Back from the Brink - The Podcast
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago -Back from the Brink is Queensland's first ever series that delves into conservation stories from the incredible biodiversity hot-spot we have on our doorstep. From hammerhead sharks to giant orchids, the series showcases our region's most threatened species, what is happening to them and the remarkable people working tirelessly to save them from extinction.
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Episodes
E23 - Gums and roses
May 07, 2024 02:45 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBEpisode 23 sees the Natura Pacific team exploring Queensland's Granite Belt; a unique landscape in the state's south. Here, ancient geology and rich biodiversity have resulted in some intriguing relationships between endemic plants and insects. One such relationship is that linking the Border Boronia (Boronia repanda) and its heliozelid moth pollinators. The teeny-tiny moths are the subject of increasing research looking at how their population is directly correlated with the population of t...
E22 - Between a rock and a dry place
December 01, 2023 03:07 - 23 minutes - 53.7 MBEpisode 22 heads into the remote dry, vine-thickets of South East Queensland to meet a remarkable reptile. With Australia's commitment to the 30 by 30 pledge (a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030), we look at what protected areas do for threatened species. The Nangur Spiny Skink (Nangura spinosa) is one such species. With its entire global population occurring in just a handful of national parks, this species is jus...
E21 - The prisoner and the Plunkett
November 21, 2022 03:35 - 24 minutes - 57 MBEpisode 21 takes a look at an exciting project taking place across a series of South East Queensland correctional centers. Named the Connecting Communities Native Seed Project, Natura Pacific have helped create a green production-line that is buzzing away behind the scenes to help protect threatened plants like the beautiful Plunkett Mallee (Eucalyptus curtisii) along with their respective vegetation communities. Native plant seeds are collected, processed and delivered to prisons, where pri...
E20 - Birds without borders
October 05, 2022 03:58 - 30 minutes - 70.7 MBEpisode 20 celebrates National Bird Week 2022 with a story of enduring passion for a rather cryptic little brown bird, or LBJ - little brown job, as they're lovingly known in the birding world! The Eastern Bristlebird is an incredibly rare bird in Queensland these days, found only in a tiny slice of grassy upland woodland on the border with northern New South Wales. Even in the species' stronghold, further south in Jervis Bay, it is struggling against the pressures of climate change, introdu...
E19 - From nest to ocean
September 07, 2022 01:08 - 28 minutes - 65.2 MBEpisode 19 celebrates National Threatened Species Day 2022; a day when Australians come together to remember extinct species, and put thought to curbing future biodiversity loss. We look at celebrating one of Australia's conservation success stories, the Nest to Ocean Program which sees thousands of people across Queensland's coasts working together to support nesting sea-turtles. For the Loggerhead Sea-turtle, who's South Pacific population is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red...
E18 - A tree with no name
May 18, 2022 07:47 - 27 minutes - 62.7 MBEpisode 18 brings us the story of one of the Gold Coast's best-kept secrets. Hidden deep in the rainforest valleys of Ormeau and Kingsholme is a myterious giant that not many people know about. The Ormeau Bottle-tree is a monster of a plant, growing to 35m tall in the wild and bearing a similar bottle-shaped trunk to its closest relative, the Queensland Bottle-tree found in our drier regions. Until relatively recently, this magnificent tree was unknown to science; its still so new in fact th...
E17 - A bird beloved
November 24, 2021 09:50 - 26 minutes - 60.1 MBEpisode 17 looks at the amazing success citizen science can have when tailored towards the monitoring of threatened species. For the Glossy Black-cockatoo, the smallest of Australia's black-cockatoo species, one particular NGO has been working tirelessly to help understand and protect its dwindling populations. For years, the Glossy Black Conservancy has worked with community and policy-makers across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, to map, report and put pressure on politicians, to ensure this...
E16 - Burrowing from the brink
November 04, 2021 21:25 - 31 minutes - 71.9 MBEpisode 16 takes a trip through time as we recount the awe-inspiring conservation success story of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. For conservation to be successful it requires a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on the skills and abilities of society as a whole. This has been the strategy of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science which has worked closely with numerous partners to save this large marsupial from extinction. For over 50 years, the project has played out in cent...
E15 - Our vanishing grandparents
July 22, 2021 21:55 - 21 minutes - 48.3 MBEpisode 15 submerses us in the cool waters of Queensland's southern rivers to meet a living fossil. The Australian Lungfish has survived as a relatively unchanged species for about 145 million years, which means it's not only out-lived the dinosaurs, but it also pre-dates many of them! This incredible fish, having survived for so long in Australia, is facing an uncertain future as we dam our waterways and pollution from run-off causes underwater eelgrass reserves to die off. We meet with Dr ...
E14 - Mysterious creatures of the night
May 21, 2021 00:24 - 31 minutes - 73 MBEpisode 14 zooms into the world of insects. Despite being often poorly-known and out-of-sight, the value of insects to society, and the environment globally, is immeasurable. Some species have, in recent years, been given a shred of limelight, allowing people to understand the amazing life-cycles and ecosystem services these animals perform. For one species, the large and gaudy Southern Pink Underwing moth, only recently discovered, scientists are now appealing to the community in an effort ...
E13 - Jaws of survival
March 19, 2021 05:30 - 29 minutes - 68.4 MBEpisode 13 takes us on a journey into the ocean. Sharks are often feared creatures, but are all of the more than 1,000 species, deserving of such a bad rap? For the Scalloped Hammerhead and other species of hammerhead shark, dispelling myths and misinformation is vitally important if we are to reverse their worrying population declines. We join with Dr Johan Gustafson from the Shark Ecology Australia lab based at Griffith University to learn more on the amazing things they're discovering abo...
E12 - A tale of two vines
March 04, 2021 23:38 - 14 minutes - 33.9 MBEpisode 12 celebrates the week that saw World Wildlife Day take to the social media platforms. While the United Nations' focus this year was on the importance of global forests and forest wildlife, we too dive into a story of one of our own forest-dwellers here in South East Queensland. The stunning Richmond Birdwing butterfly is a large insect that is now a rare sight in its home-range. Due to poisonous weeds and severe land-clearing, this dazzling emerald and jet-black butterfly has lost o...
E11 - My shrinking home
February 12, 2021 03:59 - 32 minutes - 74.3 MBEpisode 11 looks at a subject very close to home. Koalas are one of those icons of Australia that are inextricably linked with our national identity. However, while we marvel at Koalas in captivity or in books, their wild populations are experiencing a massive decline. Will the notion of wild Koalas be but a token of the past, or can the future Australia be a place where we can make room for them? Join us as we meet with expert ecologist Dr Steve Phillips from Biolink on an emotional journey...
E10 - Out of the frying-pan, into the fire
February 05, 2021 04:24 - 21 minutes - 48.6 MBEpisode 10 takes a look at the impacts the 2020 bush-fires had on our most secretive Aussie mammals. The Greater Gliders, now split into 3 new species (Petauroides volans, P. armillatus and P. minor) are obligate hollow-dwelling gliding marsupials closely related to possums but distinguished by a special flying membrane called a petagium that allows them to glide from tree to tree. Join Dr Teresa Eyre from the Queensland Government and Matt Cecil from Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensl...
E09 - The race against the rust
December 21, 2020 02:49 - 23 minutes - 54.8 MBEpisode 9 is about pandemics. A topical issue of 2020, disease pandemics have affected not just our human communities, but those of plants too. Belonging to the Myrtaceae plant family, the Angle-stemmed Myrtle (Gossia gonoclada) is thought to have always been a rare tree. But since 2010, the Angle-stemmed Myrtle along with dozens of other Aussie natives like it have fallen foul to the myrtle rust disease (Austropuccinia psidii) which arrived in Australia by unknown means and is destroying ou...
E08 - If I go, you go
November 20, 2020 07:08 - 18 minutes - 42.4 MBEpisode 8 examines the concept of keystone species and why they are so important in keeping our ecosystems from collapsing. The Weeping Paperbark (Melaleuca irbyana) is one such keystone. It is a small tree that provides ecosystem services for a wide array of special birds, insects and plants, as well as humans, but is sadly in serious decline. We learn from Dr Eleanor Velasquez, who did her PhD on these trees, about what is happening to them, and how important private land and community inv...
E07 - Pollinators put food on our table
November 11, 2020 03:11 - 30 minutes - 69.2 MBEpisode 7 celebrates Australian Pollinator Week (8 - 15 November 2020) focusing on the fascinating world of Stingless Bees and other native bees. The world over, bees are declining due to a range of impacts, but we learn from Dr Tim Heard, author of the Australian Native Bee Book, how we can do our bit to keep these important pollinators going. From bee-hotels to garden bee fuel-stations, you'd be surprised how much you can do to help! To find out more about the amazing Stingless Bee ...
E06 - A hollow for a home
September 12, 2020 00:02 - 20 minutes - 47.4 MBEpisode 6 takes a look at Australia's biggest owl with Dr Rob Clemens from Birdlife Australia. In the last few years the scientific understanding of these large yet secretive birds has increased dramatically, thanks to a regional project headed-up by Rob and his team. Learn more about what makes these owls so special and how you can be part of the team by training up to become an owl spotter! To find out more about the amazing Powerful Owl and how you can help save it from extinction, ...
E05 - Our flying forest care-takers
September 04, 2020 06:29 - 23 minutes - 53.8 MBBack from the Brink - The Podcast is South East Queensland's first audio series bringing you exciting conservation stories about the incredible biodiversity hotspot we call home. This podcast accompanies the Back from the Brink films created by Natura Pacific. Episode 5 focuses on the continuing controversy around flying-foxes, as we meet with Dr Ali Sammel from Griffith University to understand why these ancient flying mammals are so important for our planet. While the Grey-headed Flying...
E05 - Our flying forest care-takers
September 04, 2020 06:29 - 23 minutes - 53.8 MBEpisode 5 focuses on the continuing controversy around flying-foxes, as we meet with Dr Ali Sammel from Griffith University to understand why these ancient flying mammals are so important for our planet. While the Grey-headed Flying-fox is the most threatened of the three flying-foxes in our region, all of these species are vital in maintaining the health of our forests, parks and gardens. Oh...and don't be afraid, they're actually really cute! To find out more about the amazing Grey-h...
E04 - The fungus and the frog
September 01, 2020 07:39 - 19 minutes - 43.6 MBEpisode 4 takes a look at the current pandemic of chytridiomycosis, or in short, chytrid, which is a fungal disease killing the world's frogs at an unprecedented rate. We meet with Dr Mariel Familiar-Lopez, a researcher at Griffith University, who studies tiny mountain-top frogs such as the Red and Yellow Mountain Frog, looking into their secretive lives high up in the cloud forests of South East Queensland. Join us to find out more about these tiny frogs' struggle for survival. To fin...
E03 - We can all help if we want to
August 31, 2020 04:44 - 18 minutes - 42.1 MBEpisode 3 looks at Dr Clare Morrison's work in the conservation of lowland frogs like the Cascade Tree-frog across South East Queensland. Life for frogs in our urban parks and gardens is not easy, but you'll be surprised at how easily we can all get involved in making a frog-friendly pond or frog hotel, or how we can take part in fun, hands-on frog surveys. To find out more about the amazing Cascade Tree-frog and how you can help save it from extinction, search for Natura Pacific Back...
E02 - Being beautiful isn't always rosy
August 31, 2020 04:08 - 20 minutes - 46.7 MBEpisode 2 looks at Professor Catherine Pickering's tales of orchid hunters, orchid conservation and how the plight of our region's largest and arguably most beautiful native orchid, is something we can all learn from. While growing native plants is so important to help support biodiversity in our homes and gardens, we need to be ensuring we source our plants from responsible nurseries. Join Professor Pickering to learn about how you can help fight illegal poaching of our most beautiful flora...
E01 - A drying world
August 05, 2020 06:18 - 12 minutes - 11 MBEpisode 1 looks at Rosalinde Brinkman's story of platypus conservation, working for Watergum, a not-for-profit organisation that helps local communities engage in on-ground activities to restore and maintain protected natural environments. She manages the PlatypusWatch program which is a long-term data monitoring project surveying platypus populations across the City of Gold Coast. From the Coomera River in the city's north to Currumbin Creek in its south, the team engage volunteers with ded...
Back from the Brink - The Podcast - E01 - Duck-billed Platypus
August 05, 2020 06:18 - 12 minutes - 11 MBBack from the Brink - The Podcast is South East Queensland's first audio series bringing you exciting conservation stories about the incredible biodiversity hotspot we call home. This podcast accompanies the Back from the Brink films created by Natura Pacific. Episode 1 looks at Rosalinde Brinkman's story of platypus conservation, working for Watergum, a not-for-profit organisation that helps local communities engage in on-ground activities to restore and maintain protected natural enviro...