.

“Now, with a largely fragmented distribution across South Australia, safeguarding their populations against climate change and other stressors is a considerable focus.”

It is anticipated that this approach can be transferable to other species and habitats, possibly eliminating the need to conduct field studies in notoriously harsh conditions like the arid outback.