Backgrounder
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Greater Bilby Macrotis Lagotis
Threatened Species Strategy – Year 3 Priority Species Scorecard (2018) Greater Bilby Macrotis lagotis Key Findings Greater Bilbies once ranged over three‑ quarters of Australia, but declined coincident with the spread of European foxes, along with habitat changes from introduced herbivores (especially rabbits), changed fire regimes and predation by feral cats. Recovery actions have focused on maintaining or restoring traditional Indigenous patchwork fire regimes and controlling introduced predators. Translocations into predator-free exclosures and a predator-free island have allowed for further increases in population and re- establishment into the species’ former range. Photo: Queensland Department of Environment and Science Significant trajectory change from 2005-15 to 2015-18? No, generally stable overall. Priority future actions • Effective landscape-scale fire management is implemented across all of distribution. • Targeted cat and rabbit control at key bilby sites. • Minimise loss of bilby habitat, and maintain connectivity between bilby populations. Full assessment information Background information 2018 population trajectory assessment 1. Conservation status and taxonomy 8. Expert elicitation for population trends 2. Conservation history and prospects 9. Immediate priorities from 2019 3. Past and current trends 10. Contributors 4. Key threats 11. Legislative documents 5. Past and current management 12. References 6. Support from the Australian Government 13. Citation 7. Measuring progress towards conservation The primary purpose -
Wildlife Parasitology in Australia: Past, Present and Future
CSIRO PUBLISHING Australian Journal of Zoology, 2018, 66, 286–305 Review https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO19017 Wildlife parasitology in Australia: past, present and future David M. Spratt A,C and Ian Beveridge B AAustralian National Wildlife Collection, National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. BVeterinary Clinical Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Werribee, Vic. 3030, Australia. CCorresponding author. Email: [email protected] Abstract. Wildlife parasitology is a highly diverse area of research encompassing many fields including taxonomy, ecology, pathology and epidemiology, and with participants from extremely disparate scientific fields. In addition, the organisms studied are highly dissimilar, ranging from platyhelminths, nematodes and acanthocephalans to insects, arachnids, crustaceans and protists. This review of the parasites of wildlife in Australia highlights the advances made to date, focussing on the work, interests and major findings of researchers over the years and identifies current significant gaps that exist in our understanding. The review is divided into three sections covering protist, helminth and arthropod parasites. The challenge to document the diversity of parasites in Australia continues at a traditional level but the advent of molecular methods has heightened the significance of this issue. Modern methods are providing an avenue for major advances in documenting and restructuring the phylogeny of protistan parasites in particular, while facilitating the recognition of species complexes in helminth taxa previously defined by traditional morphological methods. The life cycles, ecology and general biology of most parasites of wildlife in Australia are extremely poorly understood. While the phylogenetic origins of the Australian vertebrate fauna are complex, so too are the likely origins of their parasites, which do not necessarily mirror those of their hosts. -
These Are Fundamentally Matters of Which the Commonwealth Should Be Aware
AUSTRALIA'S FAUNAL EXTINCTION CRISIS An inquiry into Australia's Faunal extinction crisis including the wider ecological impact of faunal extinction, the adequacy of Commonwealth environment laws, the adequacy of existing monitoring practices, assessment process and compliance mechanisms for enforcing Commonwealth environmental law, and a range of other matters. These are fundamentally matters of which the Commonwealth should be aware. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION This submission by Andrea Hylands and Peter Hylands to the Environment and Communications References Committee discusses the role of Australian Governments in creating Australia's Faunal extinction crisis. The introduction (part one) outlines the broader Australia issues, given the need for brevity, we focus our comments on the conduct of the Victorian Government in these matters (part two). What occurs in Victoria is not dissimilar to other states and territories. We summarise the key actions required from this submission in part three of this document. About Andrea Hylands Film maker and ceramic artist, former senior lecture in Ceramic Design at Monash University, former President of Craft Victoria. Andrea’s work has been collected around the world in both major public and private collections and she holds many international awards for her work including in Japan, India, USA, France, Korea and Italy including best contemporary film, FIFAV Montpellier, 2010; Gold Medal, Faenza, Italy 2005 and the Grand Prix, Vallauris, France 1992. Since 2005 awards from the digital world include multiple awards from the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (New York); Government of Madhya Pradesh, India, European web awards (for work on Brexit) and as a finalist for the United Nations Association online media awards. -
The Collapse of Northern Mammal Populations 2 Australian
australian wildlife matters wildlife conservancy Winter 2010 The collapse of northern mammal populations 2 australian saving australia’s threatened wildlife wildlife Pictograph conservancy Welcome to our Winter 2010 edition of Wildlife Matters. I am writing this editorial from our bushcamp at Pungalina-Seven Emu, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Our biological survey has just commenced and already some exciting discoveries have been made. the awc mission Overnight our fi eld ecologists captured a Carpentarian Pseudantechinus, one of Australia’s rarest mammals. This is only the 21st time that this species has ever been The mission of Australian Wildlife Conservancy recorded (the 20th record was also on Pungalina – see the Spring 2009 edition of (AWC) is the effective conservation of all Wildlife Matters). We have watched rare Ghost Bats, Australia’s only carnivorous bats, Australian animal species and the habitats in emerging from a maternity cave; a mother Dugong, with her calf, resting in the lower which they live. To achieve this mission, our reaches of the Calvert River; Bandicoots digging around Pungalina’s network of lush, actions are focused on: permanent springs; and graceful Antilopine Wallaroos bounding across Pungalina’s • Establishing a network of sanctuaries tropical savannas. which protect threatened wildlife and Pungalina-Seven Emu is a property of immense conservation signifi cance. Yet it ecosystems: AWC now manages lies at the centre – geographically – of an unfolding ecological drama which surely 21 sanctuaries covering over 2.5 million demands our attention: from Cape York to the Kimberley, Australia’s small mammals hectares (6.2 million acres). are disappearing. Species such as the Golden Bandicoot, the Brush-tailed Rabbit-rat • Implementing practical, on-ground and the Northern Quoll have suffered catastrophic declines, disappearing from large conservation programs to protect areas including places as famous and well resourced as Kakadu National Park. -
CITES Cop16 Prop. 9 IUCN-TRAFFIC Analysis (PDF, 77KB)
Ref. CoP16 Prop. 9 Deletion of Lesser Bilby Macrotis leucura from Appendix I Proponent: Australia Summary: The Lesser Bilby Macrotis leucura was one of two species of bilby (genus Macrotis) in the bandicoot family (the Peramelidae). It was endemic to Australia where it occurred in arid regions in the interior. The last verified specimen was collected in 1931, although oral accounts by Aboriginals suggest that it may have survived into the 1960s. It has been classified as Extinct by IUCN since 1982. The reasons for its demise are unclear, although predation by introduced Red Foxes Vulpes vulpes and feral cats and habitat alteration have been implicated. Macrotis leucura, along with its sister-species the Greater Bilby Macrotis lagotis, was included in CITES Appendix I in 1975, when the Convention came into force, by which time it was almost certainly extinct. No trade in any specimens has ever been recorded under CITES. In the highly unlikely event of the species being rediscovered, it would be covered by Australian legislation that prohibits the export of native mammal species for commercial purposes and requires a permit for export for non-commercial purposes. Macrotis lagotis, which is easily distinguishable from M. leucura by its greater size and different colouration, is extant and classified as Vulnerable by IUCN. A very small amount of non-commercial trade in specimens of this species is recorded in the CITES trade database. Analysis: Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP15) notes in Annex 4 (Precautionary measures) that no species listed in Appendix I shall be removed from the Appendices unless it has been first transferred to Appendix II, with monitoring of any impact of trade on the species for at least two intervals between meetings of the Conference of the Parties (para. -
Thylacomyidae
FAUNA of AUSTRALIA 25. THYLACOMYIDAE KEN A. JOHNSON 1 Bilby–Macrotis lagotis [F. Knight/ANPWS] 25. THYLACOMYIDAE DEFINITION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION The family Thylacomyidae is a distinctive member of the bandicoot superfamily Perameloidea and is represented by two species, the Greater Bilby, Macrotis lagotis, and the Lesser Bilby, M. leucura. The Greater Bilby is separated from the Lesser Bilby by its greater size: head and body length 290–550 mm versus 200–270 mm; tail 200–290 mm versus 120–170 mm; and weight 600–2500 g versus 311–435 g respectively (see Table 25.1). The dorsal pelage of the Greater Bilby is blue-grey with two variably developed fawn hip stripes. The tail is black around the full circumference of the proximal third, contrasting conspicuously with the pure white distal portion, which has an increasingly long dorsal crest. The Lesser Bilby displays a delicate greyish tan above, described by Spencer (1896c) as fawn-grey and lacks the pure black proximal portion in the tail. Rather, as its specific name implies, the tail is white throughout, although a narrow band of slate to black hairs is present on the proximal third of the length. Finlayson (1935a) noted that the Greater Bilby lacks the strong smell of the Lesser Bilby. The skull of the Lesser Bilby is distinguished from the Greater Bilby by its smaller size (basal length 60-66 mm versus 73–104 mm; [Troughton 1932; Finlayson 1935a]), the more inflated and smoother tympanic bullae (Spencer 1896c), the absence of a fused sagittal crest in old males and the distinctly more cuspidate character in the crowns in the unworn molars (Finlayson 1935a). -
Wildlife Matters Wildlife Conservancy
australian wildlife matters wildlife conservancy Spring 2009 Pungalina reveals one of Australia’s rarest mammals Carpentarian Pseudantechinus 2 australian saving australia’s threatened wildlife wildlife Pictograph conservancy Welcome to the Spring 2009 edition of Wildlife Matters. As this edition goes to print, we are in the process of fi nalising the acquisition of Bowra (see pages 4-5), a 14,000 the awc mission hectare property located in the heart of the Mulga Lands in Queensland. Bowra will The mission of Australian Wildlife Conservancy be our 21st sanctuary, bringing the AWC network to more than 2.56 million hectares (AWC) is the effective conservation of all (6.3 million acres). Australian animal species and the habitats in While the overall scale of the portfolio is impressive, it is not the number of properties or which they live. To achieve this mission, our hectares that really count. A more accurate measure of the value of the portfolio is the actions are focused on: number of species and ecosystems that occur within the AWC estate. In this respect, • Establishing a network of sanctuaries the statistics are even more impressive – for example, around 80% of all Australian which protect threatened wildlife and terrestrial bird species and over 60% of all terrestrial mammal species occur on one or ecosystems: AWC now manages 20 more of our sanctuaries. sanctuaries covering over 2.56 million The fact that our portfolio captures such a high percentage of Australia’s wildlife species hectares (6.3 million acres). refl ects a deliberate, science-based strategy to ensure that AWC invests in properties • Implementing practical, on-ground of the highest environmental value. -
I Wetlands Trust JERRABOMBERRA Caring for Cur Iota! ;,Cosystems
LE G I S LA TI V E A S S EM B LY FO R TH E AU S TR A LI A N CA PI TA L TER RI TO R Y STANDING COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORT AND CITY SERVICES Ms Suzanne Orr MLA (Chair), Ms Tara Cheyne MLA, Ms Nicole Lawder MLA, Miss Candice Burch MLA Submission Cover Sheet Inquiry into a Proposal for a Mammal Emblem for the ACT Submission Number: 17 Date Authorised for Publication: 28/3/2018 1 Woodlands & MUlll6HS FLAT , I Wetlands Trust JERRABOMBERRA Caring for cur Iota! ;,cosystems 20th March 2018 The Committee Secretary Standing Committee on Environment and Transport and City Services Legislative Assembly for the ACT GPO Box 1020, CANBERRA ACT 2601 Via Email: [email protected] Dear Committee Secretary, Eastern Bettong for ACT's mammal emblem Humans haven't always been kind to bettongs The first 'rat kangaroo' collected and described by western science was taken from the Blue Mountains in 1 1819 before it fell victim to a ferocious dog while 'advancing in search of a caress' . Locally we weren't much kinder - Canberra historian, Lyall Gillespie, reported that by the 1850's we had killed large numbers of rat kangaroos because they 'dug up and ate seed potatoes as soon as they were sown'. Only 100 years after the scientific description of the bettong, now with foxes eating them and humans culling and clearing their habitat, we had cleansed the mainland of the then-considered 'pest'. 'Troughton, E. (1941) The Furred Animals of Australia. -
Bringing Back the Bettong: Reintroducing Ecosystem Engineers for Restoration in Box-Gum Grassy Woodland
Bringing Back the Bettong: Reintroducing ecosystem engineers for restoration in Box-Gum grassy woodland Catherine Elizabeth Ross Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University February 2020 © Copyright by Catherine Elizabeth Ross 2020 All Rights Reserved ii Cover image: ‘Bettong and Early Nancies’ by Emily Birks, Ink on Paper, 2018 Catherine Elizabeth Ross Bringing Back the Bettong 7/02/2020 iii Candidate's Declaration This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. Catherine Elizabeth Ross Date: 7 Feb 2020 Photo by Jimmy Walsh, featuring Balbo the Bettong from the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust Catherine Elizabeth Ross Bringing Back the Bettong 7/02/2020 iv Preface This thesis is submitted as a ‘thesis by publication’, and consists of an extended context statement (Chapter 1) followed by five chapters (2-6) that are presented as papers which are either published, in review, or in preparation for publication in scientific journals. The chapters are designed to be independent and will therefore inevitably contain some repetition as well as slight differences in formatting to align with different journal styles. The publication details of each chapter are as follows: 2. Ross, C.E., Barton, P.S., McIntyre, S., Cunningham, S.A. & Manning, A.D., 2017. Fine-scale drivers of beetle diversity are affected by vegetation context and agricultural history. -
Effects of Digging by a Native and Introduced Ecosystem Engineer on Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in Temperate Grassy Woodland
Effects of digging by a native and introduced ecosystem engineer on soil physical and chemical properties in temperate grassy woodland Catherine E. Ross1, Nicola T. Munro1, Philip S. Barton1, Maldwyn J. Evans1, John Gillen1, Ben C.T. Macdonald2, Sue McIntyre1,2, Saul A. Cunningham1 and Adrian D. Manning1 1 Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia 2 CSIRO, Black Mountain, ACT, Australia ABSTRACT Temperate grasslands and woodlands are the focus of extensive restoration efforts worldwide. Reintroduction of locally extinct soil-foraging and burrowing animals has been suggested as a means to restore soil function in these ecosystems. Yet little is known about the physical and chemical effects of digging on soil over time and how these effects differ between species of digging animal, vegetation types or ecosystems. We compared foraging pits of a native reintroduced marsupial, the eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) and that of the exotic European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). We simulated pits of these animals and measured pit dimensions and soil chemical properties over a period of 2 years. We showed that bettong and rabbit pits differed in their morphology and longevity, and that pits had a strong moderating effect on soil surface temperatures. Over 75% of the simulated pits were still visible after 2 years, and bettong pits infilled faster than rabbit pits. Bettong pits reduced diurnal temperature range by up to 25 C compared to the soil surface. We did not find any effects of digging on soil chemistry that Submitted 11 April 2019 were consistent across vegetation types, between bettong and rabbit pits, and with Accepted 17 July 2019 time since digging, which is contrary to studies conducted in arid biomes. -
Decline and Extinction of Australian Mammals Since European Settlement
Ongoing unraveling of a continental fauna: Decline FEATURE ARTICLE and extinction of Australian mammals since European settlement John C. Z. Woinarskia,b,1, Andrew A. Burbidgec, and Peter L. Harrisond aNorthern Australian Hub of National Environmental Research Program and bThreatened Species Recovery Hub of National Environmental Science Program, SEE COMMENTARY Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia; cResearch Fellow, Department of Parks and Wildlife, Wanneroo, WA 6069, Australia; and dMarine Ecology Research Centre, School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia This Feature Article is part of a series identified by the Editorial Board as reporting findings of exceptional significance. Edited by William J. Bond, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, and approved January 13, 2015 (received for review September 10, 2014) The highly distinctive and mostly endemic Australian land mam- than previously recognized and that many surviving Australian mal fauna has suffered an extraordinary rate of extinction (>10% native mammal species are in rapid decline, notwithstanding the of the 273 endemic terrestrial species) over the last ∼200 y: in generally low level in Australia of most of the threats that are comparison, only one native land mammal from continental North typically driving biodiversity decline elsewhere in the world. America became extinct since European settlement. A further 21% of Australian endemic land mammal species are now assessed to Earlier Losses be threatened, indicating that the rate of loss (of one to two European settlement at 1788 marks a particularly profound extinctions per decade) is likely to continue. Australia’s marine historical landmark for the Australian environment, the opening mammals have fared better overall, but status assessment for up of the continent to a diverse array of new factors, and an ap- them is seriously impeded by lack of information. -
The Suitability of Habitat for Greater Bilby (Macrotis Lagotis)
IJNI ìo The suitability of habitat for greater bilby (Macrotis lagotrc) in the Tanami Desert and the relationship with fire Richard Southgate School of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Adelaide October 2006 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Contents Abstract.... vll Declaration .X Acknowledgements .. .xi Chapter I General Introduction ............. I Knowledge of Australian ari d-zone fauna......... 2 Pattern and process in the arid zone a -t Habitat suitability modelling Conservation status and management.......... The structure of the thesis......... References Chapter 2 The study species......... Taxonomy, distribution and status 26 Taxonomy. 26 Distribution and status 27 Life history characteristics 28 Gestation, fecundity and growth 29 Density, home range size and movement 29 Habitat use and diet 30 References 32 Chapter 3 An evaluation of transect, plot and aerial su rvey techniques to monitor the spatial pattern and status of the bilby (Mauotis lagotis) in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory Bilby sign........... Random plots.......... Fixed transects Aerial survey........ 44 Analysis 44 Results 47 Random plots...... 47 Fixed transects 47 Aerial survey....... 48 Effrcacy.... 50 Discussion....... 50 Factors affecting accuracy ......... 55 Factors affecting precision......... 57 Effrcacy.... 57 References 58 ll Chapter 4 An examination of the Stafford Smith/ Morton ecological model: a case study in the Tanami Desert, Australia ..62 Introduction ................ ..63 Methods.... ..65 The study area....... ..65 Field data............... ..66 Spatial database......... ..67 Climate.. ..67 Substrate ..69 Vegetation and fire ..70 Analysis.... 70 Results...... 7t Rainfall, elevation and temperature Substrate pattem....... 74 Vegetation and fire pattern.. 76 Accuracy of spatial data...... 79 Discussion 82 Climate 83 Substrate..