High-quality natural science underpins all our efforts to sustainably manage our unique biodiversity for future generations, and an essential aspect of this is offering research grants to university students, funded by donations from our generous supporters. 

Since 2000, Nature Foundation has awarded $1,974,786 in research grants to post-graduate students, academics, and the community to kickstart careers in research, supporting 464 students. 

Brock Hedges was the recipient of the Roy and Marjory Edwards Scholarship in the 2019 research grants round. The scholarship supported his PhD research, with the majority of fieldwork undertaken at Hiltaba Nature Reserve, where he explored the freshwater granite rock-holes in the area. 

The Roy and Marjory Edwards Scholarship was initiated in 2002 by a generous donation from Mrs Marjory Edwards to establish a perpetual scholarship in conservation biology. This scholarship provides up to $12,000 per annum for up to three years to support a current or intending PhD student at an Australian university, who is investigating the following areas of research interest on Nature Foundation reserves: 

• Threatened species  
• Threat abatement 
• Species Reintroductions

"Support through the Roy and Marjory Edwards Scholarship meant that I could take my PhD research out of the office and into the Australian landscape. Working on Hiltaba Nature Reserve was the highlight of my PhD and I'm so excited that my research is now available both to the scientific community and the Australian public."

– Brock Hedges.

Brock recently published a research paper based on some of his work undertaken at Hiltaba, titled “Environmental DNA reveals temporal and spatial variability of invertebrate communities in arid-lands ephemeral water bodies”. The paper was published in Marine and Freshwater Research, and a related article by two co-authors also appeared in The Conversation. The article has also been published on the Australian Geographic website, and Brock and another of the co-authors have undertaken a few radio interviews on the ABC.

Many thanks to the Nature Foundation staff and volunteers who assisted Brock during his time at Hiltaba Nature Reserve. 

See the abstract of Brock’s research paper below and links to the full research paper and article from The Conversation at the base. 

Environmental DNA reveals temporal and spatial variability of invertebrate communities in arid-lands ephemeral water bodies. 

Brock A. Hedges, Perry G. Beasley-Hall, James B. Dorey, Philip Weinstein, Andrew D. Austin, Michelle T. Guzik. Handling editor: Deniz Özkundakci. 

Context 

Throughout semi-arid and arid Australia surface freshwater is rare, and where it does occur, it is often ephemeral. This is the case for freshwater granite rock-holes throughout much of southern Australia. Rock-holes support freshwater invertebrate communities, but the ongoing threat of climate change means that this ecosystem is likely to experience hydrological disruptions. Rock-holes are also likely to be heavily affected by invasive vertebrates such as feral goats, leading to declining water quality. However, the ecology of this ecosystem is poorly understood despite its relative ecological significance and the extent of its associated threats. 

Aims 

To provide a baseline ecological understanding of this ecosystem, we documented species richness and variability at a series of rock-holes in the Gawler bioregion in South Australia. 

Methods 

We targeted invertebrate taxa present in seven rock-holes, using an environmental DNA approach. Freshwater samples were extracted and sequenced using COI insect–mollusc primers and 16S rRNA crustacean primers. 

Key results 

Metabarcoding recorded invertebrates from 22 orders and 45 families. Community composition varied among rock-holes and throughout the year, with a peak in species richness in winter. 

Conclusions 

Our findings demonstrate the importance of these ecosystems to a range of endemic taxa, and the validity of environmental DNA metabarcoding as an approach for assessing the community composition of rock-hole invertebrates. 

Implications 

We propose establishment of monitoring programs, development of custom barcode reference libraries for the rock-hole ecosystem, and future research into the likely impacts of climate change on the communities associated with them. 

Read the full research paper here.

Read The Conversation article here.

Read the Australian Geographic article here.