Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00555:body:0:p62
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00555
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 195617–198606

Johnson et al. 2018; Robins et al. 2020) but evidence identifying particular resistance or susceptibility alleles is equivocal. Other immune gene families also contribute to disease resistance and new target capture methods which can characterise thousands of genes at once (Silver et al. under review), or whole genome sequencing, will greatly assist in our understanding of genetic effects and disease in Koala (section 19.4). Recent genomic analyses investigating 1,209 immune genes, found 17 genes associated with chlamydia disease progression in Koalas (Silver et al. under review). This highlights the utility of using whole genome analyses to inform our understanding of disease in different Koala populations (section 20.1).

PART V
Distribution trends, genetic structure and diversity, and habitat

21. Distribution

21.1 National
The Koala is endemic to Australia and has a wide but patchy distribution across coastal and inland areas of eastern and southern Australia (Martin and Handasyde 1999) (Figure 1; DAWE 2021a). Its natural range extends from far north-eastern Queensland to the south-east corner of South Australia, including some coastal islands, and is restricted by altitude (Melzer et al. 2000; Menkhorst 2008; Munks et al. 1996; TSSC 2012b). The exact extent of the Koala's natural boundary at the margins of its distribution is poorly defined in some regions, especially the inland semi-arid and arid regions in western Queensland (Mitchell Grass Downs, Desert Uplands and Einasleigh Uplands bioregions) and western New South Wales (e.g. Mulga bioregion) where survey effort has been relatively low and cyclic droughts cause localised contraction and expansion of populations.
Several Koala populations are now established outside the species' natural range due to historical translocations. In South Australia, the species was presumed extinct in the 1930s (TSSC 2012b) and subsequently Koalas, sourced mainly from Victoria, were introduced to Kangaroo Island, Eyre Peninsula, Riverland and Adelaide Hills (Phillips 1990; TSSC 2012b). In Victoria, to arrest population declines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Koalas were introduced to islands along the coast and in the Murray River in addition to reintroduction to many inland areas. Of these islands, populations persist to today on French Island and Phillip Island in Western Port Bay, and Snake Island and Raymond Island in east Gippsland (Menkhorst 2008). Koalas were also introduced to Yanchep National Park, near to Perth, in the 1930s (Phillips 1990; Menkhorst 2008).
Although the extent of the Koala's range prior to European settlement is poorly understood (Phillips 1990), between the late 1800s until the 1930s the Koala suffered a precipitous decline in the central and southern areas of its distribution as a result of habitat loss, drought, bushfires, disease and intense exploitation for fur (Melzer et al. 2000). Due in part to protective legislation and cessation of hunting, Koalas