$2M Boost for Spectacled Flying-foxes

Two new projects, totalling $2 million, will help ensure the survival of the endangered Spectacled Flying-fox – a crucial long-distance pollinator and seed-disperser for Wet Tropics rainforests.

Found only in Far North Queensland and New Guinea, Spectacled Flying-foxes made headlines around the world in 2018 when a heatwave in Far North Queensland wiped out more than 23,000 animals.

Terrain NRM’s Dr Andrew Dennis said the new projects, funded by the Australian Government, aim to reverse the species’ decline through actions including habitat improvements, reducing deaths from tick paralysis, and better understanding and managing the resources that Spectacled Flying-foxes need. One project will also help to develop a new way to monitor their numbers.

Dr Dennis said numbers of Spectacled Flying-foxes had plummeted between 2004 and 2016 – from 250,000 to 75,000 across the Far Northern region from Ingham to Cape York. The 2018 heatwave killed another 23,000 and modelling predicts the declines will continue.

“Spectacled Flying-foxes play a crucial role in our World Heritage forests because they pollinate plants and disperse seeds by eating fruits and moving their seeds across the landscape, in some cases to isolated rainforest areas,” Dr Dennis said.

“However, they are extremely sensitive to disturbances, and their populations have declined over the years because of cyclones, harassment, habitat loss and forest degradation, ticks and hazards like barbed wire and powerlines.

“Climate change is the greatest threat to this species, leading to mass mortality in incidents like the 2018 heat wave. Severe cyclones also impact the species by reducing food sources.”
Led by Terrain NRM, the new collaborative project will bring together scientists, Traditional Owners and conservation groups to better understand Spectacled Flying-fox roosting camps and foraging patterns, and to identify critical areas of habitat for protection and rehabilitation.

Dr Dennis said the project would start by building on existing monitoring work and developing new tools with James Cook University and Traditional Owners.

“Indigenous ranger groups are helping us to collect critical data on camp and foraging behavior, allowing us to pinpoint the highest-risk areas where we can put in some interventions to reduce the threats,” he said.