Collaboration for Shared Aquatic Ecosystems

The University of Newcastle actively collaborates with both local and regional communities through partnerships that support the protection and sustainable management of shared aquatic ecosystems.

In 2025, University conservation researchers worked with regional land managers and community participants to protect freshwater breeding habitats in the Watagans and monitor threatened frogs across New South Wales. These collaborations link local knowledge and participation with practical action to maintain shared aquatic environments.

Protecting freshwater habitats with regional partners

Watagans frog breeding ponds and habitat recovery

In 2025, the University’s Centre for Conservation Science described its collaborative recovery programme for the endangered Littlejohn’s tree frog. Working with NSW Forestry Corporation and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, University researchers helped create more than 40 breeding ponds in the Watagans, near the University’s Central Coast region. The ponds provide freshwater breeding habitat and form a connected corridor between two frog populations previously separated by around two kilometres.

^{Littlejohn's tree frog. Credit: Krishna Komanduri}

University scientists identified suitable pond sites and used genetic monitoring to show that the new habitat corridor improved movement of genes between the isolated populations. The partnership combines aquatic habitat creation, population monitoring and conservation research to support the continued recovery of a threatened local species.

The project also has a documented community dimension. During its 2023 launch at Olney State Forest, revegetation work was supported by volunteers from the Awaba Mountain Bike Club, Friends of Strickland and the NSW & ACT Four Wheel Drive Association. Forestry Corporation also consulted local recreational groups and forest users. This earlier participation demonstrates how regional organisations, volunteers and researchers have worked together to care for a shared freshwater habitat.

^{The new Littlejohn’s walking trail at Olney State Forest}

Community scientists helping monitor freshwater ecosystems

In 2025, the University continued to involve members of the public in aquatic conservation through Frog Find. Supported by the Gregory Knibb Memorial Scholarship in Conservation, PhD researcher Oliver Kelly is expanding this in-field and online community-science initiative to identify habitats of threatened frogs in New South Wales.

Acoustic monitoring devices record frog calls at night, while community volunteers review recordings and help identify species. Dozens of devices were reported as deployed in 2025. By contributing observations that researchers cannot collect alone, community participants help locate important frog habitats and provide information relevant to ongoing ecosystem monitoring and protection.

The University’s broader frog conservation research programme also documents field partnerships and earlier citizen-science contributions in the Watagans, Barrington Tops and other NSW habitats. These connections illustrate the ongoing role of community participation in maintaining freshwater biodiversity.

Working with local communities on coastal and waterway care

Indigenous-led care for Onebygamba waterways

The University has also worked with the Spiritual Water Ways Indigenous corporation through the Nurringil/Re-Spiriting of Onebygamba initiative in Carrington, Newcastle. Co-developed by Associate Professor Sara Motta and Aunty Theresa Dargin of the Dates mob, Worimi peoples, the initiative brings Indigenous leadership, cultural knowledge and University learning together to strengthen relationships with degraded waterways and surrounding Country. Work has included documenting the tidal and ecological life of the local mangroves through stories and soundscapes, alongside a Work Integrated Learning relationship with Newcastle Business School.

Supported through grants and scholarships awarded during 2022–2024, this is a local example of community-led waterway stewardship and shared learning.

CoastSnap community coastal monitoring

Another established community-science model is CoastSnap, co-founded by University researcher Dr Michael Kinsela with a University of New South Wales collaborator. Community members take repeat smartphone photographs of beaches, generating information that helps researchers and coastal managers understand shoreline change and plan adaptive responses. This longer-running initiative illustrates how public participation can contribute to informed care of coastal environments.

Sharing aquatic conservation expertise across the Pacific

The University’s wider partnerships complement its locally focused work. In September 2025, Associate Professor Troy Gaston and Dr Alex Callen undertook catchment fieldwork in Rarotonga with the Cook Islands National Environment Service through the Enhancing Nature’s Unique Areas project. They collaborated with government and community stakeholders, including Muri Environment Care and the Kōrero O Te ‘Ōrau Environmental Education Centre, to strengthen catchment assessment and share ecological restoration expertise.

Through partnerships in Samoa, University researchers have also worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa and the National University of Samoa on marine microplastics research and local scientific capacity. The Pacific Initiative provides a broader framework for environmental cooperation with communities and institutions in the region. These overseas collaborations extend the University’s approach to participatory aquatic conservation, while the Watagans and Hunter projects demonstrate engagement with ecosystems near its Australian campuses.

Through practical habitat restoration, community science and Indigenous-led environmental partnerships, the University supports shared responsibility for aquatic ecosystems in the Hunter and Central Coast regions. Its work in 2025 demonstrates how collaboration can combine scientific expertise and community involvement to help protect freshwater habitats and the species that depend on them.