From a teenage possum nurse to the scientific vanguard of marsupial health, Dr Michaela Blyton has always loved animals.
That said, she hadn’t even encountered a koala before she devoted her studies to them.
“They're fairly rare down around southern New South Wales and Canberra where I’m from,” she says.
“But then when I started working with the microbiome, I found they were actually a really cool animal.
“And as much an animal as any other”
Despite the esteem in which koalas are held by the public, Dr Blyton admits the species is in dire straits.
She is working hard at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at The University of Queensland, to fill a number of crucial information gaps that could tell us how to better care for, protect, and treat the species to halt their worrying decline.
“Koalas are obviously facing a number of threats and they are clearly in decline, particularly in the north of the country,” Michaela says.
“But a lot of the research that's been done on them has been very applied: It's sort of like ‘we've got a problem with this particular koala population’, or ‘we want to preserve these particular koalas.’”
Read on to find out about Michaela’s scientific journey - from orphaned possum carer to the forests of southern Victoria – and how she hopes to help an iconic animal make a comeback.
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Michaela you work with some incredible creatures. Did you start out wanting to research koalas in particular?
Well, it didn’t exactly start out that way. I sort of fell into the koala side of things.
My PhD research was actually on mountain brushtail possums. As part of that I did a very broad study looking at their social system, genetics and pathogen transmission. That led me to my first postdoc, which was actually looking at the ecology of E. coli bacteria across lots of different animals, including humans.
I was interested in the microbiome and its association with mate choice, and somebody suggested that koalas were perhaps a good species to look at.
An ‘accidental koala researcher’?
I've always wanted to work with animals, with wildlife. But koalas were never something I was particularly interested in.
I suppose that’s partly because they are so iconic, you know. You see them at the zoo or you see them turned into cartoons in the media and this sort of thing and to me, they were almost more a symbol and not an animal.
Before I started the gut microbiome work I'd actually never even seen a koala because they're fairly rare down around southern New South Wales and Canberra where I’m from. But then when I started working with the microbiome, I found they were actually a really cool animal. And as much an animal as any other animal.
My affection and appreciation definitely grew over time.
Okay let’s talk about this gut microbiome research. It sounds like a formative step
The microbiome research began when I was at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.
I took up a position working on koala gut microbiome and nutritional ecology, which is part of the work I’m continuing now.
As part of that work my colleague Dr Ben Moore and I did a fecal inoculation study down in Cape Otway in Victoria.
The famous poo transplant study?
Yes! There had been a massive drop in koala numbers at Cape Otway since about 2013. The population had reached quite a high density because they had defoliated their preferred tree species, manna gum, but they weren’t eating messmate, so they were starving.
Dr Moore and I wondered why that was, especially because some koalas feed exclusively on messmate. Maybe it was because of the microbiomes in their gut? Were their microbiomes limiting their diet?
So we collected poo from radio-collared wild koalas that ate messmate, then concentrated the microorganisms in the poo and packaged them into acid-resistant capsules, and gave them to koalas we had in temporary captivity.
We were trying to change the microbiomes of koalas and see if that changed what they can eat.
Basically we found that it does look like the microbiome is actually affecting what species of Eucalyptus koalas can feed on.
And you’ve continued this work in Brisbane?
That’s right. I moved up to Brisbane three years ago so I could take up the position at UQ working on koalas, and more specifically the koala retrovirus.
My husband moved with me. And we have a son, Kye, who was two in October. He likes koalas. They're not his favourite animal though. We often collaborate with wildlife sanctuaries, so I sometimes take him there to see some of the koalas.
But he's far more interested in the Tasmanian devil because they run around more.
You mentioned you’ve always had an affinity for wildlife. Did you grow up with animals?
Yeah we had pets and that sort of thing growing up in Canberra.
I guess it started with cats and dogs and guinea pigs but then I became more interested in wildlife.
When I was, I think, about 11 or 12 I became a wildlife carer with the RSPCA. I was looking after mostly birds - baby birds - magpies and things like that. But I also specialised in orphaned possums. And I think that's where I really got the interest.
Do you think when it comes to science, it is easier to get people interested if it involves helping animals?
I think so. There's a big difference also between what animal that you're working with. I've been lucky enough to work on the cute and fluffy animals which gives me sort of a bit of an advantage over people that work on things like lizards.
But it was interesting going from working on a mountain brushtail possum to something like a koala. Most of the time, I'd tell people I was working on a mountain brushtail possum and people would be like, “Oh, I've got an annoying possum in my roof that eats my roses” or this sort of thing. And so there wasn't much interest in them.
But you know, koalas being so iconic, there’s a lot more interest in them.
Koalas really seem to be fighting a number of battles these days. Habitat loss, climate change, disease… Do you think we’re doing enough to save them?
I think one of the things that surprised me with koalas when I started working with them is the lack of information we have on them. Mountain brushtail possums are a pretty unknown species that doesn't have a lot of interest and yet we know about their basic sociality, their genetics, all of these sorts of things. But we didn't know a lot of the basic information for koalas. Some of that is changing now but it is still a work in progress.
Koalas are obviously facing a number of threats and they are clearly in decline, particularly in the north of the country. But a lot of the research that's been done on them has been very applied: It's sort of like ‘we've got a problem with this particular koala population’, or ‘we want to preserve these particular koalas.’
And I think what's been missing a lot with koala conservation is that big picture. You know, what's going on with the species, what are the common patterns? What even are they eating?
One of the things that I'm doing at the moment is developing a genetic method to identify what species of Eucalyptus they eat, because it doesn’t necessarily correlate with which trees we see koalas sitting in. They choose trees for other reasons, like it being a good shady tree or a comfortable tree to sleep in.
Yet, if you look at management plans in New South Wales and Queensland, habitat preservation is all based around preserving food trees. We could be doing a lot better if we knew exactly what trees they're eating.
So what surprised me a bit with koalas is that there's all this research going on, but a lot of it wasn't being put together in a big picture.
One of the particular disease threats you are looking at is the koala retrovirus yeah? What exactly is it?
So the retrovirus – or KoRV – is an AIDS-like virus that is found in koalas in certain parts of Australia, and it basically leaves them vulnerable to chlamydia, conjunctivitis, and other health conditions.
KoRV basically suppresses koalas’ immune systems. It’d previously been established that koalas in Queensland and NSW were more widely affected by both chlamydia and the retrovirus, and we’ve now found the two are definitely connected.
We’re still looking at how certain environmental and geographic factors influence the spread of KoRV.
It’s pretty confronting to read about, especially when there are already a number of threats on the board. But I guess the hope is that we find new ways to treat them and manage them and better inform koala breeding programs. Maybe even one day develop a type of anti-viral medication.
What does success look like in your work? If everything fell into place? How would you hope the future unfolds for koalas?
I mean, obviously, the biggest problem is habitat. And so we need reestablishment of habitat and we need better preservation of existing habitat. And that's not particularly complex compared to the other problems that koalas face.
We’re also looking at the association between koala retrovirus and stress, and if we can reduce environmental stresses, does that actually help their health as well?
So it’s about not trying to view disease and koala health separately from the environment that they're living in. We’re trying to connect the ecology of the species.
Do you feel hopeful that we will be able to save this species?
I think that we're making really good inroads into understanding koalas, and with the retrovirus there's some really good therapeutic options coming on board. I feel like we can make quite a difference, at least at the individual level of koalas.
But like I said, there’s the bigger picture of habitat. While I feel that there's a lot of public goodwill towards koalas, and the fact that they’re endangered means they get a lot of political attention… I guess the sceptic in me is waiting to see if that translates into action on the ground.
There's every potential to do so. There just needs to be that actual political will to make it happen.
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