Wheatbelt NRM is hosting free, interactive community events to explore the role of eDNA sampling and to teach landholders to install eDNA air sensors to detect the elusive chuditch (western quoll).
Once found across much of the continent, the small carnivorous marsupial is now restricted to the southwest of Western Australia. The chuditch faces a high risk of extinction due to introduced animal predation and competition; habitat loss and fragmentation; and deliberate and accidental deaths.
Funded by the Australian Government, Wheatbelt NRM is trialling the use of eDNA to search for the chuditch in key locations within eucalypt woodlands of the WA wheatbelt to pinpoint the best areas for conservation efforts.
