“We found three species in our house that had never been documented in the Atlas of Living Australia.”

Dr. Matthew Holden is an applied mathematician and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. Some of his projects include developing methods to assess the health of fisheries, control invasive species and agricultural pests, and save threatened species from anthropogenic threats.

When Brisbane went into lockdown during the 2020 pandemic, Matt and his housemates Russell Yong and Andrew Rogers made the most of all those home-hours by surveying the biodiversity of their suburban block. What they discovered surprised them, and the wider ecological community.

The Ecological Society of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Matt lives and works on the lands of the Jaguar and Turrbal peoples.

Help the ESA support ecology in Australia by donating (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/donate/donation-form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) or by becoming a member (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ecolsoc.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠).

The music in this podcast is 'Glow' by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

Episode image credit - Matt Holden.

Season image credit - Russell Charters.