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Uni students get set for studies

PICTURE: Assembled after a guided walk with Wendy and Craig Patrick at the Farm Street, Speers Point site. Back row: Associate Professor Michelle Duffy (Geography and Environmental Studies), Annabel Hanthorn – working with Craig & Margaret, Dr Craig Evans (Environmental Science and Management), Jakob Kaldec (working with Michelle), Craig Patrick, MHCS; Front row: Dr Alex Callen (Environmental Science and Management), Christie Maylon (working with Alex), Dr Margaret Platell (Environmental Science and Management), Wendy Patrick, MHCS and Dr Liam Phelan (Environmental Science and Management).

Research projects get underway

Three University of Newcastle studies will help us better understand what makes Munibung Hill tick.

AS part of the University Summer Scholarship Research Projects, three students will be conducting some base line studies in association with MHCS. The projects kicked off with guided walks of the sites on Tuesday 22nd November.  One of the projects  will focus on the Hill proper, the other two will focus on Biddabah Creek, its eastern tributaries and wetland site.

Finding The Preferred Habitat For Bandicoots On Munibung Hill
Project goal: Munibung Hill has a long history of indigenous and European occupation and different native ground mammals respond differently to habitat changes and disturbance. The habitat requirements of the bandicoot are a good example of this; where they are now known to occupy vegetation communities we may consider as degraded but may provide them with the cover from predation and foraging resources they need. The project will explore the relationship of bandicoots to the existing vegetation communities on Munibung Hill to provide a description of the habitats they currently occupy to guide further conservation efforts at the site.

Uncovering Munibung Hill Waterways. 
Under the guidance of Assoc. Professor Michelle Duffy, Jakob Kadlec will conduct this project with the goal: To explore the social and cultural significance of water in remnant bushland at the edges of urban development, for example: tracing the changes to waterways and their impact on Indigenous, non-Indigenous and more-than-human communities; and creating an archive of stories associated with Munibung Hill’s waterways. 

Water from the Hill.   
Under the guidance of Dr Craig Evans, Annabell Hanthorn will conduct this study with a focus on: The condition of Munibung Hill’s water courses, affected by past landscape degradation and urbanisation, is integral to revitalising the biodiversity and cultural appreciation of the area. These effects are evidenced by elevated pollutant levels and impacted habitat condition observed in prior investigations of waterways from the south-western side of the hill. The current project will build on this water quality reference base with a focus on conditions in the largely un-investigated Biddabah Creek catchment, on the hill’s eastern side.

MMM … Issue 35, December 22 – January 2023