The Otways Marine Ecosystem Resilience (OMER) Initiative continues to gather momentum, with several exciting funding successes helping expand the program from long-term ecological monitoring into community-led stewardship and conservation action.

In the heathlands of the Otways, the high-stakes mating strategy of the threatened Swamp Antechinus (Antechinus minimus maritimus) is becoming an important focus for land managers as they look to undertake more "cool" planned burns in the winter.

Master’s Student Jesse Ellis is working to fill some of the knowledge gaps between this unique biology and winter fire management, to understand how Swamp Antechinus can survive, and thrive, in a landscape managed by fire.