Investigating multiple monitoring strategies to assess population persistence following translocation of the endangered Mallee Emu-wren

My PhD thesis, titled ‘improving conservation outcomes in translocation programs’, will investigate the science underpinning the planning, implementation, and post release monitoring of translocation programs. A core chapter of my research program, the subject of this application, will investigate monitoring to ascertain long-term persistence of translocated populations. In this chapter I aim to:
• Assess the effectiveness of ARUs for monitoring populations of cryptic species by comparing population estimates based on observer and ARU surveys in a paired study.
• Summarise costs and benefits of both methods.
•Provide translocation managers with an explicit comparison between observer and ARU monitoring techniques to aid long-term conservation decision making.