Celine Frere | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | University of Queensland University of New South Wales |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Conservation, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology |
Celine Frere is a Swiss evolutionary biologist. In 2017, she was named one of Australia's first "Superstars of STEM" by Science & Technology Australia. [1] She is known for co-founding USC's Detection Dogs for Conservation initiative, training sniffer dogs to aid in research and conversation efforts around endangered and protected species.
Frere was born and raised outside of Geneva, Switzerland. [2] After graduating high school in 1999, she moved to Australia to attend university. In 2002, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Queensland, where she studied humpback dolphins for her undergraduate research. [2] She then pursued her graduate education in evolutionary biology at the University of New South Wales, where she joined the Shark Bay Dolphin Project, working to understand how social and genetic factors affect dolphins' ability to survive and reproduce. [2] She began her postdoctoral work in 2009 at the University of Queensland, transitioning from studying dolphins to studying koalas as they were undergoing a dramatic decline in their population. [2] Her research focused on using koala poop to track and trace the animals, which became the basis for her subsequent research. [3]
Frere became a research fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast where she began her program of training dogs to follow the scent trail of koala poop to track where koalas were living and patters of habitation. [2] She and her research group tested a detection dog called Maya trained by professional dog trainer Gary Jackson to smell koala scat, demonstrating that this method was more efficient and accurate than other scat surveying methods. [4] The method served as the basis for USC's Detection Dogs for Conservation, which she co-founded with colleague Romane Critescu. [5] The program is dedicated to promoting the use of detection dogs in environmental conservation efforts. [5] The program has since trained three dogs, including a dog called Bear, who found and rescued over 100 koalas affected by the 2020 bushfires. [6] [7]
The koala, sometimes called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. Its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the island's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, dark nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm (24–33 in) and weighs 4–15 kg (8.8–33.1 lb). Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate subspecies, but this is disputed.
The dingo is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scientific names presently applied in different publications. It is variously considered a form of domestic dog not warranting recognition as a subspecies, a subspecies of dog or wolf, or a full species in its own right.
The Labrador Retriever or simply Labrador is a British breed of retriever gun dog. It was developed in the United Kingdom from St. John's water dogs imported from the colony of Newfoundland, and was named after the Labrador region of that colony. It is among the most commonly kept dogs in several countries, particularly in the European world.
Biriwal Bulga National Park is an Australian national park in New South Wales. It is approximately 45 km north west of Taree and 60 km west of Port Macquarie on the Bulga Plateau.
The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) is registered Australian charity created in 1986, dedicated to the effective management and conservation of the koala and its habitat. It is the principal non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to the conservation and effective management of the wild koala and its habitat.
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by detection dogs is smell. Hunting dogs that search for game, and search and rescue dogs that work to find missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs but fit instead under their own categories. There is some overlap, as in the case of cadaver dogs, trained to search for human remains.
Noosa Heads is a coastal town and suburb in the Shire of Noosa, Queensland, Australia. It is a popular holiday destination. In the 2021 census, the suburb of Noosa Heads had a population of 5,120 people.
Australia Zoo is a 700-acre (280 ha) zoo in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is a member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA), and is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter and his family's new show Crikey! It's the Irwins made the zoo a popular tourist attraction.
South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. The area covered by South East Queensland varies, depending on the definition of the region, though it tends to include Queensland's three largest cities: the capital city Brisbane; the Gold Coast; and the Sunshine Coast. Its most common use is for political purposes, and covers 35,248 square kilometres (13,609 sq mi) and incorporates 11 local government areas, extending 240 kilometres (150 mi) from Noosa in the north to the Gold Coast and New South Wales border in the south, and 140 kilometres (87 mi) west to Toowoomba. It is the third largest urban area in Australia by population.
A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength or for transportation, while others are service animals trained to execute certain specialized tasks. They may also be used for milking or herding. Some, at the end of their working lives, may also be used for meat or leather.
Functional extinction is the extinction of a species or other taxon such that:
Melody Horrill is a journalist, former TV presenter and media/communications manager. She is the author of a memoir A Dolphin Called Jock which details how she discovered trust and love through an appreciation of nature through her remarkable friendship with a wild dolphin called Jock in Adelaide's Port River. The interaction helped her move past a childhood and youth dominated by domestic violence. She is now a passionate advocate for the dolphins of the Port River.
A Red Dingo is a large dingo species cross between a dingo and a domestic dog. The current population of free ranging domestic dogs in Australia is probably higher than in the past. However, the proportion of the so-called "pure" dingoes has been on the decrease over the last few decades due to hybridisation and is regarded as further decreasing.
Booroobin is a rural locality split between the City of Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast Region in Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Booroobin had a population of 258 people.
Rebecca Nicole Johnson is an Australian scientist (geneticist) and science communicator. Since April 2015, Johnson has been Director and Chief Scientist of the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), Sydney, the first female to be appointed to the role since the establishment of the Australian Museum in 1827. She is also head of the Australian Museum's Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics, a wildlife forensics laboratory based at the Australian Museum.
The Big Pineapple Music Festival is held annually at the Big Pineapple Landmark, in Woombye, Queensland, Australia. The festival features a range of artists from a variety of genres and first occurred on 21 April 2013 with over 8,000 tickets purchased. The festival was initially developed by the new Big Pineapple landmark owners, in an attempt to pull the business out of bankruptcy. From 2016-2019, the festival has repeatedly sold out, with the 2019 Big Pineapple Music Festival reporting a record attendance of 16,000 people. The Big Pineapple Music Festival has consecutively won the ‘People’s Choice Award Festival of the Year’ for 2018 and 2019 at the Queensland Music Awards.
Rebecca Cliffe is a British zoologist, award-winning conservationist, and one of the leading experts on sloth biology and ecology. She is the Founder and executive director of The Sloth Conservation Foundation and author of the book Sloths: Life in the Slow Lane.
The Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation (DWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2012. The foundation is based at the Dreamworld amusement park on the Gold Coast, Australia. DWF primarily focuses on animal welfare.
Koala conservation organisations, programs and government legislation are concerned with the declining population of koalas, a well known Australian marsupial found in gum trees. The Australian government declared the species as endangered by extinction in 2022.
Peter Timms is an Australian koala conservationist. He is best known for his scientific contributions relating to infectious disease threats to koalas such as chlamydia and koala retrovirus.
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