EM323 Summary

Australasian Diversity ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………….pg 1

Wildlife Management……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….pg 6

Case Study: Tree-Kangaroo ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………….pg 8

Case Study: Wild Horses ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 9

Human-Wildlife Conflict in Bhutan ……………………………………………………………………………………….………………………pg 10

Ecological Impacts of Roads ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….pg 11

Managing Wildlife Collisions ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 12

Disease in Wildlife Management ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………pg 12

Case Study: Devil Facial Tumour Disease ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 13

Wildlife Hunting & Harvesting ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….pg 14

Case Study: Crocodile Industry ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 15

Over-Abundant Native Wildlife ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….pg 15

Case Study: Kangaroo Management ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 16

Introduced Species of Conservation Significance …………………………………………………………………………………………….pg 17

Australasian Diversity Wildlife is any undomesticated organism – usually restricted to wild and excluding plants. Wildlife Management deals with introduced and native wildlife. Traditionally referred to the control of game but now includes conservation, ecology, environmental policy, human-wildlife interactions and sociology. Diversity - Prototherians (Monotremes): 5 species in and New Guinea. Example: Short-Beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aceulatus) Australia-wide. 2-7 kg, large brain, strong claws, myrmecophagous. Conservation secure. Some Indigenous hunting. Long-Beaked Echidna (Zaglossus spp.) New Guinea Islands. Long-lived, eat earthworms, similar reproductive characteristics to short-beaked. Endangered. Heavily hunted – in need of management intervention. - Metatherians (): Example: 100 species in Americas – 1 in North America. All members are small/medium with ancestral possum-like body. Distinct pouch in Family Didelphidae. Pleistocene Giantism (Megafauna) declined from human hunting. Herbivores: Diprotodon optatum – lived 1.6M – 46,000 YA. Hippopotamus-sized, Australia-wide. Predators: Thylacoleo carnifex – 2M – 46,000 YA. Largest Aust. Marsupial predator (100-160 kg), Australia- wide. Most common in dry, open forests. - Eutherians (Placental) e.g. dingo. Australian Fauna Class Native Species % Endemic 349 71 Birds 850 71 Reptiles 860 88 Amphibians 230 93 Freshwater Fishes 249 95 More than 20% of the world’s mammal fauna occur in our region (Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea) – 30- 70% endemism and many threatened species. Marsupial Diversity Australia 151 species, New Guinea 83 species. - Order Peremelemorphia (Bandicoot): o Family Peramelidae: 8 species (3 endangered, 2 extinct). Nocturnal omnivores adapted for digging for fungi, insects, tubers and roots. Backward-opening pouch. High reproductive rate, short gestation. ▪ Subfamily Thylacomyinae (Bilbies): 2 species Aust. (1 extinct). Desert-dwelling, arid- adapted, burrowers. Threatened by foxes, rabbits, fire and stock. o Family Peroyctidae (Spiny Bandicoots): 1 species Aust. 9 species New Guinea. Rainforest-dwelling. - Order : Notoryctes spp. (). 2 species Aust. N. typhlops central desert and N. caurinus northwest Australia. Discovered in 1888. Sandy inland regions, eats invertebrates and small vertebrates. Convergent with golden mole of Africa. Endangered. - Order o Family ▪ Small Dasyurids e.g. long-tailed (Sminthopsis longicaudata) and (Dasykaluta rosamondae). ▪ Medium Dasyurids e.g. (Dasyroides byrnei) and Brush-Tailed (Phascogale tapoatafa). ▪ Larger Dasyurids e.g. Eastern (Dasyurus viverrinus), Devil ( harrisii) ▪ Carnivores: thylacine, devils, . - Order Diprotodontia: Potoroids – some extinct, others on the brink. Critical weight range mammals suffering from fox predation. o Family Hypsiprymnodontidae: Musky Rat-Kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus) o Family Potoroidae: Bettongs, potoroos and rat-kangaroo. 11 species.