Invasive Weeds Project

The Invasive Weeds Project has focused on the 3 main objectives:

1. Undertake: a variety of weed management control options and trials.
2. Explore: other weed management practices using innovative technology for identification, monitoring, management, or surveillance.
3. Share: information with Sunshine Coast Council community about trial outcomes and opportunities.

The Invasive Weeds Project has undertaken several major sub-projects which trial a range of innovative weed management technologies.

These projects are:

• Maleny demonstration site - this site has been used to trial a range of weed management strategies with a focus of showing the community how they can manage their land in a variety of ways and an introduction to weed management.
• Witta demonstration site - this site has been used to trial weed treatments and share findings with the community about weed management in hard to access areas and steep hillsides.
• AI monitoring for invasive weeds - this project trialled monitoring methods and developed artificial intelligence (AI) models that predict the distribution of different weed species. Using machine learning and multi-spectral drone imagery, these trials will map broad-leaf pepper, cat’s claw, madeira vine, and camphor laurel.
• Herbicide capsule trials - this trial tests the success of implanting herbicide capsules into vine stems to kill invasive weeds while reducing damage to surrounding native plants.
• eDNA trials - this trial tests the success and precision of monitoring for invasive weed species distributions through water sources and environmental DNA (eDNA).