Evaluating the Effectiveness of Salvage and Translocation of Striped Legless Lizards
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Evaluating the effectiveness of salvage and translocation of Striped Legless Lizards Megan O’Shea February 2013 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 243 Evaluating the effectiveness of salvage and translocation of Striped Legless Lizards Megan O’Shea February 2013 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment Heidelberg, Victoria Report produced by: Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment PO Box 137 Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 Phone (03) 9450 8600 Website: www.dse.vic.gov.au/ari © State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment 2013 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 , no part may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical or graphic) without the prior written permission of the State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment. All requests and enquiries should be directed to the Customer Service Centre, 136 186 or email [email protected] Citation: O’Shea, M. (2013). Evaluating the effectiveness of salvage and translocation of Striped Legless Lizards. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 243. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Heidelberg. ISSN 1835-3827 (print) ISSN 1835-3835 (online) ISBN 978-1-74287-763-1 (print) ISBN 978-1-74287-764-8 (online) Disclaimer: This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Accessibility: If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, such as large print or audio, please telephone 136 186, or through the National Relay Service (NRS) using a modem or textphone/teletypewriter (TTY) by dialling 1800 555 677, or email [email protected] This document is also available in PDF format on the internet at www.dse.vic.gov.au Front cover photo: Striped Legless Lizard Delma impar. (M. O’Shea) Authorised by: Victorian Government, Melbourne Printed by: NMIT Print Room, Preston, Victoria Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................... ii Summary............................................................................................................................................1 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................2 2 Project objectives ........................................................................................................................3 3 Biology of the Striped Legless Lizard .......................................................................................4 4 Translocation of reptiles.............................................................................................................7 5 Policy and guidelines ..................................................................................................................8 6 Study area....................................................................................................................................9 7 Source animals ..........................................................................................................................10 8 Recipient site selection..............................................................................................................12 9 Recipient site establishment and pre-treatment.....................................................................22 10 Founder populations...............................................................................................................24 11 Transportation and timing of release....................................................................................25 12 Experimental design ...............................................................................................................26 13 Measures of success ................................................................................................................27 14 Post-release monitoring..........................................................................................................29 15 Caveats.....................................................................................................................................32 16 Activity schedule .....................................................................................................................33 References........................................................................................................................................34 Appendix 1 .......................................................................................................................................39 Appendix 2 .......................................................................................................................................40 Appendix 3 .......................................................................................................................................41 Appendix 4 .......................................................................................................................................44 Appendix 5 .......................................................................................................................................49 Appendix 6 .......................................................................................................................................53 i Acknowledgements This project has in-principle funding from the Manager of DSE Regional Services Port Phillip, until June 2016. Initial survey work has been conducted with Arthur Rylah Institute Animal Ethics Committee approval (AEC 11/29) and a scientific permit (number 10006167) issued under the Wildlife Act 1975. The project is guided by a Technical Reference Group (TRG) that consists of the following people: Geoff Brown (chair), Chris Banks (Zoos Victoria), David Bryant (DSE), Nick Clemann (DSE), Garry Peterson (DSE), Peter Robertson (Wildlife Profiles), Michael Scroggie (DSE) and Alan Webster (DSE). Vivienne Turner was chair of the TRG in the year 2012. David Bryant has coordinated and implemented on-ground works. Sally Koeher (Biosis Research) provided the information in appendix 6. Garry Peterson (DSE) provided the information in appendix 1. Garry Peterson (DSE), Michael Scroggie (DSE) and Ted Rohr (Applied Ecological Research) provided the information in appendix 2. Maria Pham (DSE) provided the shape files for figures 3 & 4. Joanna Sumner (Museum Victoria) provided the original digital files for figure 2. For their assistance, thank you to Silvana Acevedo (DSE), Reg Abrahams (Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative), Silvana Acevedo (DSE), Rohan Ball (DSE cadet), Matthew Bruce (DSE), Kwai Chang-Kum (Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre), Ellen Corrick (DSE cadet), Meredith Kirkham (DSE cadet), Katie McClaren (DSE cadet), Michael McCormack (DSE cadet), Paul Moloney (DSE), Kay Morris (DSE), Annette Rypalski (Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre), Steve Sinclair (DSE), Charles Todd (DSE – PVA assistance), Matt White (DSE) and Kaitlin Wright (DSE cadet). ii Evaluating the effectiveness of salvage and translocation of Striped Legless Lizards Summary The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Port Phillip Regional Environment and Water Group, together with the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services Division, require effective strategies for managing populations of threatened fauna whose habitat is removed during urban expansion. Working outside the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and particularly in the new Western Grassland Reserves (WGR), the aims of this project are to: • refine current knowledge of the distribution of the Striped Legless Lizard in order to locate recipient sites for Striped Legless Lizards salvaged from within the UGB • establish whether or not translocated animals establish self-sustaining, viable populations at recipient sites. Striped Legless Lizards used in the project will be salvaged from grassland habitat in the Melbourne West Investigation Area, as part of the expansion of the Melbourne UGB. Salvaged Striped Legless Lizards will be temporarily housed at Zoos Victoria facilities for at least four weeks, until enough lizards are available for translocation during the species’ active period. This project develops a set of criteria for identifying and evaluating potential translocation recipient sites. These criteria take into account: • the species historic distribution • species current presence/absence • land conservation status • habitat extent and quality • past, present and future land management practices. Translocation sites will be identified through the use of presence/absence surveys and habitat assessments within the WGR by early 2013. This project focuses on the introduction of animals to suitable but unoccupied lizard habitat. It does not investigate the supplementation of existing populations that may be below carrying capacity.