00:00Two specially trained detector docs in Western Australia are helping scientists
00:09identify a deadly plant disease far more quickly than traditional methods. Let's see more.
00:14In the forests of Western Australia, two English Springer Spaniels are being deployed to track a
00:24disease that has destroyed vast areas of native bushland. Kelly and Milo, both 14 months old,
00:31are the first detector dogs permanently based in the state to locate dieback in the field.
00:40Dieback is caused mainly by Phytophthora cinnamomy, which is a soil-borne water mold that attacks
00:45plant roots, preventing them from taking up water and nutrients. Once established, it
00:51can spread through soil, water movement, vehicles, shoes and animals, and entire ecosystems
00:57can collapse. Dieback has been present in Australia for more than 50 years, and environmental scientists
01:04describe it as one of the nation's most destructive threats to biodiversity.
01:08Parts of the dieback management puzzle that have been really challenging up to now, and
01:16the dogs can come and fill in that puzzle piece to help us get a better strategy overall.
01:23Until now, detecting dieback has relied on taking soil samples and sending them to a laboratory,
01:32a process that can take weeks. The disease is harder to identify in drought conditions when
01:37plants may show stress for unrelated reasons. The dogs, however, are trained to detect the scent
01:44of the pathogen, even when there are no visible symptoms.
01:52We hope that this program will accelerate the identification of dieback samples, making
01:58it cheaper and more accessible and easier to rapidly clear areas.
02:02So we've had a lot of drought, making it really hard to read those landscapes, and the dogs are
02:07better able to read those landscapes, and they can also do it immediately in the field.
02:14Aerial monitoring and laboratory testing will still be used, but the dogs allow conservation
02:20teams to pinpoint infected sites quickly, helping land managers fence off areas, divert tracks,
02:28or install hygiene stations before the pathogen spreads further. The Department of Biodiversity,
02:34Conservation and Attractions has secured 1.3 million Australian dollars from the Commonwealth's
02:40Saving Native Species Program, to support the project. Conservationists hope the dogs will
02:46play an important role in efforts to slow the disease's advance and protect vulnerable ecosystems
02:51across the state.
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