Adopting daylight saving time in south-east Queensland could save a large number of koalas from dying on the state's roadways, researchers suggest.
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The University of Queensland-led study tracked 25 wild koalas across Coomera and Redlands and used data from the Queensland Transport and Main Roads to understand traffic flow on major roads where koalas were often killed, according to the researchers.
Those roads were for Finucane Road at Alexandra Hills, Redland Bay Road at Capalaba and Mount Cotton Road at Mount Cotton.
The data, published in Biology Letters, showed weekday traffic peaked between 7-8am and 3-5pm while weekend traffic occurred around 11am and dusk.
According to the research paper more than 300 koalas die from vehicle collisions on Queensland's roads each year, largely during the late afternoon or early evening when vehicular traffic and koala activity are at their peak.
The study has suggested polices that reduce the overlap of koala and vehicle activity could reduce the collision rates and suggested incorporating daylight saving times to reduce road casualties.
The koala population in the Brisbane region has declined by a staggering 80 per cent over the past 20 years, largely due to dog attacks, disease and car fatalities.
UQ School of Biological Sciences researcher Robbie Wilson said the study found incorporating daylight saving could decrease car collisions with koalas by eight per cent on weekdays and 11 per cent on weekends.
"Daylight saving time could reduce collisions with nocturnal wildlife (animals that are active at night) because it would still be light when commuters drive home," Associate Professor Wilson said.
"Collisions with wildlife are most likely to occur during twilight or darkness.
"Anything that can reduce the number of cars on the road when nocturnal animals begin moving around is a good thing, and we wondered if daylight saving might be a factor."
Associate Professor Wilson said conservation needed be added to the debate about whether Queensland should incorporate daylight savings, which was already in place in the southern states between October and April, however more research needed to be done to determine whether it would impact on animals active during daylight hours.
"The flipside of this research is that we don't know the effect daylight saving will have on diurnal animals (those active in the daytime) – such as snakes, lizards and birds - so future research should also incorporate studies of these animals," he said.
The study was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage grant and a San Diego Zoo grant.
