Can a common snake provide conservation insights?

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Ross L. Goldingay
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
National Park ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Rock Outcrops ◽  
Limited Availability ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Site Use ◽  
Habitat Generalist ◽  
Term Data

The small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens) is a common non-threatened species in eastern Australia. It coexists with the threatened broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides), a species adversely affected by habitat disturbance and subject to poaching. The small-eyed snake is a habitat generalist and not subject to poaching. It may prey on other snakes, including the broad-headed snake, and, like the broad-headed snake, may shelter under thermally favourable loose rocks during the cooler months of the year. This may lead to interactions between these species due to the limited availability of such rocks, and possibly exacerbate other threats to the broad-headed snake, such as poaching and the loss of thermally favourable rocks. I conducted repeat surveys for snakes at 64 rock outcrops in Royal National Park over a 16-year period. I predicted that site use by the small-eyed snake would not be influenced by a disturbance variable previously documented to influence site use by the broad-headed snake. Observations were consistent with this prediction, confirming the unique vulnerability of the broad-headed snake. I used my long-term data to analyse the co-occurrence of the two species. The broad-headed snake was detected as frequently at sites with and without the small-eyed snake, suggesting that these species occupy outcrops independently of each other. Therefore, interactions with the small-eyed snake will not reduce the effectiveness of habitat restoration for the broad-headed snake in Royal National Park.

Is cat hunting by Indigenous tracking experts an effective way to reduce cat impacts on threatened species?

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 709
Author(s):  
Rachel Paltridge ◽  
Nolia Napangati Ward ◽  
John Tjupurrula West ◽  
Kate Crossing
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Incentive Payments

Abstract ContextFeral cat is a favoured food item in some Australian Indigenous communities. We describe how cats are hunted and whether cat hunting can contribute to the persistence of threatened species. AimsTo determine whether cat hunting by expert trackers has the potential to be an effective method of managing predation impacts on threatened species at key sites. MethodsWe recorded all cats captured on the Kiwirrkurra Indigenous protected area (Kiwirrkurra IPA) over a 5-year period by offering incentive payments for hunters to report their catch. For a subset of hunts, we measured the duration and distance of the hunt. We compared the frequency of occurrence of cat tracks in 2-ha track plots between the hunting zone and more remote, unmanaged areas. At a finer scale, we compared cat presence at bilby burrows inside and outside the hunting zone. Key resultsIn all, 130 cats were removed from the Kiwirrkurra IPA from 2014 to 2019. Hunts took an average of 62min to complete and a team of four hunters could catch up to four cats in a single day. Although cats still occurred throughout the hunting zone, we found that cat detections at track plots were less likely in the areas where cats were hunted. Long-term data suggest that threatened species have persisted better in areas where there is an active presence of hunters. ConclusionsCat hunting by Indigenous tracking experts is an efficient method of despatching cats at localised sites. Following footprints on foot facilitates the targeting of individual cats that are hunting at threatened species burrows. More rigorous studies are required to determine whether cat hunting significantly reduces predation on threatened species, or whether there are other co-benefits of maintaining a presence of hunters in the landscape (such as fine-scale fire management) that are more important for the persistence of vulnerable prey. Implications Wherever open sandy substrates occur, there is potential to employ Indigenous expert trackers to assist with the removal of problem cats, such as, for example, to complete cat eradication inside fenced reintroduction sites, or at times of peak prey vulnerability, such as breeding events or after bushfires.

scholarly journals A demographic model to predict future growth of the Addo elephant population

Koedoe ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Woodd
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
National Park ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Demographic Model ◽  
Elephant Population ◽  
Age Structured ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Future Population ◽  
Future Growth

An age-structured demographic model of the growth of the Addo elephant population was developed using parameters calculated from long-term data on the population. The model was used to provide estimates of future population growth. Expansion of the Addo Elephant National Park is currently underway, and the proposed target population size for elephant within the enlarged park is 2700. The model predicts that this population size will be reached during the year 2043, so that the Addo elephant population can continue to increase for a further 44 years before its target size within the enlarged park is attained.

scholarly journals The impact of burning on lion Panthera leo habitat choice in an African savanna

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Eby ◽  
Anna Mosser ◽  
Ali Swanson ◽  
Craig Packer ◽  
Mark Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Habitat Choice ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Prey Attraction

Abstract Carnivores play a central role in ecosystem processes by exerting top-down control, while fire exerts bottom-up control in ecosystems throughout the world, yet, little is known about how fire affects short-term carnivore distributions across the landscape. Through the use of a long-term data set we investigated the distribution of lions, during the daytime, in relation to burned areas in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. We found that lions avoid burned areas despite the fact that herbivores, their prey, are attracted to burned areas. Prey attraction, however, likely results from the reduction in cover caused by burning, that may thereby decrease lion hunting success. Lions also do not preferentially utilize the edges of burned areas over unburned areas despite the possibility that edges would combine the benefit of cover with proximity to abundant prey. Despite the fact that lions avoid burned areas, lion territory size and reproductive success were not affected by the proportion of the territory burned each year. Therefore, burning does not seem to reduce lion fitness perhaps because of the heterogeneity of burned areas across the landscape or because it is possible that when hunting at night lions visit burned areas despite their daytime avoidance of these areas.

Long term impacts of Phytophthora cinnamomi infestation on heathy woodland in the Great Otway National Park in south-eastern Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 542
Author(s):  
B. A. Wilson ◽  
K. Annett ◽  
W. S. Laidlaw ◽  
D. M. Cahill ◽  
M. J. Garkaklis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Phytophthora Cinnamomi ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Percentage Cover ◽  
Tea Tree ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Disease Extension

The significant impacts of the introduced plant pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi on native Australian vegetation have been well documented, but there is less knowledge of long-term effects. We assessed long-term (26 years) disease progression and impacts on vegetation floristics and structure at a heathy woodland site in the Great Otway National Park, eastern section. Disease progressed dramatically between 1989 and 2005 and by 2015 only 0.08% of the site was non-diseased. There were significant declines in plant species richness and numbers of susceptible species; and increases in percentage cover of resistant sedges and grasses overall, and in cover of Leptospermum continentale (prickly tea-tree) in post-disease areas. There were significant declines of Xanthorrhoea australis (Austral grass-tree), a keystone species that contributes greatly to vegetation structure and fauna habitat. There is an urgent need to map the distribution of P. cinnamomi affected vegetation and identify floristically important non-diseased vegetation in the national park. It is imperative that quarantine of non-infested areas, phosphite application, track closures and vehicle wash-downs be implemented to reduce disease extension and protect the significant biodiversity of the region including species rich heathlands and nationally listed threatened plant and fauna species and their habitats.

scholarly journals Advection and habitat loss interactively reduce persistence: maintaining threatened riverine populations while restoring natural flow regimes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vadim A. Karatayev ◽  
Lyubov E. Burlakova ◽  
Alexander Y. Karatayev ◽  
Luojun Yang ◽  
Thomas Miller
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Natural Flow Regimes ◽  
Suitable Habitats

AbstractModification of flow regimes and habitat degradation are the strongest, most common, and often co-occurring human activities affecting riverine populations. Ongoing efforts to restore peak flow events found under pristine flow regimes could increase advection-driven dispersal for many species. In rivers with extensive habitat loss, increased advection could transport individuals from remnant populations into degraded downstream areas, causing restored flow regimes to decrease persistence of threatened species. To resolve the capacity for such ‘washout’ effects across imperiled taxa, we evaluate population growth in spatial matrix models of insect, fish, and mollusc taxa experiencing advective dispersal and either long-term habitat loss or temporary disturbances. As a case study to quantify advective dispersal in threatened species, we use intensive mark-recapture methods in a Rio Grande population of the federally endangered unionid mussel Texas horhshell (Popenaias popeii). Among unionids, the most threatened freshwater taxa of North America, we find high levels of annual downstream emigration (16-51%) of adult P. popeii, concomitant with strong immigration from upstream habitats. For different taxa experiencing such advective dispersal during specific life stages, our population model shows that washout effects strongly reduce population recovery under high levels of habitat loss. Averting this negative consequence of restoring hydrology requires simultaneously restoring or protecting long, contiguous stretches of suitable habitats. Across taxa in heavily impacted systems, we suggest integrating hydrodynamic studies and field surveys to detect the presence of advective dispersal and prioritize areas for habitat restoration to enhance population persistence.

Surviving under pressure and protection: a review of the biology, ecology and population status of the highly vulnerable grouper Epinephelus daemelii

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm P. Francis ◽  
David Harasti ◽  
Hamish A. Malcolm
Keyword(s):  
Rock Pools ◽  
Population Status ◽  
Age At Maturity ◽  
Reef Habitat ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Complex Habitat ◽  
Term Data

Epinephelus daemelii is a threatened serranid grouper species that is restricted to the south-western Pacific Ocean, ranging from eastern Australia to northern New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands. Declines in its abundance due to fishing pressure were reported as early as 1916. Aspects of this species’ biology and behaviour that make it vulnerable include its longevity, late age at maturity, protogynous hermaphroditism, territoriality and limited shallow reef habitat. Adults prefer complex habitat with caves and overhangs at depths of less than 50m, whereas juveniles live in rock pools, shallow intertidal reefs and estuaries. Epinephelus daemelii lives at least 65 years and reaches 170-cm total length. Individuals change sex from female to male at ~100–110cm and ~25 years. Absence of large (>100cm) fish across a large part of their range has implications for reproduction. Although nearly fully protected, incidental bycatch still occurs. A lack of long-term data hinders determination of population status, but abundance appears to be much lower than before, except in remote regions (Kermadec Islands, Elizabeth and Middleton reefs) with extensive no-fishing areas. Further prohibitions on fishing in key locations are likely to be important for the recovery and long-term survival of this species.

Trade-offs in plankton species richness arising from drought: insights from long-term data of a National Park wetland (central Spain)

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 2453-2476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Rojo ◽  
Miguel Álvarez-Cobelas ◽  
José Benavent-Corai ◽  
María Mercedes Barón-Rodríguez ◽  
María A. Rodrigo
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
National Park ◽  
Central Spain ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Plankton Species

scholarly journals Aves, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay territory, south-eastern Australia

Check List ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Lindenmayer ◽  
Christopher MacGregor ◽  
Darren Brown ◽  
Rebecca Montague-Drake ◽  
Mason Crane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Term Study ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

A large-scale, long-term study is being conducted to describe the bird assemblages inhabiting a 6500 ha area at Booderee National Park, south-eastern Australia. In this paper, we provide a list of birds recorded within rainforest, forest, woodland, shrubland, heathland and sedgeland during surveys conducted each spring between 2003 and 2007. Of particular interest was the contrast between the birds of sites burned in a wildfire in 2003 and sites that remained unburned. We recorded a total of 103 species from 35 families. We found that after the major fire, the vast majority of individual species and the bird assemblage per se in most vegetation types recovered within two years. Exceptions occurred in structurally simple vegetation types such as sedgeland and wet heathland in which reduced levels of species had not returned to pre-fire (2003) levels by 2007.

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