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Comparisons of Ground Vertebrate Assemblages in Arid Western Australia in Different Seasons and Decades

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Comparisons of Ground Vertebrate Assemblages in Arid Western Australia in Different Seasons and Decades DOI: 10.18195/issn.0312-3162.22(2).2004.091-100 Record, o( tlzc \Vc,tcnz A11,t rn!urn A1u,c11111 en 100 (200.1). 22 Comparisons of ground vertebrate assemblages in arid Western Australia in different seasons and decades 1 2 1 M. A. Cowan and R. A. How Department of Consen·ation and Land M,magement, PO Box 10173, K;ilgoorlie : Western Austr;ili,m Museum, Fr;incis Street, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia Abstract - Assemblages of mammals, reptiles ;ind frogs were sampled 20 vears apart on the s;ime fi\·e Eastern Goldf1elds sites and 111 the same months using the same techniques for the> same periods of time. None of nine species of snakes were captured on both surveys and three> additional species of lizard were>added to the 32 recorded on the first sun·ev. No new mammal or frog species were recorded but the relatin• abundar{ce of most vertebrate species changed over two decades. The greatest change in relative abundance occurred in a group of lizards that are long li\·ed the geckos. All sampling sites continued to show an increase in species richness with continued sampling time. Differences in assemblages were greatest between surveys and least betvveen seasons suggesting long-term changes occurred ·in assemblage structure. As part of a recent biodiversity audit of the The first approach to defining biodiversity usually Eastern Goldfields, the Kalgoorlie regional office of INTRODUCTION comes from examining species lists derived the Department of Conservation and Land variously from the literature or biological surveys. Management (CALM) commenced a program in These species lists form the basis of identifying 2001 to document the vertebrate diversity of areas of high biodiversity and their significance to pastoral leases that have been acquired for conservation at spatial scales ranging from global conservation purposes. The first local survey of (Myers ct al., 2000) to regional (Gomez de Silva and vertebrate fauna was undertaken on Goongarrie Medellin, 2001) or evaluating the impacts of Station and one objective of the survey was to development on local environments (WA resample five sites that had been sampled in 1978- Government, 2002). The adequacy of these lists to 1981 by the Western Australian Museum during the accurately determine species richness is seldom survey of the Eastern Goldfields (Dell et al., 1988). assessed, particularly for fauna! groups. This paper describes changes in the composition The vertebrate fauna of the arid zone of Western and relative abundances of the ground fauna! Australia has been documented by several broad assemblages of these five habitats sampled 20 years scale surveys over the last 30 years that have shown apart but in the same seasons. inland regions to be biologically diverse, particularly for reptiles (Burbidge et al., 1976, McKenzie and Burbidge, 1979; McKenzie and Robinson, 1987). The vertebrate diversity of the In the early 1990s the Department of SURVEY LOCATIONS AND METHODS Eastern Goldfields region was examined in more Conservation and Land Management commenced detail by a major biological survey in the late 1970s an acquisition program of leasehold properties to to early 1980s (Biological Surveys Committee, 1984) add to the State's conservation reserves. Early resulting in the publication of 12 reports outlining amongst these was Goongarrie Station, acquired in the diversity of vascular plants and vertebrates at 1995 as a property that spanned the major over 120 sites in the region. Recent work by biogeographic feature of the Mulga- Eucalypt line environmental consultants has confirmed th� that delineates the South West Intcrzone and diversity of the vertl'brate fauna of the Goldfields Eremaean Province of Beard (1980) and forms the by undertaking further intensive site-specific boundary between the Murchison and Coolgardie samplings but within a longer temporal framework Biorcgions (Thackway and Cresswell, 1995). (Thompson and Thompson, 2002). These studies ha\·e re\·ealed a larger number of rare species as Study Area and Sampling Sites well as several species that occur well outside their The broad vegetation and soil characteristics of previously known ranges. the study area and the five sampling sites 92 M.A. Cowan, R.A. How reexamined in this paper are described in detail in the use of fenced pitfall traps but extensive Dell et al. (1988). Codes for the eastern Goldfields opportunistic searching and mammal trapping survey were based on a sites' location in the occurred around a campsite based on this location 1:250000 topographical map series, in this case the allowing a comparison of assemblage structure and Edjudina and Menzies [Em] sheets. The sampling of abundances. the five sites in each of the CALM and Museum The majority of captures from the Museum's surveys are identified as GS and GG, respectively. survey were vouchered into the State's collections The brief descriptions of the five re-sampled sites while less than five percent of the CALM survey are as follows: individuals were vouchered. Em3=GG26=GS26: Acacia coolgardiensis Tall Shrubland on Dunefield landform unit with red Analysis loamy sand to greater than 3 m. Comparisons between sampling sites and surveys Em13=GG27=GS27: Eucalyptus leptopoda Mallee on were made using the Bray - Curtis coefficient of Sandplain landform unit with yellowish red dissimilarity for species abundance data and sandy loams to 40 cm with gravels below. principal co-ordinates plot of these matrices. Em22=GG28=GS28: Eucalyptus concinna Mallee on How (1998) indicated that upwards of 50 days of Broad Valley landform unit with dark red sampling are required to sample 70% of a reptile sandy loam to >80cm. assemblage on the Swan Coastal Plain and this was Em21=GG29=GS29: Casuarina pauper Low due to the infrequent capture rates of snakes in Woodland on Broad Valley landform unit with particular. However, when only lizards were shallow calcareous earths to > 1m. considered, over 60% of the assemblage was Em15=GG30=GS30: Acacia stowardii Tall Shrubland captured after 30 days. As only 25 days of sampling on Undulating Plain landform unit with dark occurred during the four sampling periods of the red brown loam or clay loam to lOcm and two surveys, only the lizard assemblages are quartz and calcrete below compared between sampling periods and sites for Sampling sites were selected, in the first instance, this study. to cover the gradient of landform and soil types in a The calculation of the magnitude of change in catena from an outlying sand dune to the loams on lizard abundances between surveys was calculated a quartzite rise in broad valley. following the methods of Pianka (1986). This There was no evidence that any of the sites have involved calculating the proportion of the total been subjected to fire between the two surveys captures for each taxon in each survey and while grazing has continued, albeit at a very low comparing the change in this proportion between level, on both sites 29 and 30 throughout the period. surveys by dividing the larger proportion by the smaller. Survey and Sampling Periods Two major surveys fuld four discrete sampling RESULTS periods have been undertaken on the five sampling sites. The Western Australian Museum sampled the Assemblage Composition five sites over six days between 10-15 March 1979 The abundance and location of all ground and 6-11 October 1980,while CALM sampled the vertebrate species captured at Goongarrie during same sites for seven or six days, respectively, each survey and at each sampling site are presented between 24-30 October 2001 and 6-11 March 2002. in Table 1. The sampling periods of the CALM survey were selected to represent the two main periods of faunal Amphibians and Reptiles activity in the semiarid of Western Australia [spring The CALM survey of 2001-2002 added three (October) and late summer (March)] and be species of lizard [Strophurus assimilis, comparative with the earlier study by the Museum. Underwoodisaurus milii, Varanus tristis] and six A third sampling of five days was undertaken by snakes [Ramphotyphlops australis, R. bituberculatus, R. the Museum in July 1981, however, data for this Iwmatus, Brachyurophis fasciolata, B, semifasciata, winter period are not included as few ground Simoselaps bertllOldi] to the previously known vertebrate species were captured and none that assemblage. Conversely, eight lizards [Gehyra were not already known for the sites (Dell et al. purpurascens, Heteronotia binoei, Delma butlcri, 1988). Pygopus nigriceps, Cryptoblepharus carnabyi, Sampling at all sites involved the use of pitfall Cyclodomorphus melanops, Egernia fornlOsa, Morethia traplines with drift fences, Elliott mammal traps butlcri] and three snakes [Denwnsia psammophis, and extensive opportunistic sampling that included Parasuta monac!lus, Pseudonaja modesta] were both foraging and headtorching techniques. captured during the Museum survey in 1979-1980 Sampling at GG30 by the Museum did not involve that were not recorded during the CALM survey. Ground vertebrate assemblages in arid Western Australia 93 All Sites Species accumulation 30 25 20 tJl .~ 0 c.<l> 15 tJl 0 z 10 5 o o Mar-79 Oct-BO Oct-01 Mar-02 Trapping period Figure 1 Species accumulatIon for the five sampling sites over the four sampling periods No additional species of frogs were recorded species with 178 records were recorded on the during the CALM survey, such that 2 amphibian CALM survey. Of the combined 35 lizard species and 44 reptile species are now recorded from the recorded, 19 decreased in relative abundance and five sites. 16 increased between the surveys (Table 1). The 111ecumulative total of species recorded for each mean change in relative abundance of the 24 species sampling site over the four sampling periods is in common between both surveys was 2.74±2.84(24) presented in Figure 1. On all sites, additional times.
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