Science in action: Women shaping our landscapes

From soil health and biodiversity monitoring to data-driven planning and on-ground action, their work is shaping healthier environments now and into the future. 

Wetlands are home of career aspirations

Aleisha Casson’s work as Wetland Project Officer for the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board takes her along River Murray–connected wetlands, where her work focuses on understanding how wetlands function and the ways plants and animals respond to changes in water. She monitors fish, frogs, birds and plants, checks water quality, and keeps an eye on the health of trees and wetlands over time. Each visit adds another piece to a much bigger picture, built through data analysis, mapping tools, on-ground observations and local knowledge.

Before the river was regulated, wetlands naturally filled and dried with changing river flows, sending signals that triggered plants and animals to breed and thrive. With these natural changes now constrained, wetland health has declined and invasive species like carp have added further pressure to the wetland system, impacting habitat and water quality.

But when the right science is applied, change can be dramatic.

One of Aleisha’s proudest moments came when a small-scale wetland infrastructure upgrade allowed a wetland to fully dry for the first time in many years. Carp were removed and when the water returned, so did life: clearer water, more native fish and frogs, and waterbirds in droves.

For Aleisha, it’s these very tangible, positive outcomes that make wetland science so meaningful. She hopes girls considering a career in science back themselves, show persistence, and know that they too can help shape the future of our landscapes.

Watching recovery unfold: Science after fire on Kangaroo Island

It takes time and persistence and is often invisible work, yet long-term monitoring of threatened native mammals can be the difference for their survival.

In the year’s following the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires on Kangaroo Island, Hannah Byrne-Willey’s work has focused on the recovery of the endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart. The small marsupial, that is only found on the island, had about 96% of its known habitat on the western end of the island destroyed by the fires.

A Biodiversity Project Officer, Hannah is part of a team that tracks long-term trends following the fires using an array of tools and techniques, from camera traps on drift-fence lines, the development of artificial refuges and targeted trapping programs that build the evidence needed to understand how species are responding as the landscape recovers.

The impact of this work is extraordinary. Before the bushfires, the KI dunnart had been recorded fewer than 100 times ever since it was first described in 1969. Since the fires, Kangaroo Island Landscape Board’s monitoring efforts have recorded more than 4,000 detections over 100 sites, creating one of the most powerful datasets ever assembled for the species on the island. The team has also expanded its focus to now include southern brown bandicoots, Kangaroo Island echidnas and pygmy possum species.

Hannah’s career highlights include helping to develop a highly successful artificial-refuge trapping technique that improves animal welfare, fitting the first radio collar to a dunnart post-fire, and trapping the only known KI dunnart ever recorded carrying pouch young.

She didn’t always see herself as “a science person”, but discovering she could turn her passion for the environment into a career changed everything. Her advice to girls considering science is simple: try it, get hands-on, and see where curiosity can take you.

Bringing species back from the brink, one wetland at a time

For freshwater ecologist Tara Daniell, saving threatened species means paying close attention to the small details.

Working across the Hills and Fleurieu region, Tara applies ecological science to reduce the extinction risk of threatened freshwater species, including the southern bell frog and the murray hardyhead.

As part of the Australian Government–funded Back from the Brink project, she works with partners, volunteers and schools to better understand what these species need to survive and how to give them the best chance to return to the wild.

A key part of Tara’s work involves improving captive breeding outcomes for the southern bell frog. By understanding the species’ biology and ecological requirements, from habitat preferences to diet and breeding cues such as flooding, Tara and her colleagues are helping encourage successful breeding in captivity. At the same time, they’re improving habitat at future release sites by excluding alien fish and increasing aquatic and fringing vegetation, ensuring frogs have somewhere suitable to return to.

One of Tara’s proudest moments has been working with landholders at Back Valley to protect a genetically distinct population of threatened southern pygmy perch. Through fencing, revegetation and creek-line protection, critical refuge pools are being safeguarded, water quality improved and broader catchment health strengthened; benefits that extend well beyond a single species.

Driven by a desire to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystems, Tara’s career has been shaped by taking on varied opportunities – initially both voluntary and casual work – to help her learn new skills and discover the science path she enjoys the most.

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

Using science and technology to give nature room to recover

For Landscape Officer Chamaree Goonetilleke, science is the tool that helps tip the balance back in favour of native ecosystems.

Working across western Eyre Peninsula for the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board, Chamaree’s work draws on ecological and conservation science, GIS and biosecurity principles to manage invasive species, protect biodiversity and support landscape recovery. Whether managing invasive weeds, controlling introduced predators or restoring native vegetation, her role is about understanding how pressure in one place can ripple across an entire landscape. When tackling invasive plants like gazania, ecological knowledge helps identify how the species spreads, while GIS mapping pinpoints infestations and prioritises control near sensitive habitats. Biosecurity practices then help prevent reinfestation, protecting the work already done.

Herbivore and predator management is equally critical. Introduced species such as rabbits, foxes, deer and goats can undermine revegetation and threaten native fauna, so Chamaree helps coordinate integrated control programs that combine monitoring, ground-based action and new technology.

One standout moment in her career was coordinating aerial, thermal-assisted control operations targeting feral deer and goats in high conservation value areas. These animals were damaging native vegetation and destabilising soils, particularly in drooping sheoak country — now reduced to just 3% of its original extent. Using thermal imaging allowed animals to be detected in areas inaccessible by ground, significantly reducing grazing pressure and creating space for natural regeneration to begin.

Driven by a lifelong fascination with how natural systems connect, Chamaree sees science as a practical way to protect landscapes for future generations. She encourages women and girls to connect with mentors and networks for support and guidance in their career development.

Where science and story meet on Country

Some science happens in labs. Some happens in the field. And sometimes, the most powerful discoveries happen in conversation, where ecological and cultural knowledge meet on Country.

For Alinytjara Wiluṟara Landscape Board’s Jessica Burdon, science has been a bridge between worlds. With a background in evolutionary biology and ecology, she has worked in central Australia on biological surveys alongside scientific specialists and Traditional Custodians, creating space for two-way learning and shared understanding.

Out on Country, plant and animal surveys often became something more than data collection. Scientific explanations about species and ecosystems would spark memories and stories from Elders, linking formal ecological knowledge with deep cultural understanding built over generations. Seeing both young people and scientists light up as they learned from each other showed how science can bring people together, not just build information.

Jessica’s connection to nature began early, growing up on a farm in Queensland and spending her childhood exploring creeks and dams. That hands-on, outdoor curiosity shaped her path into environmental science and continues to guide how she works today.

Her message to girls considering science is simple: stay curious and don’t be put off by the idea of things being “yucky.” Real science is often messy and yet full of discovery and that’s exactly where the best learning happens.

From soil pits to field days

For Brianna Guidera, science starts with curiosity and never really ends. Every answer leads to another question, another test, another chance to better understand how land and farming systems work together.

Growing up in a small West Coast town surrounded by farms, agriculture was part of everyday life. Some of her earliest memories are from the shearing shed, sitting on the skirting table while her dad worked. At school, an encouraging science teacher helped turn that familiarity into direction, connecting agriculture and the environment through hands-on lessons in the school vineyard and wetlands. As a teenager, Bri even helped lead a vineyard tour for local aged care residents — a full-circle moment that foreshadowed a career where sharing knowledge would become one of her favourite tasks.

After nearly six years in applied agronomy and soils research — including projects measuring soil carbon in saline soils with and without native samphire — Bri expected to stay in research long-term. Then came the unexpected offer of a “dream job” as a Sustainable Agriculture Officer with the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board.

Her year now follows the rhythm of the farming calendar: planning, workshops and reporting ahead of seeding; field sampling and trial monitoring through the growing season; and a whirlwind of field days and grower events in spring. Much of her work happens in paddocks, trial sites and community spaces, often with her well-used soils kit close by.

Working in a male-dominated field hasn’t always been easy, but Bri encourages young women to stay focused on learning, asking questions and taking on challenges.

Mapping a cooler, greener Adelaide - One dataset at a time

Making a city cooler, greener and more wildlife-friendly takes more than planting trees — it takes data, detail and someone who knows how to read the patterns. At Green Adelaide, Regional Data Officer Sarah White turns complex environmental information into practical insight that guides action across metropolitan Adelaide.

Sarah’s work sits at the intersection of ecology, mapping and technology. She leads major spatial data projects, including the Urban Heat and Tree Canopy Mapping project — the first time Adelaide’s tree canopy and urban heat hotspots were captured and mapped at a metropolitan scale. She also manages Green Adelaide’s project data systems, helping track where work happens, who is involved and what impact is being achieved. On any given day she might be building canopy maps, supporting staff with spatial analysis, or collaborating with councils and agencies to improve how environmental data is used.

Her career path has been anything but narrow. From mapping plant collections and wildlife records in Alice Springs, to conducting ecological surveys on remote mine sites, to managing global LiDAR mapping projects that support coastal planning and climate resilience, Sarah has built deep experience in turning raw data into usable knowledge. She is also contributing to new satellite-based projects exploring how heatwaves affect Adelaide’s most vulnerable communities.

A self-described lifelong science nerd, Sarah’s motivation is simple: the environment is home, and better understanding it helps people care for it. After years working across remote and international environments, she now applies everything she’s learned to the urban landscape — proving that good data can be a powerful tool for a better city.