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Demographic Shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina Melanocephala) Populations Following Removal

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Demographic Shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina Melanocephala) Populations Following Removal University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Science, Medicine & Health - Honours Theses University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2017 Demographic shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) populations following removal Jacob A T Vickers Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/thsci University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation Vickers, Jacob A T, Demographic shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) populations following removal, BEnviSc Hons, School of Earth & Environmental Science, University of Wollongong, 2017. https://ro.uow.edu.au/thsci/145 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Demographic shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) populations following removal Abstract The increasing abundance of Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) represents a large threat to avifaunal assemblages throughout eastern Australia. Their hyper-aggressive colonial social structure has a negative effect on many already threatened small birds, including the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera Phrygia) and the endangered Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolour). Their increased abundance has consequently been listed as a Key Threatening Process under both state and federal legislation. Culling has been used successfully to reduce the impacts of Noisy Miners and has been suggested as a threat abatement action, however, recolonisation has sometimes been observed. This project aimed to investigate the effects of culling on the demographics of recolonists, to determine the source of recolonists, and thereby improve our understanding of the circumstances when culling may be successful. Additionally, I assessed the efficacy of an ageing technique, and developed a reliable method for sexing Noisy Miners non-destructively. I found that; a) the shape of the alula is not a reliable sexing criterion, b) 90% of Noisy Miners can be correctly assigned a sex using morphometric data, and c) the source of recolonists varied according to the season of the cull, based on the availability of individuals within the landscape. Dispersing immatures comprised the majority of recolonists following the breeding season, whilst matures from neighbouring colonies provided the majority of recolonists beforehand. These findings demonstrate that the time of culling has a significant effect on the type of recolonisation and can be used to assist the development of an effective threat abatement plan. Degree Type Thesis Degree Name BEnviSc Hons Department School of Earth & Environmental Science Advisor(s) Kris French Keywords Culling, management, birds, threat abatement, age, sex This thesis is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/thsci/145 Demographic shifts in Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) populations following removal Jacob A. T. Vickers Supervisors: Prof Kris French and Dr Richard Major A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours) Environmental Science Program School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science Medicine and Health University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia October 2017 The information in this thesis is entirely the result of investigations conducted by the author, unless otherwise acknowledged, and has not been submitted in part, or otherwise, for any other degree or qualification. Signed: Date: 24/10/2017 ii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. vii Abstract .................................................................................................................................. viii 1 - Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 - The Noisy Miner ............................................................................................................ 2 1.1.1 - Social structure ....................................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 - Key threatening process .......................................................................................... 8 1.2 - Threat abatement plan .................................................................................................... 9 1.3 - Determining the sex and age of Noisy Miners............................................................. 12 1.4 - Research questions ....................................................................................................... 13 2 - The use of alula shape for ageing Noisy Miners ................................................................ 15 2.1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 15 2.2 - Methods........................................................................................................................ 16 2.3 - Results .......................................................................................................................... 18 2.4 - Discussion .................................................................................................................... 21 3 - Sexing the Noisy Miner using morphometrics ................................................................... 24 3.1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 24 3.2 - Methods........................................................................................................................ 26 3.3 - Results .......................................................................................................................... 29 3.4 - Discussion .................................................................................................................... 33 4 - Shifts in demographic structure following removal of Noisy Miners ................................ 36 4.1 - Introduction .................................................................................................................. 36 4.2 - Methods........................................................................................................................ 39 4.3 - Results .......................................................................................................................... 43 4.4 - Discussion .................................................................................................................... 50 4.4.1 - Age structure of recolonising Noisy Miners .......................................................... 50 4.4.2 - Sex-ratio of recolonising Noisy Miners ................................................................. 52 4.4.3 - Analysis of breeding history .................................................................................. 56 4.4.4 - What is the source of recolonists?......................................................................... 58 4.4.5 - Future directions ................................................................................................... 60 5 - Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................. 61 References ................................................................................................................................ 65 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 77 iii List of Figures Figure 2.1. Examples of the longest feather of the right alula taken from different individuals. A) Sharp alula taken from an immature; B) Sharp alula taken from a mature; C) Round alula taken from an immature; D) Round alula taken from a mature; E) Ambiguous alula classed as round; F) Ambiguous alula classed as sharp. ........... 17 Figure
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