The use of eDNA technologies to support conservation and restoration top-up scholarship

This top-up scholarship supports PhD students using environmental DNA (eDNA) and genetic tools to inform conservation and management. The scholarship focuses on an inter-disciplinary collaboration exploring the impacts, complex relationships and potential consequences of management actions for multiple species in the increasingly urbanised environment in the Australian Capital Territory. The project will use leading eDNA technologies to explore the detection of, and trophic interactions among species in the Ginninderry landscape in the ACT, focussing on three key components - red fox, large native and domestic grazers and the threatened pink-tailed worm lizard. The unique information obtained from this work will expand understanding of these species and potential interactions between them and will directly inform management and conservation efforts in this landscape. The scholarship provides an additional $8,000 per annum for 3 years to supplement an approved ANU HDR Base Stipend Scholarship.