This postgraduate student award is made possible through the generosity of Allen Keast, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Queens University, Kingston Ontario, Canada. Professor Keast is arguably Australia's most influential ornithologist if account is taken of the scope of his research, the number of scientists with whom he has worked, and the part he has played in educating the global ornithological community about Australia's birds. Professor Keast is a Fellow of the RAOU and was awarded the D. L. Serventy Medal in 1995. His desire to fund a postgraduate award stems from a lifelong passion to encourage and support young ornithologists. Allen Keast sadly passed away in May 2009.

2010 PAKRA Recipient

The winner of the PAKRA 2010 is Kate Stevens of Deakin University. Her research focuses on the behaviour and ecology of the Grey-crowned Babbler Pomatostomus temporalis.

The Grey-crowned Babbler (GCB) is listed as endangered within Victoria and numerous knowledge gaps persist. To ensure survival of GCBs, further ecological and biological studies will ensure that the best available conservation information is made available for management strategies.

In Victoria the GCB is largely persisting within decreasing areas of roadside vegetation. Coupled with this, Babblers are habitat specialists and under increasing pressure from the effects of fragmentation on their highly social and cooperative breeding nature. This study is focused on specific aspects of GCB ecology that are currently poorly understood. A comparative habitat-use analysis, incorporating different vegetation types across an environmental gradient, will determine critical habitat resources across the southern part of their range. Determining fragmentation and isolation thresholds will help identify populations under greatest risk of extinction, and an understanding of brood-nest site-selection patterns will highlight areas of reproductive processes which may be better managed.

2009 PAKRA Recipient

The winner of PAKRA 2009 is Saul Cowen, who is analysing the population genetics and inbreeding effects in the Noisy Scrub-bird Atrichornis clamosus.

Genetic bottlenecking is a significant risk to species in small and isolated populations. Translocations from these populations compound this problem by causing further founder events. This can result in inbreeding depression, decreasing genetic diversity and reducing reproductive fitness.  The Noisy Scrub-bird, listed as Endangered, is one such bottlenecked species. The original population of this species was small (with c.45 males at its lowest point) but a series of translocations have introduced further bottlenecks. For example, on Bald Island a tiny founder group of 11 birds (including 8 males) was used to seed a population in 1992/3. Despite this, the population has shown vigorous growth since inception with 95 singing males in 2007. Understanding the population genetics of the Noisy Scrub-bird and any future reduction in fitness, is a priority for management of the species and this project attempts to tackle these questions.

Saul is studying at Curtin University of Technology under Associate Professor David Groth.

2008 PAKRA Recipient

The winner of PAKRA 2008 is Kim Maute, who is comparing the health patterns of declining and non-declining finch species at sites with pastoral, aboriginal, or conservation-focused land management. Birds are measured for body condition (mass, fat, and muscle) and small blood sample is taken for measurement of haematocrit (energy demands), CORT (stress hormone), plasma proteins, and anti-oxidant levels. Kim also monitors seasonal habitat quality at each site to provide links between finch health and environmental conditions.

Heath measures are proving to be useful indicators of the response of grass finches to environmental pressures. Birds living on pastoral land, especially the declining Gouldian Finch, often had higher stress, energy demands, and sometimes lower body condition than birds on conservation managed land. Common species, such as the Long-tailed Finch, rarely show differences in health between populations on different properties. This suggests that declining species are more sensitive to differences in land management than non-declining species.

Kim is working towards a PhD with the University of Wollongong and also works with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

2007 PAKRA Recipient

The winner of PAKRA 2007 is Anja Skroblin whose project aims to gather data on the distribution, abundance and phylogeography of the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren as well as the spatial structure of its habitat.  It will examine the relationship between patch occupancy, dispersal behaviour, population genetics and pattern of habitat patches at a landscape scale.  The effect of habitat loss and degradation on population dynamics will be investigated to predict implications of current land management practices and to make recommendations for effective conservation of riparian specialists such as the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren and other patchily distributed species.

Variation in plumage pattern and phenotypic measures were identified between catchments surveyed.  Males and females where found to differ in head-bill length, tarsus length and wing-length across catchments.  Further sampling is required to test the significance of this body-size variation.  Males have been also been found to vary in pattern of breeding plumage.  Whilst most males have entirely faun coloured backs, some males were found to have dark feathers across the rump (see photo).  It will be interesting to see if these males are genetically, as well as, phenotypically distinct.

Anja Skroblin is currently studying at ANU, and her supervisor is Professor Andrew Cockburn.