Kathy Ann Townsend – The Conversation

University of Sunshine Coast/AAP

September 19, 2022

Dugongs and turtles are starving to death in Queensland seas – and La Niña’s floods are to blame

Kathy Ann Townsend, University of the Sunshine Coast

Floodwater carries dense clouds of sediment, choking the lush seagrass meadows on which these gentle grazers rely.

This, if you can believe it, is part of a magpie nest. Kathy Townsend

July 13, 2021

Headphones, saw blades, coat hangers: how human trash in Australian bird nests changed over 195 years

Kathy Ann Townsend, University of the Sunshine Coast and Dominique Potvin, University of the Sunshine Coast

A world-first study inspected 900 bird nest specimens from 1823 to 2018. The types of debris the birds use reflect changes in Australian society over time.

Plastic bags, balloons, and rope fragments were among more than 100 pieces of plastic in the gut of a single turtle. Qamar Schuyler

September 13, 2018

How much plastic does it take to kill a turtle? Typically just 14 pieces

Britta Denise Hardesty, CSIRO; Chris Wilcox, CSIRO; Kathy Ann Townsend, University of the Sunshine Coast, and Qamar Schuyler, CSIRO

Autopsies of 1,000 turtles washed up on Australian beaches paint a grim picture of the impact of plastic debris. Even a single piece can be deadly, and on average 14 pieces equals a 50% fatality rate.

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