scholarly journals A vertical bait station for black rats (Rattus rattus) that reduces bait take by a sympatric native rodent

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Zewe ◽  
Paul Meek ◽  
Hugh Ford ◽  
Karl Vernes
Keyword(s):  
Field Trial ◽  
New South ◽  
Rattus Rattus ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Vertical Pipe ◽  
Black Rat ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
A Site ◽  
Bait Stations

Novel bait stations can be used as a targeted method of delivering bait by exploiting behavioural traits of the target species. On Muttonbird Island, New South Wales, the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been baited to aid the conservation of the island’s wedge-tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) colony, which may result in poisoning of the sympatric swamp rat (Rattus lutreolus). We aimed to design a bait station that R. rattus could reach, but that R. lutreolus could not. We found that 11 (92%) of 12 captive R. rattus reached the bait chambers by climbing a 50-cm vertical pipe, whereas only four (18%) of 22 R. lutreolus reached these bait stations. In a field trial on Muttonbird Island R. rattus entered the bait chamber on an average of 5.3 events per night of vertical bait station deployment, but R. lutreolus did not enter the stations. In a field trial on the mainland at a site with a high density of R. lutreolus, this species was detected in one vertical bait station five times, equating to an average of 0.017 events per night of vertical bait station deployment. We conclude that R. rattus readily climbs a 50-cm pipe to enter the bait station, whereas R. lutreolus rarely or never does on Muttonbird Island or at the mainland site.

Effects of bait-station design on the uptake of baits by non-target animals during control programmes for foxes and wild dogs

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair S. Glen ◽  
Chris R. Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Red Fox ◽  
New South ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Target Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
Bait Stations ◽  
Wild Dogs

The removal of non-toxic baits was monitored during a simulated trail-baiting programme for foxes and wild dogs in the central tablelands of New South Wales. Ninety-one buried baits were removed by a number of species including spotted-tailed quolls, Australian brush-turkeys, superb lyrebirds, small mammals, wild dogs and a red fox. Spotted-tailed quolls were significantly less likely to remove baits buried under the ground surface than baits buried in raised mounds of soil. By means of remote photography, individual quolls were identified removing 3–4 baits in one night from bait stations 400 m apart. The results of this study show that spotted-tailed quolls and other non-target species may face substantial risk of consuming baits intended for wild dogs and foxes. However, the risk of poisoning spotted-tailed quolls may be significantly reduced by appropriate planning. Recommendations are made to increase the target-specificity of baiting programmes in areas with populations of spotted-tailed quolls.

Does fox baiting threaten the spotted-tailed quoll, Dasyurus maculatus?

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Körtner ◽  
Shaan Gresser ◽  
Bob Harden
Keyword(s):  
Rhodamine B ◽  
Red Fox ◽  
New South ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
North East ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Bait Stations

In Australia, baiting with 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) is widely used to reduce predation of native wildlife by the red fox. However, such control programs may place some native carnivores at risk, particularly the spotted-tailed quoll in eastern Australia. We measured the mortality in a total of 57 quolls fitted with mortality radio-transmitters during four experimental fox baitings with Foxoff® 1080 baits containing Rhodamine B in north-east New South Wales. In all experiments quolls visited bait stations regularly and removed a total of 20 baits. All but one of these baits was found in the vicinity of the bait station, indicating that quolls did not ingest baits. This was confirmed by the absence of Rhodamine B in the vibrissae of all quolls retrapped after baiting. The only quoll that may have died from a bait had eaten a cached bait some six weeks after baiting concluded. Thus, baiting did not threaten any of the quoll populations sampled. Therefore it appears that most restrictions imposed to protect spotted-tailed quolls during fox baiting are unnecessary as long as this bait type is used.

scholarly journals Diet of an Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris in northern New South Wales

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 44-48
Author(s):  
Stephen Kearney ◽  
Keyword(s):  
House Mouse ◽  
Mus Musculus ◽  
National Park ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Rattus Rattus ◽  
Black Rat ◽  
South Wales

A single Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris was observed in Bundjalung National Park, New South Wales, in September 2019. Pellets (n = 17) collected from its roost contained the remains of House Mouse Mus musculus, Grassland Melomys Melomys burtoni, Black Rat Rattus rattus, Swamp Rat R. lutreolus, Fawn-footed Melomys Melomys cervinipes, Common Planigale Planigale maculata, Eastern Blossom Bat Syconycteris australis and honeyeater Phylidonyris sp. The most interesting findings were the Eastern Blossom Bat (the first published record of a bat in the diet of an Eastern Grass Owl in Australia) and that one of the Grassland Melomys specimens had pink bones.

Models of the distribution and abundance of ground-dwelling mammals in the eucalypt forests of north-eastern New South Wales in relation to environmental variables

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 313 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Catling ◽  
R. J. Burt ◽  
R. I. Forrester
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Slope Position ◽  
Slope Aspect ◽  
Significant Variable ◽  
South Wales ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Eucalypt Forests ◽  
A Site

Statistical models are presented of the distribution and abundance of ground-dwelling mammals in eucalypt forests in relation to environmental variables within an area of approximately 24 000 km2 in north-eastern New South Wales. Environmental variables are defined as climatic or topographic variables that may be useful to map the distribution of fauna. The environmental variables examined were season, temperature, rainfall, elevation, lithology, steepness of slope, position on slope, aspect and landform profile. The probability of recording some species was higher in spring than autumn and many species were in highest abundance in areas of low temperature (high elevation). Although aspect was a significant variable in a number of models, no species was absent from any aspect category. Mid-slopes down to and including creeks and drainage lines were particularly important for many species, as were areas with flatter terrain. Although we have modelled environmental variables only there will no doubt be longer-term interactions between habitat and environmental variables. Fundamentally, environmental variables will determine the type of habitat present at a site, and the distribution of canopy communities, at least, can be predicted from environmental variables. However, other studies have shown for ground-dwelling mammals that environmental variables contribute little and it is the state of the habitat locally, and particularly the understorey, that determines their presence and abundance at a site. The results are discussed in relation to similar models using habitat variables and in relation to the use of such models in the management of ground-dwelling fauna in forests.

Lake Mungo

1985 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Wright
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Health Worker ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Aboriginal Health ◽  
Aboriginal Child ◽  
South Wales ◽  
A Site ◽  
Aboriginal Health Worker

Lake Mungo, in New South Wales, is the home of the first known people in this country. Here, the oldest known evidence of Aboriginal people in Australia has been found. Because of its importance, it is a site which everyone should know about. To give us a feeling for Lake Mungo, Billy Reid, the illustrator of The Aboriginal Health Worker and The Aboriginal Child at School, came with me on a trip. We travelled west to the Darling River (whose Aboriginal name is Calewatta), and then south-east to Lake Mungo itself. Billy made wonderful drawings to represent the deeds and everyday life of those people. This can be reconstructed from the fossil evidence found at Lake Mungo. He has also drawn some scenes of life along the banks of the Calewatta - the river which is Billy’s own home. He hails from Bourke.

Large-scale patterns in habitat structure on subtidal rocky reefs in New South Wales

2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. L. Andrew ◽  
A. L. O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Subtidal Rocky Reefs ◽  
A Site

Aerial photography was used to estimate the representation of shallow subtidal habitats in New South Wales. Sixty sites, each between 4 and 5 hectares, were mapped with Geographical Information Systems software using ortho-rectified images digitized from 1:8000-scale photographs and ‘ground truthed’ in the field by divers. Barrens habitat covered an estimated 50% (s.e. = 3.9) of nearshore reefs between Port Stephens and Disaster Bay. Coverage of barrens habitat was greatest in Disaster Bay (68%, s.e. = 6.7) and least south of Disaster Bay (1%, s.e. = 0.3). There were clear differences among localities in the area of reef within the mapped sites; those at Cape Howe, Nadgee, and Turingal were significantly smaller in area than all others. There was no clear latitudinal trend in these differences but there was evidence of sand inundation at a site at Nadgee, where the reef was small. Differences in the densities and size-structure of the sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersiiat 27 of the mapped sites provide a basis for testing relationships between the demography of this species and the persistence of the barrens habitat. The extensive coverage of the barrens habitat in New South Wales is likely to limit the productivity of the abalone industry. The development of a sea urchin fishery may have large impacts on habitat representation on nearshore reefs.

An analysis of bait-take and non-target impacts during a fox-control exercise

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Dexter ◽  
Paul Meek
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Poison Baiting ◽  
Heath Forest ◽  
Free Feeding ◽  
Fox Control ◽  
Control Exercise

The effectiveness of a fox-control exercise at the Beecroft Peninsula, New South Wales, was evaluated by examining the change in proportion of baits taken during free-feeding and after lethal baiting in four different habitats (heath, forest, coastal scrub, beach), and the change in number of radio-collared foxes alive during the course of the baiting exercise. The change in proportion of baits taken by non-target species was also examined over the course of the study. Bait take declined by 97% from the initiation of poison baiting to the final day of poison baiting eight days later with significantly more baits being taken in heath than in any other habitat. Four out of six radio-collared foxes died on the first day of poison baiting while the other two foxes died within ten days of the start of the poison-baiting session. Black rats, currawongs and ravens took a small number of baits throughout the baiting exercise.

Uptake of Baits by Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes): Implications for Rabies Contingency Planning in Australia

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. S. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Rural Environment ◽  
Contingency Planning ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Population Reduction ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
The Mean

Baits containing the bait marker iophenoxic acid were used to quantify bait uptake by red foxes in a rural environment in north-eastern New South Wales. Baits were distributed at a mean density of 4·4 baits km-2. Serum iodine levels were analysed from a sample of 29 foxes shot on two baited sites and a nil-treatment site. The mean percentage of foxes with elevated seral iodine, indicating the consumption of at least one bait, was 58·3%. This rate of bait uptake would not consistently deliver reductions in fox densities or immunisation levels considered necessary for the control of rabies enzootics in Europe and North America. The minimum number known to be alive (MNA) method overestimated population reduction and underestimated abundance. Indirect estimators of population abundance, such as bait-station indices, are of more use in rabies contingency planning and modelling. This is because they are more reliable, are likely to overestimate abundance, and are more precautionary. Shooting of foxes at night was an inefficient method of reducing fox populations.

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