Context A better understanding of how individual animals use their habitat after disturbance can help optimise management practices for their conservation. Forestry is one such disturbance for koalas that operates under regulations based on best available information to minimise impacts. Aims This study aimed to investigate tree use by koalas in a mosaic of young, regenerating trees after timber harvest and mature trees in adjacent exclusion zones. Methods Tracking collars using very high frequency radio and Global Positioning System transmitters were used to track 10 koalas (five males, five females) across all seasons in three forests, 5–10 years after timber harvesting as regulated by practices current at that time. Tree use was compared to availability based on basal area in different parts of the forest. Key results We tracked koalas to 429 day-trees and 70 night-trees during this time. Males and females displayed little difference in tree use. Blackbutt Eucalyptus pilularis and turpentine Syncarpia glomulifera were the most commonly used species during the day, but blackbutt was ranked with the highest preference relative to tree availability. Tallowwood Eucalyptus microcorys was by far the most commonly used tree at night. Koalas used a broad range of tree sizes during the day and night, but most often used medium-sized trees, with preferences for a diameter of 30–60 cm (slightly smaller at night). Koalas used all topographic positions in the landscape, but more than half of the trees used were in lower topographic areas (gullies and lower slopes). Areas mapped as having previous heavy timber harvesting were the most used forest category, followed by riparian exclusion zones. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that koalas commonly used trees regenerating after harvest, although preferences for medium-sized trees and tallowwood as a night browse tree suggest current forestry regulations can be fine-tuned by retaining a greater proportion of these features. Implications Because most trees were used only once, our results support the view and current practice of retaining habitat patches, such as exclusion zones and wildlife clumps (triggered by a koala habitat model), to provide a mix of species and size classes for both food and shelter. A review of tree size and species retention is recommended.

Non-breeding habitats are an important, yet poorly understood component of the habitat requirements of most frog species. As a result, non-breeding habitats may be poorly protected and their loss may be the proximate cause of decline for some species. The giant burrowing frog is a threatened frog species in southeastern Australia. To understand its non-breeding habitat requirements, we measured the habitat attributes associated with non-breeding records of this frog from a number of sites in southern New South Wales and compared these with a series of sites where the species has not been detected. The giant burrowing frog records were typically associated with dry forest and little vegetative ground cover and we suggest that this may be related to the ability of the species to burrow at a site. Suitable habitat areas appear to be widespread across southeastern NSW and Victoria, and the difficulty in detecting the species appears to be the best explanation for the lack of records from many areas.

Technologies for remotely observing animal movements have advanced rapidly in the past decade. In recent years, Australia has invested in an Integrated Marine Ocean Tracking (IMOS) system, a land ecosystem observatory (TERN), and an Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O), but has not established movement tracking systems for individual terrestrial animals across land and along coastlines. Here, we make the case that the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, an open-source, rapidly expanding cooperative automated radio-tracking global network (Motus, https://motus.org ) provides an unprecedented opportunity to build an affordable and proven infrastructure that will boost wildlife biology research and connect Australian researchers domestically and with international wildlife research. We briefly describe the system conceptually and technologically, then present the unique strengths of Motus, how Motus can complement and expand existing and emerging animal tracking systems, and how the Motus framework provides a much-needed central repository and impetus for archiving and sharing animal telemetry data. We propose ways to overcome the unique challenges posed by Australia’s ecological attributes and the size of its scientific community. Open source, inherently cooperative and flexible, Motus provides a unique opportunity to leverage individual research effort into a larger collaborative achievement, thereby expanding the scale and scope of individual projects, while maximising the outcomes of scant research and conservation funding.

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a major cause of acute respiratory tract infections in infants and the elderly for which there are no approved vaccines or antibody therapies. The viral fusion (F) glycoprotein is required for entry and is the primary target of neutralizing antibodies, however, little is known about the humoral immune response generated by humans as a result of natural infection. Here, we use stabilized hMPV F proteins to interrogate memory B cells from two elderly donors. We obtained over 700 paired non-IgM antibody sequences representing 563 clonotypes, indicative of a highly polyclonal antibody response to hMPV F in these individuals. Characterization of 136 of these monoclonal antibodies revealed broad recognition of the hMPV F surface, with potent neutralizing antibodies targeting each antigenic site. Cryo-EM structures of two neutralizing antibodies reveal the molecular basis for recognition of two prefusion-specific epitopes at the membrane-distal apex of hMPV F. Collectively these results provide new insights into the humoral response to hMPV infection in the elderly and will guide development of novel vaccine antigens.