CONSERVING AND RESTORING WILDLIFE IN FRAGMENTED URBAN LANDSCAPES: A CASE STUDY FROM BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA A thesis submitted for the degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy atThe University ofQueensland in December 2006 by Jenni Garden, BSc. (Hons) Schoolof Geography, Planning and Architecture, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Qld. Australia STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY, CONTRIBUTION TO JOINTLY PUBLISHED WORK, AND CONTRIBUTION OF OTHERS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY The work presented in this thesis is, to the bestof my knowledge and belief, originaland my own work, exceptwhere otherwise stated in the text. This materialhas notbeen submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree atthis or any other university. CONTRIBUTION TO JOINTLY PUBLISHED WORK Two jointly published papers, and three jointly prepared papers in review are reproduced in their entirety as chapters forming partof this thesis and my contribution to these was as follows: Chapter 2. Garden J., McAlpine C., Peterson A., Jones D., Possingham H. (2006) Review of the ecology of Australian urban fauna: A focus on spatially-explicit processes. Austral Ecology, 31, 126-148. - Originalidea, literature search and compilation, and allwritten work. ii Chapter 3. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P., Jones D.N. (in review) Using multiple survey methods to detect terrestrial reptiles and mammals: What are the most successful and cost efficient combinations? Wildlife Research. - Originalidea, alldata collection and analysis, and all written work. Chapter 4. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P., Jones D.N. (in press) Habitat structure is more important than vegetation composition for local-level management of native terrestrial reptile and small mammal species living in urban remnants: A case study from Brisbane, Australia. Austral Ecology. - Originalidea, alldata collection and analysis, and all written work. Chapter 5. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P. (in review) What’s more important for wildlife in fragmented urban landscapes – local, patch, or landscape-level influences? A reptile and small mammal case study from southeast Queensland, Australia. Biological Conservation. - Originalidea, alldata collection and analysis, and all written work. Chapter 6. Garden J.G., Peterson A., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P. (in review) Conserving native terrestrial reptiles and small mammals in urban landscapes: The need for a multi-scaled, multi-species approach to planning and management. Landscape and Urban Planning. - Originalidea, alldata analysis, and allwritten work. iii CONTRIBUTION OF OTHERS Dr Clive McAlpine and Prof. Hugh Possingham contributed to the discussion and developmentof allideas, and commented on allwritten materialand data analysis. Michiala Bowen and Barbara Triggs provided expertanalysis of hair and scat samples, which contributed to species identifications used in the main analyses. The contributions of others to each chapter were: Chapter 2: Dr Ann Peterson, Assoc. Prof. Darryl Jones and two anonymous reviewers provided comments on the written material. Chapter 3: Assoc. Prof. Darryl Jones, Dr Nick Clemann, and two anonymous reviewers commented on the written material. Assoc. Prof. DarrylJones also provided advice on trapping methods during field surveys. Chapter 4: Dr Grant WardellJohnson, Dr Ben Lawson, and Hussein Bashir provided advice and feedback on PATN analysis. Assoc. Prof. Darryl Jones, two anonymous reviewers, and Dr MichaelBull (managing editor of AustralEcology) commented on the written material. Chapter 5: Sean Hough conducted FRAGSTATS analysis of data. Chapter 6: Dr Ann Peterson helped develop ideas and commented on written material. ……………………………………………. …………………… JenniG. Garden Date ……………………………………………. …………………… Dr Clive A. McAlpine (Primary Advisor) Date iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would firstlike to thank my supervisory team, Clive McAlpine, Hugh Possingham, Ann Peterson, and DarrylJones, for their constantsupport, encouragement and enthusiasm over the lastfour years. To Clive, especially, thank-you for allyour time and effort. Thanks also to the members of The Ecology Centre, the Landscape Ecology group, and CRSSIS for enlightening discussions and debates during my PhD candidature. I also thank Brisbane City Council for their financialand in-kind support throughoutthe project. To Stacey McLean and Kristy Buchannan, in particular, thank you for your supportof the projectand enthusiasm for it. Also, thanks to Graham Woods for allyour help and for looking outfor my safety in the southern bushland sites. I also acknowledge financial supportprovided by a University of Queensland postgraduate scholarship, and The Ecology Centre. To Redland Shire CouncilWater and Waste Division, particularly Bruce Fischer, thank-you for allowing me access to councilproperty, for providing maps and keys, and for being completely accommodating of any requests. To allthe private land owners who supported this project – thank-you for allowing me access to your property and for being so passionate about your respective patches of bushland. I also thank:Michiala Bowen and Barbara Triggs for analysing hair and scat samples; Dr GrantWardellJohnson, Dr Ben Lawson, and Hussein Bashir for helping unlock the mystery of PATN; and, Sean Hough for running the FRAGSTATS analysis. Special thanks also go to v numerous volunteers who helped with the field work. Thank-you for giving your weekends and early mornings to help me dig pitfall holes, check traps, and remove traps. Your assistance was very much appreciated. My safety and sanity during the fauna and habitatsurveys was maintained thanks to my research assistants, Michelle Walton and Alison Howes. Thank you both, so much, for your help, support, constantenthusiasm (especially during the 2 am starts!), bravery in the face of numerous spiders, humour, companionship, and your friendship. I am so very lucky to have had two such wonderfulassistants to share in the joys of fieldwork! To my office mates, and friends, Saravanan Subramanian and Leonie Seabrook, thank-you for taking this roller-coaster trip with me – you made the ride so much more enjoyable. Thank- you for creating such a friendly, relaxing, motivating, and competitive environmentin which to work. To my other friends, thank-you for your supportand encouragementthroughoutmy PhD candidature. Thanks, especially to Tim O’Donnell for teaching me aboutthe wonders of GIS, for your company and understanding athome, and for many hours of much needed laughter therapy. Finally, to my family – ‘thank-you’ seems barely adequate for allyou’ve done for me. I am forever gratefulfor your love and encouragement. Thank-you for always believing in me and supporting me – I know I willnever fallfar with you as my safety net. vi LIST OF PUBLICATIONS RELEVANT TO THIS THESIS Garden J., McAlpine C., Peterson A., Jones D., Possingham H. (2006) Review of the ecology of Australian urban fauna:A focus on spatially-explicitprocesses. AustralEcology, 31, 126-148. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P., Jones D.N. (in review) Using multiple survey methods to detectterrestrial reptiles and mammals: Whatare the most successful and costefficient combinations? Wildlife Research. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P., Jones D.N. (in press) Habitatstructure is more importantthan vegetation composition for locallevelmanagement of native terrestrialreptile and smallmammalspecies livingin urban remnants:A case study from Brisbane, Australia. Austral Ecology. Garden J.G., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P. (in review) What’s more important for wildlife in fragmented urban landscapes – local, patch, or landscape-levelinfluences? A reptile and smallmammalcase study from southeastQueensland, Australia. Biological Conservation. Garden J.G., Peterson A., McAlpine C.A., Possingham H.P. (in review) Conserving native terrestrialreptiles and smallmammals in urban landscapes:The need for a multiscaled, multispecies approach to planning and management. Landscape and Urban Planning. vii PREFACE With the exceptions of Chapter 1 (GeneralIntroduction) and Chapter 7 (GeneralDiscussion), this thesis is presented as a compilation of logically connected published, in press, or in review manuscripts. For the mostpart, the contentof Chapters 2-6 are presented in the formatthey were submitted or published, with the journal acknowledged atthe startof each chapter. Minor stylistic changes have been made for the purposes of maintaining continuity in this thesis. For instance, figures and tables within chapters have been re-labelled to ensure consistency with thesis chapters, ‘in press’ or ‘submitted’ references have been updated where possible, and in-text referencing styles have been formatted to suitthe thesis. The acknowledgements and references sections for each manuscripthave been removed;instead overall acknowledgements for the thesis are provided on pages v-vi, contributions by others to each chapter are shown on pages iiiv, and a single references listfor the thesis is presented at the end of Chapter 7 (pp. 204). As Chapters 2-6 were written as stand-alone articles for scientific journals, there is some repetition between chapters, particularly in the Introduction, and Materials and Methods sections. Where necessary, permission was obtained to reproduce published papers in this thesis. Atthe startof each chapter and the references section, a page of photographic plates is included, with a brief description of each photo. Information for each description was derived viii from:Queensland Museum (1995), Cogger (2000),