Understanding the koala microbiome

Koalas are an iconic Australian species and true dietary specialists, surviving on a diet of almost exclusively eucalyptus leaves.

While genuine obligate specialists like the koala are exceedingly rare, their narrow ecological niche also limits their ability to adapt to environmental change and places them at risk.

Koalas have declined across most of their historic geographic ranges and have recently been listed as threatened in Queensland, NSW and the ACT.

There is an urgent need to understand the role of microbes in koala digestion and their potential to buffer digestive efficiency against the impacts of climate change as well as from translocation to areas with different species of eucalyptus trees.

Researchers