The steep mountains, lush expanses of rainforest and sweeping beaches of the Atherton Tablelands are home to half of all Australian bird species - including the flightless cassowary - and more endemic mammals than anywhere else on the continent. After a century of forestry and agriculture, their habitat and the foundations of the forest’s biodiversity have been fragmented, and their very existence is threatened.

Earthwatch’s Rainforests of Northern Australia project takes place in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of North Queensland. Sign up as a volunteer to experience the majesty of this unique area, to meet its animal residents first hand, and to assist resident scientist Dr David Westcott research how the loss of unique species, such as the cassowary, affects the process of seed dispersal that maintains the forest ecosystem.

Volunteers will use radio transmitters to track the movements of tagged, fruit eating birds and mammals and observe their foraging and fruit processing behaviour both in the field and in captive settings. Case studies include cassowaries, spectacled flying foxes, colourful fruit doves, bowerbirds and musky rat-kangaroos.

This project is crucial to developing a model for environmental management in the World Heritage Area – but it needs the ‘extra hands’ and financial support of volunteers to be fully effective. No previous experience is necessary – training in research techniques will be provided.

The Rainforests of Northern Australia project runs on January 29 – February 11 and April 30 – May 13, 2005 and costs $3195, volunteers are to meet in Cairns. Accommodation is in a comfortable house at CSIRO’s Tropical Forest Research Centre, with bunk-beds, full kitchen, and shared bathroom facilities.

Earthwatch is a not-for-profit organisation that supports scientific conservation research projects by enabling members of the public to work alongside scientists in the field. For further information, phone 03 9682 6828, or visit www.earthwatch.org/australia