Scientists optimistic despite losing 14,000 tagged bogong moths
Scientists tagged thousands of bogong moths using paper and eyelash glue in an attempt to track their flight path. Now they cannot find a single one.
Scientists remain optimistic after losing 14,000 tagged bogong moths, a key species in Australia's alpine ecosystem. Citizens scientists initially tracked the insects' migration from NSW's Snowy Mountains to breeding grounds inland. The loss of the tagged moths indicates a potentially larger population than previously thought, as the probability of sighting a tagged animal depends on population size.
Researchers hope to raise awareness about protecting the endangered bogong moth, which has seen a sharp decline in recent years due to drought and climate change. Despite the missing insects, there has been a 70% increase in untagged moth sightings on the citizen science platform iNaturalist over the past year. Researchers will now use these online observations to create heat maps of moth locations and correlate them with weather patterns.
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