The reptile fauna of Nombinnie Nature Reserve and State Conservation Area, western New South Wales

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Sass
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Milledge ◽  
Norman Graham ◽  
Jill Smith

ABSTRACT A population of the Northern Long-nosed Potoroo Potorous tridactylus tridactylus in Tyagarah Nature Reserve on the far north coast of New South Wales was first recorded in 1985. In 1992, a cage-trapping study captured 15 individuals in the central section of the reserve and the population was estimated at 80–90 individuals at that time. A subsequent cage-trapping study in 2004 captured four individuals in the southern section of the reserve, but further cage- and camera-trapping surveys in 2009 and 2012 failed to detect any individuals. Additional camera-trapping surveys between 2012 and 2015 and more intensive surveys between 2015 and 2016 also failed to detect any individuals. The lack of detections from targeted surveys over seven years between 2009 and 2016 suggests that the Tyagarah population of the subspecies has been lost. Reasons for this loss are unclear but may be due to a combination of factors including isolation of the reserve by urban development and highway upgrades, a lack of fire for 40 years, competition for food with the local population of the Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami, prolonged drought and possibly, predation by the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes and non-target effects of predator control programs.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher

REGARDLESS of the merits and values of individual national parks and nature reserves, Australia's conservation reserves do not ensure the survival of the continent's biota. There are many reasons for this. Reserves, even the largest, are too small and vulnerable to broad area disturbance. Consider that, in January 2003, fires burnt more than two-thirds of Kosciuszko National Park, which at 690 000 ha is the largest park in New South Wales and one of the largest in Australia. This shows how even the largest conservation reserves are at risk of catastrophic disturbance. The much smaller Nadgee Nature Reserve (21 000 ha) in southeastern New South Wales has burnt almost in its entirety twice in the 35 years I have worked there. The Nadgee fires and those in Kosciuszko were started by lightning and were the result of prolonged drought, events common across the continent. When small size is coupled with isolation, the long-term survival of populations and the exchange of propagules within the reserve system becomes problematical. Small size and isolation do not leave much scope for plants and animals to adapt to long-term climate change, either through dispersal or by evolution. Even reserving 10 or 15% of land for nature conservation, as recommended by some international conservation agencies, will be inadequate; a target of 30% would have better ecological credentials, but even this could prove inadequate unless the nature conservation reserve system was designed to allow for long-term evolutionary change, which it is not (see Archer 2002; Recher 2002a,b).


1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 809 ◽  
Author(s):  
IFB Common ◽  
M Horak

Four species of Telanepsia Turner (Lepidoptera : Oecophoridae : Oecophorinae), T. stockeri, T: scatophila, T. tidbinbilla and T. coprobora, are described as new. The first three have been reared from larvae feeding and pupating within the scats of koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus Goldfuss). Two of these (T. stockeri and T. scatophila) were discovered during a study of koala distribution in the Tantawangalo State Forest, south-eastern New South Wales, and larvae of T. tidbinbilla were collected in koala scats in the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, Australian Capital Territory. Larvae of the fourth species (T. coprobora) were found in western Victoria entering from the soil and feeding in the scats of possums (probably the brush-tailed possum, Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr), finally pupating in the soil. Adults of this species have also been collected in southern Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Goniobela Turner is established as a new synonym of Telanepsia, and tornospila (Turner) as a new synonym of eucentra (Turner). Six lectotypes are designated and 12 new combinations established.


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 167 ◽  
Author(s):  
BC Gall

A study of the koala colony in the 4-ha Tucki Tucki Nature Reserve in northern New South Wales was carried out between March 1972 and February 1976. The Reserve supported a resident adult population of 11 or 12 koalas, comprising three males and eight or nine females, and a mean total population of 26.5. Resident koalas engage in a high degree of local movement. Females are mature at the beginning of their third year and normally raise one young per year to independence. Males may not be fully mature till the commencement of their fourth year. Young are independent of the parent female at 12 months and disperse during their second year if unable to secure a vacant place in the Reserve. Dispersed koalas either take up residence in an adjoining colony, become nomads, or perish. During the study, all three resident males died over a short period. The gradual return to a stable population is examined.


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