Pushing the boundaries: how far should we go to prevent species extinction?

We are all feeling the impacts of less rainfall and higher temperatures in the South West of Australia. And so are our threatened species. Assisted colonisation – the introduction of a species outside its indigenous range for conservation purposes – has been suggested for several decades as a pragmatic response to the stressors posed by climate change. But virtually no one has tried it. In this talk Nicki Mitchell will describe the early results of world-first trials of assisted colonisation which aim to reduce the threat of extinction of a critically endangered freshwater tortoise.

Associate Professor Nicki Mitchell’s research is interdisciplinary but has a strong grounding in physiological ecology. Her current focus is to understand if threatened biodiversity needs assistance to adapt to rapid environmental change, using both modelling and field trials to support management decisions. Nicki is a lead councillor of Australia’s Biodiversity Council and has worked in a scientific policy role for the Commonwealth Government.

Host or Publisher Raising the Bar