Wherever there are humans, there is conflict with wildlife. In some cases, the conflict can be overcome. In other cases, it poses a much greater risk and has lasting implications for both wildlife and humans.

Take the echidna for example. A gentle yet ominous looking creature covered with spines, the short-beaked echidna's evolutionary history reveals that its ancestors lived with dinosaurs more than 120 million years ago. Since it has adapted to changing habitat conditions over a remarkably long period of time, it's tempting to characterize the echidna's survival as an overwhelming success story. But Pelican Lagoon Research & Wildlife Centre Scientist and Senior Researcher Dr. Peggy Rismiller has found that this hearty Australian egg-laying mammal now faces one of its greatest challenges—the automobile.

According to Echidna Watch, an Australian monitoring group, one in five echidna sightings is a roadkill. More than 6,000 reports collected in 2000 by Echidna Watch pointed out that their numbers are declining, the chief cause of which is death by motor vehicle. Another problem for the echidna is habitat fragmentation created by highways.

Dr. Rismiller has spent the better part of her career studying these elusive relatives of the platypus. Over time, she has found the short-beaked echidnas on Kangaroo Island, Australia to be unique in that they are living in a relatively unspoiled habitat. Her hope is that data collected here will reveal key information about the life cycle of this ancient mammal and be useful in finding ways to offset the impact of humans on echidnas living in urbanized parts of the continent. Our prickly friends on Kangaroo Island can often be found trundling through prime echidna habitat made up of understory plant materials such as fallen logs, dead branches and leaf litter. Their urban counterparts, however, are getting by with a mixture of vegetation and concrete. Ever resourceful though, they make the most of the situation and find places to seek shelter from the heat, which is important because echidnas have no sweat glands, nor do they pant. "Cold weather doesn't deter them," says Rismiller, "but if their body temperature rises above 33 degrees Celsius [well below what's normal for humans] heat stress will kill them." But echidnas require more than the foliage found above the ground to subsist. They also depend on the tasty morsels living beneath the ground. Insects are central to the echidna diet and the "soil biota"—the diversity of invertebrate life living in the soil—is important to their survival. Of great consequence to the soil biota are the climatic conditions that prevail in the echidna's immediate surroundings. These localized habitat conditions, known as "microclimates," include environmental factors such as air temperature, relative humidity and ground/soil temperature. Where excessive agricultural or community development exists, habitat, its microclimate and associated insect populations are lost. New research by Dr. Rismiller, which focuses on microclimates and soil biodiversity, will be useful in planning revegetation projects and monitoring the progress of ground biota change. As she explains, "Increased habitat with suitable microclimates will promote echidna food sources and provide shelter sites."