our projects

Bennelongia Pty Ltd has wide experience of biological survey and management issues in both aquatic and subterranean ecosystems. Staff have undertaken biological surveys throughout Western Australia for government and private sector clients.

Private sector clients include BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group, Strategen and Coffey Natural Systems. Government clients include the Department of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Water.

Examples of past projects are:

 

Stygofauna survey of the Pilbara region Open Link

  • Undertaken for Department of Environment and Conservation
  • Developed improved survey methods
  • Documented distributions of stygofauna species
  • Initiated taxonomy describing ca. 160 new species

Troglofauna surveys of the eastern Pilbara region

  • Undertaken for BHP Billiton
  • Developed technique of 'scraping' to increase yields of troglofauna sampling
  • Showed many species are comparatively widespread
  • Showed that species distributions extended beyond areas to be mined

Subterranean fauna surveys near Cape Preston, Pilbara

  • Undertaken for Australasian Resources and Mineralogy
  • Surveyed Stygofauna and troglofauna in the region
  • Showed Stygofauna are widely distributed and troglofauna species extended proposed mine pit

Aerial surveys of waterbirds across Australia Open Link

  • Undertaken in association with the University of NSW
  • Documented errors in aerial survey counts
  • Identified high value wetlands e.g. Lake Gregory, Lake Argyle
  • Provided data on regional and national waterbird populations

Ecological character description of Ramsar wetland

  • Undertaken for Department of Environment and Conservation
  • Described the main values of Roebuck Bay, near Broome
  • Identified limits of acceptable change for these values
  • Proposed a monitoring program to measure change in major values of the system

Shorebird monitoring and habitat assessment

  • Undertaken in conjunction with the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
  • Documented species diversity and biomass of mudflat invertebrates
  • Provided baseline data on food availability for migratory shorebirds in north-western Australia