New website asks Australians to record sightings of insect that is main food source of the mountain pygmy possum

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Every spring, 4.4 billion bogong moths migrate up to 1,000km to the alpine regions of Victoria and New South Wales ahead of the summer heat.

But for the past two years, the number of moths that have made the journey to those areas from breeding grounds in Queensland, NSW and western Victoria has crashed to almost undetectable levels and scientists are turning to the community for help.

A new website, led by Zoos Victoria, is asking Australians to take a photo if they think they see a bogong moth, and to record when and where they saw it.

Called Moth Tracker, the website has been set up to try gather information on the migration routes of the bogong moth and what the coming summer will bring for the species and animals that rely on them.

Decline in bogong moth numbers leaves mountain pygmy possums starving Read more

That includes the mountain pygmy possum, a critically endangered marsupial that hibernates for five to seven months of the year. Just 2,000 of them remain in the wild.

When the possum emerges from under the snow, the bogong moth is its main food source.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The mountain pygmy possum’s main food source is the bogong moth. Photograph: Zoos Victoria

Last year, scientists monitoring the mountain pygmy possum late in the breeding season in Victoria found that between 50% and 95% of the animals had lost their full litters of young. Analysis found the animals had starved to death without their main food source.

“The migration of bogong moths has occurred for over 7,000 years and their arrival in the alpine zone is the second biggest arrival of nutrients in the area after the sun,” Marissa Parrott, a reproductive biologist at Zoos Victoria, said.

“They’re an important species in their own right and they’re crucially important for mountain species like the pygmy possum as well as birds, frogs and plants.”

Parrott said researchers had developed the Moth Tracker website because not enough was known about why the moths were not making it to their summer destination.

The collapse in numbers is unprecedented and there are three likely causes scientists are exploring.

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They are the ongoing drought in south-eastern Australia, changes in agricultural practices such as spraying of crops or flooding of areas for cotton and rice production, and light pollution in urban areas that diverts the moths away from their migration path.

In addition to asking Australians to log sightings of moths – and how many – on the website, the researchers are also asking for assistance in the south-east of the country to reduce light pollution.

Some of the greatest beacons are sporting fields and Canberra’s Parliament House and its surrounds.

Until the end of October, the scientists are asking people to turn off unnecessary outdoor lighting.

To use the Moth Tracker website, participants just need to take a photo, upload it the website, along with the time of the sighting, location and how many moths.

An expert will then examine the photo and if it is identified as a bogong moth it will be logged on a map.

Parrott said it was hoped the data would help researchers to create short- and long-term strategies to aid in the recovery of the moths and the possums.

“We’ve never seen this loss of moths happening before,” she said. “We’re gathering all the data we can … so that we can have both short-term and long-term strategies to protect these species and learn more about what is an unprecedented event.”