A Study of the Biology of the Wild Rabbit in Climatically Different Regions in Eastern Australia VI.* Changes in Numbers and Distribution related to Climate and Land Systems in Semiarid North-Western New South Wales.

1975 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Myers ◽  
BS Parker

This paper describes a dramatic fall in rabbit populations in a large area of semiarid north-western New South Wales, due to a severe drought, and the increase in numbers which followed. The reduction in numbers differed markedly in different land systems. The areas which supported rabbit populations throughout the study were limited to the proximity of swamps in sandy habitats, and close to drainage channels in stony habitats; populations became extinct over large areas of sandy habitats. In the stony habitats populations increased very rapidly in the 12 months following the breaking of the drought, whereas in the sandy habitats it took c. 3 y before a noticeable increase. The difference was probably a result of differences in survival, due mainly to the effects of predation and to the availability of open warrens. In sandy habitats drift sand buried untenanted warrens very rapidly. The environment affected not only rabbits but also their main predators, the fox and the cat. No cats and very few foxes were observed in stony habitats. The main activities of both species were confined to refuge areas in sandy habitats. The most significant correlation between indices of rabbit numbers and indices of use of rabbit warrens was the number of active burrows per unit area of habitat.

1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
BS Parker ◽  
K Myers

Aerial surveys can be used to measure the distribution of rabbit warrens over large areas of arid and semiarid Australia. Clumped patterns of distribution of rabbit warrens found by ground surveys are also detected in aerial surveys, which further show that the highest density of warrens occurs in habitats containing shales or other fine-grained rocks overlain by recent sediments, or those closely related to drainage systems. A good picture of rabbit distribution is obtained when about 25% of the area has been overed by the aircraft. * Part IV, Aust. J. Zool., 1971, 19, 355–70.


1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
JD Dunsmore

(1) Trichostrongylus retortaeformis (Zeder, 1800) in wild rabbits in Australia has been studied by more or less regular sampling of rabbit populations in four climatically different areas of eastern Australia. (2) In a semi-arid locality in north-western New South Wales, T. retortaeformis is rarely found; in a subtropical area of south-central Queensland it was found only in small numbers and many rabbits were apparently free of infection. In an area of the Riverina district of New South Wales most rabbits were infected but parasite numbers were rarely high. The highest levels of infection were recorded at a site in a subalpine area of New South Wales. (3) It was possible to build up a detailed picture of the dynamics of T. retortaeformis in rabbits throughout their lives at Snowy Plains, the subalpine site, in which breeding of rabbits is limited to a relatively few months each year. During their first 6-8 months of life (prior to their first breeding season) male and female rabbits carry moderate numbers of T. retortaeformis with the males carrying somewhat more parasites than the females. During the breeding season T. retortaeformis numbers in female rabbits increase very markedly (about tenfold) while numbers in male rabbits are decreasing to a low level (their lowest during the year). Following breeding, worm numbers in female rabbits drop quite rapidly while those in males increase to a similarly moderate level. Apparently a similar cycle of events occurs during each 12 months of a rabbit's life. (4) At Urana, in the Riverina plain region the cycle of events described above for Snowy Plains could not be seen, although T. retortaeformis was found in moderate numbers. This may have been due to infrequent sampling, lack of a defined rabbit breeding season, or some other factor.


1975 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Myers ◽  
BS Parker

During severe drought in north-western New South Wales populations of rabbits in sandy habitats are restricted to certain warrens, which are located in light sandy and gravelly soils in protected and elevated positions close to food supplies in major drainage channels and swamps. Warrens in less favourable localities become completely covered by drifting sand. After rain the unfavourable areas become more favourable and are recolonized by rabbits which open the old, buried warrens. Foxes are less able to excavate the permanently occupied warrens in the more favourable habitats, apparently because of their depth. The more evanescent warrens in less favourable areas show evidence of far more predation by foxes on nestling rabbits. The importance of these findings for rabbit control in the arid zone is discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 285 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 245-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. McHenry ◽  
B. R. Wilson ◽  
J. M. Lemon ◽  
D. E. Donnelly ◽  
I. G. Growns

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 213 ◽  
Author(s):  
LW Braithwaite ◽  
M Maher ◽  
SV Briggs ◽  
BS Parker

Populations of waterfowl of three game species, the Pacific black duck Anus superciliosa, grey teal A. gibberifrons, and maned duck Chenonetta jubata, were assessed by aerial survey in October 1983 within a survey region of 2 697 000 km2 of eastern Australia. The numbers of each species were assessed on all surface waters of over 1 ha, and on a sample of smaller surface waters within 10 survey bands each 30 km wide and spaced at intervals of 2� latitude from 20�30' to 38�30'S. The area within the survey bands was 324 120 km2, which gave a sampling intensity of 12.0% of the land surface area. The area of features shown as wetlands or water impoundments within the survey bands on 1 : 2 500 000 topographic maps was 19 200 km2 or 11.2% of the total area of these features in the survey region. The area of surface waters surveyed was assessed at 465 300 ha. Assessments of populations of each species were tallied for wetlands by grid cells of 6 min of 1� longitude along the survey bands (258-309 km2 depending on latitude). Distributions were then mapped, with log*10 indices of populations in each cell. Distributions of the black duck and grey teal showed a pattern of intense aggregation in limited numbers of cells, that of the maned duck was more evenly distributed. The major concentrations of the Pacific black duck were recorded in northern New South Wales and the south-eastern, western, central eastern and central coastal regions of Queensland; those of the grey teal were in south-western, western and northern New South Wales and central-eastern Queensland; the maned duck was broadly distributed over inland New South Wales with the exception of the far west, inland southern Queensland, and central northern Victoria.


2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. L. Sutherland ◽  
I. T. Graham ◽  
R. E. Pogson ◽  
D. Schwarz ◽  
G. B. Webb ◽  
...  

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
IR Bock

The Australian Mycodrosophila fauna comprises 21 species distributed in northern and eastern Australia to southern New South Wales. Only one species, M. argentifrons Malloch, is previously described from Australia; the south-east Asian species M. separata (de Meijere) is recorded for the first time. The remaining 19 species are new: adequate material has been available to permit the description and naming of 18 of them.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Fisher ◽  
Michael Day ◽  
Tony Gill ◽  
Adam Roff ◽  
Tim Danaher ◽  
...  

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