Poster Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association 2026 Conference

A native waterbird in a human world: Sex-specific movement and land use in Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) (139494)

Yolanda R Massyn 1 , Ben L Gilby 1 , Bella Chaseling 1 , Angela Webb 1 , Caitlin S Willis 1 , Dominique A Potvin 1
  1. University of the Sunshine Coast, Kallungar, QLD, Australia

Urbanisation has altered resource availability, driving behavioural and ecological change in synanthropic species such as the Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca). This adaptability has intensified human-wildlife conflict, highlighting the need to understand behavioural responses, habitat connectivity needs, and sex-specific habitat use. This study integrates GPS telemetry with citizen-science resightings to examine sex-specific habitat selection and movement behaviour across the Moreton Bay Region in southeast Queensland. Sixteen ibis (9 females, 7 males) were GPS-tracked between September 2023 and December 2024, yielding 80,984 fixes. Concurrently, 767 citizen science sightings of 171 tagged ibis were collected via the Big City Birds application. GPS-based multinomial GLMs revealed significant sex differences in land-use selection. Both sexes concentrated in intensive land uses, yet males did so more strongly (80.9% vs. 61.1%), favouring waste-treatment and river habitats, whereas females used services, residential, and conservation areas. Males travelled farther daily and displayed larger home ranges, while diel activity peaked near 10:00 and 20:00 with minimal nocturnal movement. Citizen science data reflected similar broad patterns but lower spatial precision and weaker sex differentiation, though it uniquely captured long-distance dispersal events (≈200–400 km). These findings demonstrate that GPS telemetry resolves fine-scale, sex-specific behavioural ecology, while citizen-science approaches provide population-level breadth and detection of rare events. Integrating both methods offers a scalable framework for monitoring urban wildlife and informing adaptive management. Effective intervention should focus on high reward anthropogenic sites (e.g., waste facilities) and time control efforts around dawn-dusk peaks to reduce conflict while minimising disruption to breeding females.