Monitoring indicates greater resilience for birds than for mammals in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 397 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
A. Fisher ◽  
M. Armstrong ◽  
K. Brennan ◽  
A. D. Griffiths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Bird Abundance

Context A previous study reported major declines for native mammal species from Kakadu National Park, over the period 2001–09. The extent to which this result may be symptomatic of more pervasive biodiversity decline was unknown. Aims Our primary aim was to describe trends in the abundance of birds in Kakadu over the period 2001–09. We assessed whether any change in bird abundance was related to the arrival of invading cane toads (Rhinella marina), and to fire regimes. Methods Birds were monitored at 136 1-ha plots in Kakadu, during the period 2001–04 and again in 2007–09. This program complemented sampling of the same plots over the same period for native mammals. Key results In contrast to the decline reported for native mammals, the richness and total abundance of birds increased over this period, and far more individual bird species increased than decreased. Fire history in the between-sampling period had little influence on trends for individual species. Interpretation of the overall positive trends for bird species in Kakadu over this period should be tempered by recognition that most of the threatened bird species present in Kakadu were unrecorded in this monitoring program, and the two threatened species for which there were sufficient records to assess trends – partridge pigeon (Geophaps smithii) and white-throated grass-wren (Amytornis woodwardi) – both declined significantly. Conclusions The current decline of the mammal fauna in this region is not reflected in trends for the region’s bird fauna. Some of the observed changes (mostly increases) in the abundance of bird species may be due to the arrival of cane toads, and some may be due to local or regional-scale climatic variation or variation in the amount of flowering. The present study provides no assurance about threatened bird species, given that most were inadequately recorded in the study (perhaps because their decline pre-dated the present study). Implications These contrasting trends between mammals and birds demonstrate the need for biodiversity monitoring programs to be broadly based. The declines of two threatened bird species over this period indicate the need for more management focus for these species.

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 terrestrial vertebrate fauna of Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory: monitoring over a 6-year period and response to fire history

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 587 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
M. Armstrong ◽  
O. Price ◽  
J. McCartney ◽  
A. D. Griffiths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Type I Error ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Type I ◽  
Bird Species Richness

Forty-seven 50 m × 50 m quadrats were sampled systematically for vertebrates at Litchfield National Park, northern Australia, in both 1995–96 and 2001–02. A total of 184 vertebrate species was recorded from this sampling, of which 92 species were recorded from five or more quadrats. There was substantial change in the reported species composition of these quadrats between these two periods: the mean Bray–Curtis index for similarity in species composition from the baseline to subsequent sampling of a quadrat was only 22.1 (for an index that varies from 0 for complete turnover in species to 100 for unchanged composition). For individual species, correlations across quadrats in the abundance scores from baseline to resampling varied from –0.12 to 0.85. Matched-pairs testing showed that there was significant change in abundance for 18 species from the baseline to repeat sampling, and significant increase in total bird species richness and total native mammal abundance, but significant decrease in reptile species richness. Fire history was recorded biannually for 40 of the 47 quadrats. Fire was very frequent, with quadrats being burnt in an average of 3.65 years of the six years between fauna samples. Three aspects of this fire history (total number of years of fires, number of fires in the late dry season, and interval from the last fire to the date of resampling) were related to change in the fauna composition of quadrats. Neither the similarity in species composition, nor change in richness or total abundance of all vertebrates or of the four taxonomic classes considered (frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals) were significantly correlated with these components of the fire history of sampled quadrats. This lack of association was possibly because the monitoring period was too short to show pronounced directional change, because the system was responding to many factors other than fire, because the variations in abundance were too large and the number of samples too small to detect true associations, or because fire histories preceding baseline sampling were not considered. The apparent instability of fauna species and communities in this system provides a considerable challenge for broad-brush (that is, vertebrate community–wide) monitoring. Power analysis demonstrated that, for most species, more than 1000 sample sites are needed to be 90% certain of detecting a 20% change in abundance, and with a 10% chance of accepting a Type I error. This level of sampling effort is commensurate with the current level of vertebrate sampling in this region. Broad-brush monitoring approaches such as described here are valuable, but need also to be complemented by more targetted monitoring for individual threatened species or species of particular management interest.

Monitoring the impacts of fire regimes on vegetation in northern Australia: an example from Kakadu National Park

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Edwards ◽  
Rod Kennett ◽  
Owen Price ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Greg Spiers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Life Form ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ground Layer ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

We describe the rationale, methodology and preliminary results from a major monitoring program in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. The program aims to assess fire regimes, their impacts upon biodiversity, and the consequences and efficacy of fire management. The program comprises two complementary elements—mapping of fire histories based upon interpretation of satellite imagery, and assessment of vegetation at a large series of permanent monitoring plots. The program commenced formally in 1995, at which time establishment and baseline sampling of vegetation in 134 plots was conducted, with re-sampling proposed at 5-year intervals up to 2010. The monitoring program has an estimated annual cost of about $A140�000 (around 1% of the total annual budget of the Park). Over the period 1995–2000, the mean annual extent of burning was 40.3%, a marginal reduction in extent from the previous 15 years, particularly for late dry season fires in lowland habitats. From the baseline (1995) and subsequent re-sampling (2000) of the vegetation plots, 963 plant taxa have been recorded. The power of the program to detect change in the frequency or abundance of individual species was poor, especially for ground-layer species, largely because of typically substantial variability in abundance across plots and sampling events, and because of the high proportion of species recorded from few samples. Notwithstanding this constraint, five tree species (of 47 recorded from sufficient samples to test), nine shrub species (from 121) and 27 ground-layer species (from 111) showed significant change in abundance between the baseline and subsequent sampling. However when species were grouped into strata and life-form categories, major changes were evident over this 5�year period, particularly with increases in cover of trees and shrubs. Such changes were related to a range of environmental and fire regime parameters of the plots, with increase in woody cover but reduction in cover and species richness of herbs in those plots experiencing lower frequency of fires.

scholarly journals Visualizing When, Where, and How Fires Happen in U.S. Parks and Protected Areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 333
Author(s):  
Nicole C. Inglis ◽  
Jelena Vukomanovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Park Service

Fire management in protected areas faces mounting obstacles as climate change alters disturbance regimes, resources are diverted to fighting wildfires, and more people live along the boundaries of parks. Evidence-based prescribed fire management and improved communication with stakeholders is vital to reducing fire risk while maintaining public trust. Numerous national fire databases document when and where natural, prescribed, and human-caused fires have occurred on public lands in the United States. However, these databases are incongruous and non-standardized, making it difficult to visualize spatiotemporal patterns of fire and engage stakeholders in decision-making. We created interactive decision analytics (“VISTAFiRe”) that transform fire history data into clear visualizations of the spatial and temporal dimensions of fire and its management. We demonstrate the utility of our approach using Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park as examples of protected areas experiencing fire regime change between 1980 and 2017. Our open source visualizations may be applied to any data from the National Park Service Wildland Fire Events Geodatabase, with flexibility to communicate shifts in fire regimes over time, such as the type of ignition, duration and magnitude, and changes in seasonal occurrence. Application of the tool to Everglades and Big Cypress revealed that natural wildfires are occurring earlier in the wildfire season, while human-caused and prescribed wildfires are becoming less and more common, respectively. These new avenues of stakeholder communication are allowing the National Park Service to devise research plans to prepare for environmental change, guide resource allocation, and support decision-making in a clear and timely manner.

Conservation status of mammals and birds in southwestern Australian forests. I. Is there evidence of direct links between forestry practices and species decline and extinction?

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Calver ◽  
J. Dell
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Personal Identification ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Current Conservation ◽  
Forestry Practices ◽  
European Settlement

Sixteen mammal species and 22 bird species whose distributions extended into southwestern Australian forests before European settlement have been listed as threatened at some time in Commonwealth legislation, State legislation, or action plans of Environment Australia or its predecessors. Confident assessment of the causes of conservation status is hampered by poor base-line data, few studies of putative impacts and a preponderance of circumstantial or anecdotal rather than experimental evidence. However, introduced foxes were Implicated In the current conservation status of 62% of the mammal species recognized, while 44% of them were negatively impacted by feral cats, 44% by agricultural clearing and 44% by changed fire regimes. Forestry practices were impllcated in the conservation status of only one mammal species. For the bird species recognized, changed fire regimes had the greatest negative impact (45% affected), agricultural clearing affected 41%, draining of wetlands affected 32% and grazing by livestock affected 22%. Forestry practices were not directly implicated in the conservation status of any bird species. While these results suggest that forestry has had minimal direct impact on the mammals and birds of the forests, the conclusion should be treated cautiously because of the poor data. While awaiting a rigorous evaluation, we argue for a strong precautionary approach to forestry in the region. With proper forest management and sound sylvicultural [sic] treatment there is no reason why there should not be built up on the wreckage of the once splendid forests of Western Australia tended forests which will yield for all time 100 cubic feet of timber per acre per year. Lane-Poole (1920). There are many reasons why Australian environmentalists would like to end logging in native forests. The preservation of wilderness, aesthetics, an almost religious identification with old growth forests and the conservation of forest wildlife figure importantly in environmental efforts to restrict logging. Wilderness and a personal identification with trees and undisturbed forests are fundamentally incompatible with logging. Recher (1996).

Planned and unplanned fire regimes on public land in south-east Queensland

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn Eliott ◽  
Tom Lewis ◽  
Tyron Venn ◽  
Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asset Protection ◽  
Occurrence Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Service State ◽  
Open Forests

Land management agencies in Queensland conduct planned burning for a variety of reasons, principally for management of fuels for human asset protection and biodiversity management. Using Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service’s archived manually derived fire reports, this study considered the individual components of the fire regime (extent, frequency and season) to determine variation between planned and unplanned fire regimes in south-east Queensland. Overall, between 2004 and 2015, planned fire accounted for 31.6% and unplanned fire 68.4% of all fire on Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service state-managed land. Unplanned fire was more common in spring (September–October), and planned fire was more common in winter (June–August). Unplanned fire affected 71.4% of open forests and woodlands (148563ha), whereas 58.8% of melaleuca communities (8016ha) and 66.6% of plantations (2442ha) were burnt with planned fire. Mapping fire history at a regional scale can be readily done with existing publicly available datasets, which can be used to inform the assessment of planned burning effectiveness for human asset protection and the management of biodiversity. Fire management will benefit from the continued recording of accurate fire occurrence data, which allows for detailed fire regime mapping and subsequent adaptive management of fire regimes in the public domain.

Fire Regimes on Andesitic Mountain Terrain in Northeastern Yellowstone-National-Park, Wyoming

1994 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
SW Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Short Interval ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Forest Community

A fire history investigation was conducted for three forest community types in the Absaroka Mountains of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Master fire chronologies were based on fire-initiated age classes and tree fire scars. The area's major forest type, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia) ecosystems, revealed a predominant pattern of stand replacing fires with a 200 year mean interval-nearly half the length estimated in previous studies of lodgepole pine on less productive subalpine plateaus in YNP. High elevation whitebark pine (P. albicaulis Engelm.) forests had primarily stand replacing fires with >350 year mean intervals, but some stands near timberline also occasionally experienced mixed severity- or non-lethal underburns. Before nearly a century of effective fire suppression in Yellowstone's northern range, lower elevation Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco.) communities adjacent to Artemesia tridentata (Nutt.) grasslands experienced primarily non-lethal underburns at 30 year mean intervals. While short interval fire regimes have been altered by longterm fire suppression, fire exclusion apparently had only limited influence on the area's infrequently burned ecosystems prior to widespread stand replacement burning in 1988.

scholarly journals Fire History of the Lamar River Drainage, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 169-173
Author(s):  
Stephen Barrett ◽  
Stephen Arno
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
History Of

This study's goal is to document the fire history of the Lamar River drainage, southeast of Soda Butte Creek in the Absaroka Mountains of northeastern Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Elsewhere in YNP investigators have documented very long-interval fire regimes for lodgepole pine forests occurring on rhyolitic derived soils (Romme 1982, Romme and Despain 1989) and short-interval fire regimes for the Douglas-fir/grassland types (Houston 1973). No fire regime information was available for lodgepole pine forests on andesitic derived soils, such as in the Lamar drainage. This study will provide managers with a more complete understanding of YNP natural fire history, and the data will supplement the park's Geographic Information System (GIS) data base. Moreover, most of the study area was severely burned in 1988 and historical tree ring data soon will be lost to attrition of potential sample trees.

scholarly journals Landscape transformation and wildlife: road mortality in Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 879 (1) ◽  
pp. 012037
Author(s):  
T Purnomo ◽  
M D Kusrini ◽  
A Mardiastuti
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Road Mortality ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Landscape Transformation ◽  
Traffic Volumes ◽  
Varanus Salvator

Abstract The development of high way that crosses wildlife habitat will inevitably cause wildlife casualties. The purpose of this study was to identify wildlife road mortality in Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, Southeast Sulawesi (mostly consisted of savanna). Road kill data was collected by driving along the 22.4 km highway in February and March 2020 (n=28). Traffic volumes were recorded by taking traffic samples in 5 different times of the day, an hour duration each (totaling 70 h). There were 37 species being killed (totaling 529 individuals, of which 49.3% happened along km 0-10), consisted of 19 bird species, 3 small mammal species, 10 reptile species, and 5 amphibian species. Based on taxa, the highest number of road mortality was amphibians (dominated by Ingerophrynus biporcatus), followed by birds (mostly Lonchura malacca), mammals (dominated by Rattus argentiventer), and reptiles (dominated by Varanus salvator). Among mammals, no big mammal (booted macaque Macaca ochreata, wild boar Sus scrofa) was killed. Landscape transformation clearly has impacted wildlife in the study area. To reduce the occurrence of road kills, it is recommended to create corridors for wildlife crossings, limiting vehicle speed in the hot spots locations, create speed bumps, as well as adding more signage and road signs along the highway.

scholarly journals Monitoring Breeding Bird Populations in Grand Teton National Park

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
Martin Cody
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Subalpine Fir ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Jackson Hole

This report covers year 2 of a three year project, 1995-1997 inclusive, to instigate a permanent program of monitoring landbird species composition and densities in a variety of representative habitats within Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). Habitats range from grassland and sagebrush on the valley floor of Jackson Hole (around 1900 m) through a range of scrub, woodland, and tall foothill forest vegetation types to montane sites of subalpine fir and tundra (ca. 3000 m). The monitoring program is intended to provide data on year-to-year fluctuations in breeding bird species and densities, and document longer-term changes (if any) in the local avifauna of resident and migratory species. The data base will document variability in size of breeding populations among years, local shifts in distribution and abundance over habitat types, and potentially form an information source on which management and conservation decisions might be based.

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