AUGUST 21, 2019
Poo transplants are helping expand koala microbiomes, allowing the marsupials to eat a wider range of eucalypts and possibly survive habitat loss.
A study featuring University of Queensland researchers has analysed and altered microbes in koalas' guts, finding that a faecal transplant may influence what species of eucalypt koalas can feed on.
UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences Dr. Michaela Blyton was inspired to conduct the research after a devastating drop in the koala population on Cape Otway in Victoria.
"In 2013 the koala population reached very high densities, leading them to defoliate their preferred food tree species, manna gum," Dr. Blyton said.
"This led to 70 per cent mortality due to starvation, which was very distressing.
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