Diets of native and introduced mammalian herbivores in shrub-encroached grassy woodland, south-eastern Australia

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi E. Davis ◽  
Graeme Coulson ◽  
David M. Forsyth

Effective management of sympatric mammalian herbivore populations requires an understanding of interspecific interactions. At Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, sympatric native and introduced mammalian herbivores are thought to be contributing to modification of shrub-encroached Coastal Grassy Woodland. We estimated the diets of the five terrestrial mammalian herbivore species present using microhistological techniques. The diets of introduced hog deer (Axis porcinus) and native swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) consisted mainly of dicots. The diet of introduced European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) contained similar proportions of monocots and dicots. The diets of native eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) and native common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) consisted mainly of monocots but kangaroos also consumed moderate amounts of dicots. Deer and wallabies consumed more native plants than did the other species and rabbits consumed more exotic plants than did all other species except kangaroos. Diet breadth was narrowest for kangaroos and broadest for swamp wallabies and hog deer. Overlap in food use by the five herbivores was high, particularly between deer and wallabies, and between kangaroos and both rabbits and wombats. Our results suggest that the potential impacts of native and introduced species on the vegetation of Coastal Grassy Woodland are similar, and that the entire herbivore assemblage will need to be managed to increase fine fuel loads if fire is used as a restoration tool.

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Talent Murwendo ◽  
Amon Murwira ◽  
Mhosisi Masocha

Purpose The purpose of this study is to model and predict mammalian herbivore species abundance in Gonarezhou National Park (GNP), south eastern Zimbabwe. The study also aims to determine and evaluate the distribution-abundance patterns in GNP. Design/methodology/approach Using aerial survey data from 1980 to 2016, the authors use the rank-abundance model to determine the abundance of mammalian herbivores in GNP. Regression analysis is used to show the mammalian herbivore species distribution-abundance relationship. Findings The findings point to a high species richness and evenness in the study area with common species (15%), intermediate (30%) and rare (60%). There is a positive significant relationship (p = 0.00, R2 = 0.9642) between abundance and distribution with common species occupying wider spaces and rare species occupying narrow spaces. Research limitations/implications Aerial surveys in GNP are not continuous and are biased towards elephants. The inclusion of other mammalian herbivore species including domestic animals in subsequent surveys made the aerial reports useful. Originality/value Studies in GNP have tended to concentrate on the population of mammalian herbivores and this marks a shift in emphasis in such studies. The monitoring of mammalian species improves the conservation and management of GNP. Apart from making planning and policy decisions from an informed point of view small animals also need attention as they are numerically few than the large threatened mammals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-181
Author(s):  
Md. Mahfuz-Ur-Rahman ◽  
Tanmoy Dey

National Parks are protected areas conserving all types of flora, fauna and their habitats regardless of generic diversification. In Bangladesh, protected area managers face difficulties to conserve these areas. This study is formulated to find out those existing difficulties against effective co-management of natural resources based on the local people’s perception. A purposive sampling is followed by a semi-structured interview to gather data from the field level of Khadimnagar National Park and Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest from September 2019 to December 2019 by interviewing 100 local people for RFWSF and KNP on the basis of a qualitative research method. Both inhabitants and the Forest Department are found to be responsible for inhibiting the effective management of the subjected areas meanwhile difficulties related to motivation, cordiality, alternative job generation, financial support to management authority, tourism management and resource extraction from forests mainly prevail. To ensure substantial sustainability, both of the actors should come forward to find out a way to get rid of this devastation and to ameliorate the socio-economic condition of these areas. Arranging more conferences to raise motivation, awareness about the forest offenses and generating alternative sources of income can be counted as a strategy to reduce pressure on both forests.


Author(s):  
Claudia J. Hernández-Camacho ◽  
Irma González-López ◽  
Lili Pelayo-González ◽  
David Aurioles-Gamboa ◽  
Elia López-Greene ◽  
...  

1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
DJ Dunsmore

An unconfined, almost completely tagged rabbit population on a site of about 100 ha was studied by observation and trapping for 5 years. The commencement of the study coincided approximately with the incorporation of the area into the Kosciusko National Park, the elimination of grazing by domestic livestock, and the cessation of the previously almost annual burning of the area. During the 5-yr study the fecundity of the rabbits declined to little more than half the initial level. This was not a result of the concurrently increasing age of the population, which was shown to be quite unrelated. It was also shown that the 1yr old rabbits were less fecund than the older rabbits, whose fecundity remained constant. Although it appeared subjectively to be so, the area was not uniformly suitable for the survival of rabbits. In one of its four subdivisions adult survival was much better than in the others; and in one of the others it was much the worst. During the study there was considerable immigration to the area, presumably balanced by migration. Females tended to remain where they were born and in no case changed from one breeding group to another. Males were considerably less sedentary than the females.


1999 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 725 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. H. Martin

Digger's Creek Bog, an Empodisma minus–Callistemon pityoides–Sphagnum cristatum shrubby subalpine peat bog, alt. c. 1690 m, not far below local altitudinal tree-line, began development > 10 000 years before present as an Astelia sp.–Carex alpine soak. Surrounding vegetation was a grassy alpine herbfield with many Asteraceae, Apiaceae and Gentianella diemensis, corresponding to the regional Club Lake Zone C, dated to the same period. Astelia died out c. 6500 years before present approximately at the Club Lake C/D 1 boundary, marked by spread of Pomaderris in subjacent montane forests. Thereafter, shrubs, mainly Myrtaceae and Epacridaceae, and Restionaceae (Empodisma and Restio australis) dominated the bog. Epacris cf. paludosa and C. pityoides seem to have been the earliest shrubs to invade, Baeckea, probably B. gunniana, and Richea continentis reaching maximum prominence 5000–3000 years before present. Sphagnum was uncommon until recently. Regional arboreal pollen enable comparisons with other sites in south-eastern Australia but immigration of the tree-line species Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. niphophila (snowgum) is not well expressed in the pollen spectra. Surface and near-surface counts of this species are higher than at any preceding time, and correspond most closely to surface counts in adjacent young snowgum woodland. The co-occurrence of weed pollens, probably associated with the late 19th and early 20th century practice of summer pasturing stock on the alpine–subalpine tract, suggests that pasturing and burning, responsible for widespread severe fires on this range, led both to the formation of dense even-aged snowgum woodland that had been open and patchy at this altitude, and a spread of Sphagnum on the bog surface.


Soil Research ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart William Johnston

Aeolian sediment collected from 2 locations across the ‘Main Range’ of Kosciuszko National Park, along with a series of soil profiles that were analysed for particle size, were used as a baseline from which to estimate the effects of aeolian sedimentation in this region. Laboratory analysis of the soil profiles indicated that the properties of the surface horizons of the alpine humus soils were heavily influenced by aeolian dust accumulation; however, the sub-surface horizons were mainly derived from the natural bedrock. The surface and subsurface horizons differed in texture bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity, exchangeable cations, and clay mineralogy. This study confirmed that the snow patch meadow soils exhibited particle size and mineralogy consistent with dust enrichment, with distinct bands being found in some profiles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 125839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Di Martino ◽  
Valter Di Cecco ◽  
Mirella Di Cecco ◽  
Marco Di Santo ◽  
Giampiero Ciaschetti ◽  
...  

1979 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
JD Murray ◽  
GM McKay ◽  
GB Sharman

The greater glider, currently but incorrectly known as Schoinobates vo/ans, is widely distributed in forested regions in eastern Australia. All animals studied from six different localities had 20 autosomes but there were four chromosomally distinct populations. At Royal National Park, N.S.W., all female greater gliders studied had 22 chromosomes including two large submetacentric X chromosomes with subterminal secondary constrictions in their longer arms. This form of X chromosome occurred also at Bondo State Forest, Myall Lakes and Coff's Harbour, N.S.W., and at Eidsvold, Qld. At Coomooboolaroo, Qld, the X chromosome was also a large submetacentric but a secondary constriction occurred in the shorter arm. Two chromosomally distinct types apparently occur in Royal National Park, one with XY m,ales as in all other populations, and one with XY1Y2 males. Y or Yb but not Y 2, chromosomes were eliminated from the bone marrow in all populations but were present in spermatogonia, primary sperrnatocytes and cultured fibroblasts. Animals from Bondo State Forest had three or more acrocentric or metacentric supernumerary chromosomes. [Other keywords: C-banding, eytotaxonomy, multiple sex chromosomes, XY bivalent.]


Zootaxa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 536 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETRA ERBE ◽  
HANNELORE HOCH

Two new epigean species of the cixiid genus Solonaima Kirkaldy, which is endemic in eastern Australia, are described from Queensland (Lamington National Park) and New South Wales (Rosebank): S. nielseni n. sp. and S. monteithia n.sp.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document