DPaW AEC Renewal Application Form last updated 29/12/2015 Department of Parks and Wildlife Animal Ethics Committee PROJECT RENEWAL APPLICATION FORM COVER SHEET To fill out this form you must refer to the DPaW Standard Operating Procedures. Answer all sections, indicating when there is no information available. Incomplete forms will result in delays in assessment or rejection of the nomination. 1. Project Title: Monitoring the response of vertebrate fauna to management at AWC Sanctuaries in WA 2. Chief Investigator (CI): CI’s name: Dr James Smith Agency/Company: Australian Wildlife Conservancy Current Position: Senior Ecologist 3. Previous AEC approval number: DPaW AEC: 2013 /37 3. Does this project involve personnel/students from more than one AEC and/or institution? If yes, an Inter-institutional Agreement will be required. Please arrange this with the AEC No Yes Executive Officer once the project has been approved. Type of study: SELECT TYPE OF STUDY If yes: Name of institution: Name of supervisor/s: 4. Has this proposal, or aspects of this proposal, been submitted to any other AEC? Or, for internal DPaW applications, are investigators from other institutions involved? If yes, please provide details below and attach a copy of the approved application: Name of institution: No Yes Status of the application: Approved Not approved Under consideration Approval number: 5. Names of personnel involved in the project: Chief Investigator: Regulation 17 Licence Previous AEC experience Name Emergency contact Licence No. expiry date (AEC approval number/s) Dr James Smith SC/SF: 10584 1/10/2016 A00015 Yes A06022 Other personnel: Amount of experience with designated fauna Name Role in this project Emergency contact and techniques (length of time in field) Dr Alex James Animal Handler Yes >10 years Dr Michael Smith Animal Handler Yes >10 years Dr Melissa Bruton Animal Handler >10 years Yes Dr Laura Ruykys >10 years AEC/Renewal Application Form 1 DPaW AEC Renewal Application Form last updated 29/12/2015 Andrew Morton Animal Handler 6 years Hannah Cliff 2 year Rosie Hohnen 3 years Naomi Walters 5 years Yes Noel Riessen 4 years Chantelle Jackson >10 years Nicola Palmer 8 years Bryony Palmer 10 years 6. Source of funds and length of funding: Australian Wildlife Conservancy (a mix of government grants and philanthropic funds). Personnel involved in the project are a mix of permanent full-time staff members, seasonal staff members, and internal researchers. 7. Location of animals during experiment and/or fieldwork for each site: At AWC Sanctuaries in WA: Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary: -17.511926, 126.109443 Marion Downs Wildlife Sanctuary: -17.056382, 126.738785 Tableland Wildlife Sanctuary: -17.278186, 126.900813 Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary: -16.406048, 125.134703 Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary: -29.668599, 117.452715 Karakamia Wildlife Sanctuary: -31.820792, 116.245736 Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary: -31.687879, 116.134376 Faure island Wildlife Sanctuary: -25.843005, 113.886137 8. Source of animals: The source of animals are from the locations provided in Section 7 ie. they are wild vertebrate fauna. AEC/Renewal Application Form 2 DPaW AEC Renewal Application Form last updated 29/12/2015 BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT 9. Purpose of the proposed project: (this information will be required for the annual report – please select only one option). Options: Education Research: animal biology Research: health and welfare of animals Research: animal management or production (captive) Research: environmental studies Product testing (pre-registration efficacy/toxicity testing) 10. Background/relevance of work: NB: this section must be completed Please indicate in this section what the outcomes have been and what has been achieved during the projects previous approval period in relation to the stated key aims / objectives and what new avenues of exploration are being undertaken since the last project approval. AWC’s Mission is the effective conservation of Australian wildlife and their habitats. To achieve this, AWC establishes sanctuaries to protect wildlife, and then implements practical on-ground conservation programs on those sanctuaries. Management programs include regional fire management, the control of invasive species, and reintroductions of threatened fauna. These management programs are tightly linked to inventory and monitoring programs which are designed to provide feedback on the effectiveness of our management. AWC also carries out strategic research projects that address the key threats to our native wildlife. A full species list of animals used in the previous 3 years is attached (Appendix 1). The outcomes achieved during the previous three years of monitoring data across our sanctuaries (to assess the outcomes of our management) are ongoing. Highlights include: - Annual analyses of the long-term effects of destocking and fire management in the central Kimberley - Inventory surveys of Artesian Range Sanctuary and the establishment of permanent monitoring sites. These monitoring sites provide a large, robust dataset on threatened NW endemics, which informs fire and herbivore management - Establishment of a network of monitoring sites at Mt Gibson, to compare pre- and post-predator fenceline construction and feral animal removal. - Extensive predator monitoring surveys using camera traps across the NW sanctuaries to assess dingo population dynamics and examine dingo-cat interactions - Multiple publications. A list of publications arising from the project is included in the reference section (Section 36). While the key aims and objectives of the project have not changed, over the last three years of the project we have included minor changes - to the focal species being studied, and to some of the monitoring methods. Specifically, these additions are: - The use of Black Trakka ink cards to our survey methods, to better identify camera-surveyed species - The use of a small, portable medical cautery unit to permanently mark thick-skinned reptiles for extended monitoring - The addition of Banded Hare Wallabies (Lagostrophus fasciatus) as a species to be monitored. Banded Hare Wallabies were previously monitored under the project '2012/54 Introduction of Banded Hare Wallaby to Faure Island'. This reintroduced population has successfully established. We have now integrated monitoring of this species into the general fauna monitoring program on Faure Island, which is undertaken under AEC 2013-37 - The shift of focus away from intensive monitoring of feral cat and dingo movements, and bird body condition. As such we have removed radio-collaring, camera collaring, and bird banding from the list of activities for this project AEC/Renewal Application Form 3 DPaW AEC Renewal Application Form last updated 29/12/2015 Two additions to the project renewal are proposed: - Euthanasia of cane toads with stunning and decapitation - Radiotracking of rarely-seen (and difficult to survey) reptiles 11. Key aims/objectives: Please list and indicate if / how these have changed from the original project proposal The key aims have not changed from the original proposal. They are: Measure the impacts of land management on fauna populations to inform effective conservation management Measure population trends of focal species Improve knowledge of the species inhabitating each AWC sanctuary Improve understanding of species-habitat preferences and demography 12. Does the project use DPaW’s Standard Operating Procedures: Yes No Select standard operating procedures used: List non-standard operating procedures used: Observation/survey Capture and collection Handling restraint, marking Radio-tracking Taking blood Biopsy Euthanasia Other: REDUCTION Minimise the number of animals used 13. Species and estimated number of individuals to be used: Please provide a taxonomic checklist of species likely to be encountered (including non-targets) and the estimated numbers for each species based on the previous 3 years of project work. (Extend table rows if required – unprotect document) Scientific name (include subspecies) Common name Number anticipated Numbers must be entered in this section We do not set out to trap a specified number of animals. Instead we monitor populations of animals using survey designs that are replicated sufficiently within and across ecosystems and management treatments to indicate changes in presence, abundance and/or condition over time. A list of all animals used in the previous 3 years is attached (Appendix 1) Below, we list the expected number of animals to be used at each sanctuary, against each monitoring program: 1. REGULAR MONITORING OF -Annual surveys are undertaken at 300 Based on the results of SMALL-TO-MEDIUM SIZED permanent, standardised monitoring previous years, we MAMMALS AND REPTILES USING sites across the NW and SW expect to catch TRAPPING SURVEYS sanctuaries, which equates to about around 15 000 12,000 trap nights per sanctuary for individual mammals AEC/Renewal Application Form 4 DPaW AEC Renewal Application Form last updated 29/12/2015 mammals, reptiles and frogs (pitfalls, (from ~45 species), cages, funnels and Elliotts) 3200 individual -Targeted surveys for focal species reptiles (in ~120 (mostly medium-sized mammals in re- species) and 2000 introduction areas) individual frogs (in ~26 species). 2. REGULAR MONITORING OF • Camera trap and sandplot Up to 40 dingoes, 20 NATIVE AND INTRODUCED surveys cats (softjaw traps), PREDATORS - 40,000 trap-nights/yr across and an unknown all sanctuaries number dingoes, cats • Trapping surveys and