Monitoring rare and threatened arboreal mammals in tropical montane forests is constrained by low detectability using conventional ground-based methods, hindering robust assessment of population trends and conservation outcomes. We evaluated whether thermal drone surveys could overcome detection challenges for three threatened tree kangaroo species ( Dendrolagus spp.) in community-managed conservation areas within the Torricelli Mountain Range, Papua New Guinea, where voluntary hunting moratoria have been in place for over two decades. Across 74 flights totalling 21 hours of active search at three sites, thermal drones detected 67 arboreal mammals in half of all flights, achieving unique-individual encounter rates ranging from 1.6–3.6 individuals h –1 . We derived first density indices for Finsch’s tree kangaroo ( Dendrolagus inustus finschi ) (1.74–1.91 individuals km⁻ 2 ) and Golden-mantled tree kangaroo ( D. pulcherrimus ) (0.47 individuals km⁻ 2 ), though these should be interpreted as conservative lower bounds given that survey effort was not uniformly distributed across the elevational range occupied by each species. Only a single pair of the Critically Endangered Scott’s tree kangaroo ( D. scottae ) was detected, consistent with its reported rarity, as well as the limited survey coverage of higher-elevation core habitat due to altitude restrictions. These results demonstrate that thermal drones can generate repeatable detection data for threatened arboreal marsupials where conventional methods have proven inadequate, providing a foundation for evaluating community-led conservation effectiveness. With methodological refinement to address detection biases and spatial coverage limitations, thermal drone surveys have significant potential to enable long-term population monitoring for tree kangaroos in remote and inaccessible tropical forests.

Climate change is a major driver of global biodiversity loss, yet the precise mechanisms linking climate change to population declines remain poorly understood. We developed a novel, broadly applicable framework that integrates biophysical, nutritional, and population modeling to capture fundamental physiological constraints on mammalian herbivores and applied it to investigate the causes of declines in ringtail possums of the Australian Wet Tropics (Pseudochirops archeri and Hemibelideus lemuroides). Our approach bridges the gap between mechanistic ("bottom-up") models, which simulate species' responses based solely on their traits and local microclimates, and the more common ("top-down") statistical models, which infer species' responses from occurrence or abundance data and standard environmental variables. We quantified population dynamics over a 30-year period by generating species-specific estimates of temperature and water stress, foraging limitations, and linking these with annual monitoring and nutritional quality within an open population model. Our findings demonstrate that climate change has impacted populations through physiological stress, but in a species-specific manner. Both species have experienced population collapses at lower elevations and in low-nutritional sites. For P. archeri, we found evidence that population changes were driven by reduced survival due to overheating and dehydration, alongside diminished recruitment from limited foraging. In contrast, our model suggests that H. lemuroides populations were primarily affected by foraging constraints, emphasizing the importance of considering climate-driven limitations on foraging activity in addition to direct physiological stress. These mechanistic insights offer a foundation for targeted conservation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate pressures on wild populations.

Tree kangaroos (Dendrolagus spp.) are poorly studied owing to their elusive arboreal nature, which makes detection difficult using traditional methods such as spotlighting and hand-held thermal cameras. This note documents the first successful detection of Bennett’s tree kangaroos (D. bennettianus) using thermal drones in tropical rainforest at Cape Tribulation, Australia. In less than an hour, six individuals were observed across 17 ha. The method proved minimally invasive and highly effective in rainforest environments despite dense vegetation and high temperatures, demonstrating both the unexpected abundance of this species and the utility of thermal drones for monitoring tropical arboreal fauna.

The mahogany glider (Petaurus gracilis) is one of the most threatened arboreal mammals in Australia. Although its habitat is affected by fragmentation, gap-crossing behaviour of the species has not been studied. A radio-tracking survey was undertaken on six individuals (three males, three females) in a woodland patch bisected by a 35.8-m-wide highway and a 31.5-m-wide powerline corridor, in north-east Queensland. The mean home ranges of males were 20.1 ± 3.3 ha, 21.3 ± 7.9 ha and 20.9 ± 8.2 ha, as measured by the Minimum Convex Polygon, Kernel and Harmonic Mean methods respectively. The mean home ranges of females were 8.9 ± 0.5 ha, 9.0 ± 4.2 ha and 8.8 ± 2.3 ha, as measured by the Minimum Convex Polygon, Kernel and Harmonic Mean methods respectively. Two males and one female were observed crossing linear gaps. However, there was less crossing than expected, and females were less likely to cross than males. One male used a narrow strip of woodland at the opposite side of the highway as supplemental habitat for foraging. This individual also used scattered trees in a grassland matrix for foraging or denning. Another male used a wooden power pole as a launching site to cross the highway. This study emphasises the importance of protecting large trees along linear barriers in open habitat, and suggests that gliding poles may be used to facilitate gap-crossing by mahogany gliders.

A non-blinded three armed study of the effect of Aloe vera, Essex and no lotion on erythema was performed. The erythema is an effect of radiotherapy treatment in breast cancer patients. The study required testing of objective methods for measuring the erythema. The chosen experimental methods were Near Infrared Spectroscopy, Laser Doppler Imaging and Digital Colour Photography. The experimental setup was made in such a way that in parallel with testing the effect of the lotions there was also a test of the sensitivity of the instruments. Fifty women were selected consecutively to participate in the study. They were all subjected to treatment with high-energy electrons (9-20 MeV) after mastectomy, 2Gy/day to a total dose of 50 Gy. Measurements were performed before the start of radiotherapy and thereafter once a week during the course of treatment. Aloe vera and Essex lotion were applied twice every radiation day in selected sites. The increase in skin redness could be monitored with all techniques with a detection limit of 8 Gy for Digital Colour Photography and Near Infrared Spectroscopy and 18 Gy for Laser Doppler Imaging. In clinical practice our recommendation is to use Digital Colour Photography. No significant median differences were observed between the pairs no lotion-Essex, no lotion-Aloe vera and Essex-Aloe vera for any of the techniques tested.

This paper presentsa number of new techniques for parrdlelizing gee-spatial database systems and discusses their implementation in the Paradise object-relational database system. The effective- ness of these techniques is demonstrated using a variety of com- plex gee-spatial queries over a 120 GB global gee-spatial data set. 1. Introduction and Motivation