scholarly journals Declines in the mammal assemblage of a rugged sandstone environment in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ibbett ◽  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
M. Oakwood
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Sampling Area ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
The Common ◽  
Intermittent Sampling

There has been marked recent decline in the terrestrial mammal fauna across much of northern Australia, with most documentation of such decline for lowland areas. Here we report changes in the assemblage of small mammals in a rugged sandstone environment (Nawurlandja, in Kakadu National Park) over intermittent sampling between 1977 and 2002. Four native mammal species were commonly recorded in the original sampling: sandstone antechinus (Pseudantechinus bilarni), northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), Arnhem rock-rat (Zyzomys maini) and common rock-rat (Z. argurus). Trap success rates declined significantly for the northern quoll, Arnhem rock-rat and all species combined, but increased for the common rock-rat. Despite being recorded commonly in the initial (1977–79) study, no Arnhem rock-rats were recorded in the most recent (2002) sampling. Trap success rates for northern quoll declined by ~90% from 1977–79 to 2002. The reasons for change are not clear-cut. Notably, all sampling occurred before the arrival of cane toads (Rhinella marina), a factor that has caused severe decline in northern quoll numbers elsewhere. Fire was more frequent in the sampling area in the period preceding the 2002 sampling than it was in the period preceding the initial (1977–79) sampling, and this may have contributed to change in mammal abundance.

Monitoring indicates rapid and severe decline of native small mammals in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
M. Armstrong ◽  
K. Brennan ◽  
A. Fisher ◽  
A. D. Griffiths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
National Park ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Mammal Fauna

Context. Australia has a lamentable history of mammal extinctions. Until recently, the mammal fauna of northern Australia was presumed to have been spared such loss, and to be relatively intact and stable. However, several recent studies have suggested that this mammal fauna may be undergoing some decline, so a targeted monitoring program was established in northern Australia’s largest and best-resourced conservation reserve. Aims. The present study aims to detect change in the native small-mammal fauna of Kakadu National Park, in the monsoonal tropics of northern Australia, over the period of 1996–2009, through an extensive monitoring program, and to consider factors that may have contributed to any observed change. Methods. The small-mammal fauna was sampled in a consistent manner across a set of plots established to represent the environmental variation and fire regimes of Kakadu. Fifteen plots were sampled three times, 121 plots sampled twice and 39 plots once. Resampling was typically at 5-yearly intervals. Analysis used regression (of abundance against date), and Wilcoxon matched-pairs tests to assess change. For resampled plots, change in abundance of mammals was related to fire frequency in the between-sampling period. Key results. A total of 25 small mammal species was recorded. Plot-level species richness and total abundance decreased significantly, by 54% and 71%, respectively, over the course of the study. The abundance of 10 species declined significantly, whereas no species increased in abundance significantly. The number of ‘empty’ plots increased from 13% in 1996 to 55% in 2009. For 136 plots sampled in 2001–04 and again in 2007–09, species richness declined by 65% and the total number of individuals declined by 75%. Across plots, the extent of decline increased with increasing frequency of fire. The most marked declines were for northern quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus, fawn antechinus, Antechinus bellus, northern brown bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus, common brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula, and pale field-rat, Rattus tunneyi. Conclusions. The native mammal fauna of Kakadu National Park is in rapid and severe decline. The cause(s) of this decline are not entirely clear, and may vary among species. The most plausible causes are too frequent fire, predation by feral cats and invasion by cane toads (affecting particularly one native mammal species). Implications. The present study has demonstrated a major decline in a key conservation reserve, suggesting that the mammal fauna of northern Australia may now be undergoing a decline comparable to the losses previously occurring elsewhere in Australia. These results suggest that there is a major and urgent conservation imperative to more precisely identify, and more effectively manage, the threats to this mammal fauna.

The original mammal fauna and some information on the original bird fauna of Uluru National Park, Northern Territory.

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Baynes ◽  
RF Baird
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
Murid Rodents ◽  
Bird Fauna ◽  
Cave Deposit

Investigation of mammal bones, accumulated mainly by owls, from four cave deposits, combined with observations and museum records, has revealed an original (i.e. immediately pre-European) fauna for Uluru National Park (UNP) of 34 species of native ground mammals and 12 species of bats. This fauna comprises one monotreme, 22 marsupials from eight families, 12 microchiropterans from four families, 10 murid rodents and the dingo. For six of the species the UNP records represent an extension of range over published distribution maps, though originally all the ground mammals were probably widespread in the arid zone. A recent survey found that the present fauna of UNP includes 15 native ground mammals and a minimum of seven bats, indicating a loss in about the last century of up to 19 species of ground mammals and at least one bat. The local status of three of these is uncertain, 10 appear to be locally extinct, two are extinct throughout the Australian mainland and five are probably totally extinct. As elsewhere in the arid zone, the mammals that survive are the largest and smallest species and the echidna. The cave deposit sites yielded two orders of magnitude fewer bird remains, some of which could not be identified below family or genus. The material includes at least 16 species representing 13 families. All identified species were recorded in the present fauna of UNP by the recent survey. This relatively small sample suggests that in non-pastoral areas of the arid zone, bird faunas, unlike mammals, have so far survived European colonisation of Australia without loss of diversity.

Relative abundance of the central rock-rat, the desert mouse and the fat-tailed pseudantechinus at Ormiston Gorge in the West MacDonnell Ranges National Park, Northern Territory

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. P. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Population Ecology ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
National Park ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
The West

This study examines the relative abundance of two species of sympatric rodent, the desert mouse (Pseudomys desertor) and the central rock-rat (Zyzomys pedunculatus), and a sympatric dasyurid (Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis) in relation to rainfall in the West Macdonnell Ranges National Park, Northern Territory, over a 6-year period. Seventeen trapping sessions were conducted between July 2000 and September 2006. All three species showed spikes in abundance during 2001 and 2002, which were very wet years, and then declined as rainfall diminished. Z. pedunculatus was not trapped at the sites beyond June 2002 while P. desertor was not trapped beyond September 2002. P. macdonnellensis was trapped in low numbers between September 2002 and February 2005 but was not trapped subsequently. Rainfall and the abundance of all three mammal species were clearly correlated. However, the patterns of abundance were subtly different. Z. pedunculatus exhibited three distinct peaks in abundance during the study (July 2000, April 2001 and March 2002), P. desertor exhibited two distinct peaks (July 2001 and June 2002) while. P. macdonnellensis exhibited only one peak in abundance (March 2002). The results of this study provide more evidence that populations of both arid Australian rodents and some dasyurids are influenced by rainfall. The study also provides some insights into the population ecology of the poorly known and threatened central rock-rat.

National Parks and Native Peoples in Northern Canada, Alaska, and Northern Australia

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Gardner ◽  
J. G. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Native People ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Native Peoples ◽  
Northern Canada

At the very general level, the aim of this paper is to compare the interaction of national parks and native peoples in Northern Canada (Yukon Territory), Alaska, and the Northern Territory of Australia. Currently these areas are subject to increasing land-use pressures from mining, industrial development, the creation of national parks and related reserves, and native attempts to maintain traditional wildlife and renewable resource use. The study focuses on the interactions between national parks and native peoples on the premise that experiences can be compared and problems encountered in one area but possibly avoided in another.The study begins by briefly describing native land-use issues, land-rights arrangements, and organizations, in the Yukon Territory, central Alaska, and Northern Australia. The national park agencies are described, compared, and shown to differ considerably in institutional character, field of management, control of land, and external links with interest groups such as native peoples. Case-studies of the national parks etc. named Kluane (Yukon), Gates of the Arctic (Alaska), and Kakadu (Northern Territory of Australia), are presented to provide more details on similarities and differences in planning, types of tenure, native subsistence activities, and other factors.In the Yukon Territory, neither the national parks agency nor the native people are highly motivated to interact. In contrast, the park agencies and native people in Alaska and the Northern Territory of Australia recognize mutual benefits from interaction—largely as a result of legislation and policies which encourage cooperation. Native involvement officers now facilitate coordination in the Yukon and Alaska. Park agency native employment programmes are proceeding in all three ‘hinterlands’, while native people can own land on which national parks are established in Alaska and the Australian Northern Territory. Only in Australia are native people known to be directly involved in upperlevel national park management. Potential limitations on native subsistence and associated use of national parks range from moderate to severe, and are only defined clearly in Alaska. Lack of definition leads to confusion in deciding upon native use, while exceedingly precise definition precludes flexibility at the park level.A number of aids to a more mutually satisfactory interaction can be identified. One is motivation, or recognition by both parties that there are advantages to consultation and cooperation. Another, not yet achieved in the Yukon, is a land-claims settlement, stating the legislated rights of native peoples in the ‘hinterlands’ and giving them a land-holding and bargaining status which is comparable with that of government agencies. A third aid is comprehensive systematic and regional planning efforts involving opportunities for informed input from all affected parties. Such planning would provide a forum for consideration of a variety of interests, including national parks and native peoples. Finally, satisfactory interaction on the park site could be assisted by clear yet flexible means of deciding upon acceptable native use of parkland, the conservation of wildlife, and associated economic and cultural factors.

The Mulgara Dasycercus cristicauda (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) at Uluru National Park, Northern Territory.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
P. Masters
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
National Park ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Extensive Range ◽  
Species Being

Since the turn of the century, a third of the mammal species of arid Australia have suffered a drastic decline in distribution and abundance. Uluru National Park has not escaped the massive loss of mammals, with over 15 species being lost from the Park in the last century, and some, including the brush-tailed possum, Trichosurus vulpecula, becoming locally extinct in the last twenty years (Baynes and Baird 1992, Reid, Kerle and Morton 1993). This suggests that the processes causing the decline are still operating. The mulgara Dasycercus cristicauda, remains extant in the vicinity of Uluru National Park but has suffered extensive range reductions and is believed to be less abundant in areas which it still occupies (Kennedy 1990, Gibson and Cole 1992, Woolley 1995). Very little is known about the field ecology of D. cristicauda and this has hindered the conservation management of the remaining populations. I report here on ecological data collected from a population at Uluru National Park between 1987 and 1990. This information was collected during a study of the effects of fire on small mammals of the area (Masters 1993).

Distribution of mammals in monsoon rainforests of the Northern Territory

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
KA Menkhorst ◽  
JCZ Woinarski
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Environmental Gradient ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Moisture Condition ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
Open Forest ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Monsoon Rainforest

The mammal fauna of 50 patches of monsoon rainforest in the Northern Territory, Australia, was surveyed. No mammal species is restricted to this habitat, and most of the region's marnmal fauna uses it at least occasionally. Mammal species composition within monsoon rainforests undergoes substantial variation along an extensive environmental gradient reflecting moisture condition and rockiness. For most mammal species, variation in abundance among patches was related more to the position of the patch on this environmental gradient than to patch size or extent of disturbance. Disturbance was positively correlated with the richness and abundance in quadrats of three taxonomic groupingsrodents, 'other' native species, and all native species (other than bats)-and negatively correlated with richness and abundance of macropods. Compared with surrounding (open forest and savanna woodland) vegetation, monsoon rainforests have few grazing herbivores and small granivorous rodents, but more species that eat fleshy fruits and seeds from woody plants. The mammal fauna of monsoon rainforests in the Northern Territory is similar to that of monsoon rainforests of the Kimberley (to the west) but unlike that of wet tropical rainforests in Cape York (to the east). These differences, and the current impoverishment of the mammal fauna of the Northern Territory monsoon rainforest, are attributable to historical processes and the current small area of this highly fragmented monsoon rainforest estate. Three bat species may be important for pollination and dispersal of monsoon rainforest plants.

Some Aspects of the Ecology of the Mammal Fauna of the Jabiluka Area. Northern Territory

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Kerle ◽  
MA Burgman
Keyword(s):  
Success Rate ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Edaphic Factors ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Site Preferences ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
Open Forest ◽  
Riparian Woodland

On the Pancontinental Jabiluka exploration lease, between July 1979 and September 1981, mammals of 30 native and five introduced species were recorded, with an overall trap success rate of 5% and an average of 1.9 sightings per spotlight-hour. Three major groups of mammal species corresponded to the primary groupings of vegetation in the study area: riparian woodland, dryland woodland and open forest, and sandstone. This last group was subdivided into three on site preferences. Two ungrouped species were found in a variety of habitats. The distribution of mammals was very patchy, and their abundance varied seasonally. This may result from rainfall patterns, fire occurrence and fire history, as well as from landform and edaphic factors. The species responded to the variation in environment and the consequent mosaic of habitats by three strategies: by rapid response to changes in microhabitat through increased dispersion or moving to more favourable habitats, by restriction to stable habitats, or by adaptation to a variety of habitats.

Habitat relationships for two poorly known mammal species Pseudomys calabyi and Sminlhopsis sp. from the wet-dry tropics of the Northern Territory.

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
J.C.Z. Woinarski
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Stage Iii ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Dry Tropics ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
Arnhem Land

Most records of Sminthopsis sp. and all records of Pseudomys calabyi are from gravelly hills with Eucalyplus dichromophloia and E. tintinnans woodland in Stage III of Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. This habitat is distinct from that used by other small dasyurids and pseudomyine rodents of this region. For P. calabyi it may offer the attraction of prolonged availability of fallen grass seeds. Both taxa have vicariants in the Kimberley, a pattern resembling that for many vertebrate species pairs of the more isolated sandstone massifs of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land area.

The mammal fauna of the Sir Edward Pellew island group, Northern Territory, Australia: refuge and death-trap

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
S. Ward ◽  
T. Mahney ◽  
J. Bradley ◽  
K. Brennan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Methods ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Mammal Fauna ◽  
Sampling Procedures ◽  
Insight Into

Context Australian islands have provided a major conservation refuge for many native mammals; however, conversely, island populations may also be highly susceptible to the introduction of novel threats. Nearby islands subject to different arrays of threats or different timing of arrival of those threats may provide a natural experiment, offering particular insight into the relative impacts of different threats to Australian mammals more generally. Aims The present study sought to document the native mammal fauna occurring on the main islands of the Sir Edward Pellew group, Northern Territory, and the changes in that fauna over a ~50-year period, and to seek to identify those factors that have contributed to such change. Methods In different combinations, the five main islands (and three smaller islands) were subject to standard wildlife survey methods in 1966–67, 1988, 2003, 2004–05, and 2009–10. Sampling procedures were not identical in all periods; however, a measure of abundance (trap success rate) could be calculated for all sampling. This conventional survey approach was complemented by documentation of ethno-biological knowledge. Key results For many species, these islands held populations of biogeographic or conservation significance. However, there has been a major loss or decline of mammal species from most islands. Extirpation is difficult to prove; however, we consider it most likely that the important regional populations of brush-tailed rabbit-rat (Conilurus penicillatus), northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), northern brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale pirata), common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and canefield rat (Rattus sordidus) have been lost from these islands, and that northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus), western chestnut mouse (Pseudomys nanus), pale field-rat (Rattus tunneyi) and long-haired rat (Rattus villosissimus) have been lost from most of the islands on which they formerly occurred. Some species–island combinations are known only from the ethno-biological record, and the loss of these populations probably mostly occurred in the period 30–50 years ago. Many other declines and losses occurred in the period between the second (1988) and third (2003) survey. The loss of the northern quoll from Vanderlin Island occurred in 2008. No single factor unambiguously accounts for the declines, although the introduction of cats (Felis catus) provides the best fit to the pattern of decline. A notable exception is the extirpation of northern quoll on Vanderlin Island, which is closely linked to the colonisation of that island by cane toads (Rhinella marina). Conclusions The Sir Edward Pellew group of islands have lost much of their formerly high conservation significance for native mammals over the past 50 years, mostly because of introductions of cats, and to a lesser extent, natural colonisation of the islands by cane toads. Implications The present study has provided some insight into the relative impacts of a range of factors that have been considered as possibly implicated in the decline of native mammals on the northern Australian mainland, with most support being offered here for a primary role for predation by feral cats. The study has also demonstrated the need for better quarantining of islands with significant conservation values. The comprehensive natural colonisation of these islands by cane toads offers a further lesson, of most importance to managers of islands in north-western Australia currently just beyond the range of toads.

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