CSIRO PUBLISHING Wildlife Research, 2011, 38, 509–524 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR11064 Drought-driven change in wildlife distribution and numbers: a case study of koalas in south west Queensland Leonie Seabrook A,E, Clive McAlpine A,B, Greg Baxter A,B, Jonathan Rhodes A,B, Adrian Bradley C and Daniel Lunney D AThe University of Queensland, Landscape Ecology and Conservation Group, School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. BThe University of Queensland, The Ecology Centre, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. CThe University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. DOffice of Environment and Heritage NSW, PO Box 1967, Hurstville, New South Wales 2220, Australia and School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia. ECorresponding author. Email:
[email protected] Abstract Context. Global climate change will lead to increased climate variability, including more frequent drought and heatwaves, in many areas of the world. This will affect the distribution and numbers of wildlife populations. In south-west Queensland, anecdotal reports indicated that a low density but significant koala population had been impacted by drought from 2001–2009, in accord with the predicted effects of climate change. Aims. The study aimed to compare koala distribution and numbers in south-west Queensland in 2009 with pre-drought estimates from 1995–1997. Methods. Community surveys and faecal pellet surveys were used to assess koala distribution. Population densities were estimated using the Faecal Standing Crop Method. From these densities, koala abundance in 10 habitat units was interpolated across the study region.