Eighteen non-marine mammal species (including seven species of bats) were
recorded from a total of 49 islands in the Wessel and English Company island
chains off north-eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Most individual
species were restricted to, or had higher incidence on, larger islands, and
species richness as a whole increased as island size increased. The most
notable exception was the semi-aquatic
Hydromys chrysogaster, which occurred relatively
equitably across island sizes; this species, two bat species and the macropod
Petrogale brachyotis were recorded from islands smaller
than 10 ha. However, the variation between islands in the number of native
terrestrial mammal species was not best predicted by island size, but rather
by a combination of sampling effort and altitude (which explained 64%
of the deviance in species richness), or altitude and distance to larger land
mass (explaining 63% of deviance).
Richness–area patterns for individual islands in these chains were
reasonably consistent with those of other islands sampled in northern
Australia. However, the fauna of the Wessel and English Company groups as a
whole was less rich than that of the Pellew and Kimberley islands, and
individual islands appeared to have lower species richness than comparable
mainland areas. Species that were notably absent or that were recorded from
relatively few islands include large macropods,
Tachyglossus aculeatus, Antechinus bellus, Phascogale tapoatafa, Sminthopsis spp., Mesembriomys gouldii, Rattus colletti, Leggadina lakedownensis
and Pseudomys calabyi. Some of these species may be
absent through lack of suitable habitat; others have presumably disappeared
since isolation, possibly due to Aboriginal hunting.
Richness at the quadrat (50 × 50 m) scale was generally very low.
Habitat relationships are described for the 7 species recorded from more than
5 quadrats. At a quadrat-scale, the richness of native mammals was greater on
islands larger than 1000 ha than on islands smaller than 1000 ha.
Quadrat-scale species richness varied significantly among the islands sampled
by the most quadrats (even when the comparison was restricted to either of the
two most extensive vegetation types), but this variation was not closely
related to either area or altitude. The two most frequently recorded species,
the rodents Melomys burtoni and
Zyzomys argurus, showed distinct habitat segregation on
islands where both were present, but tended to expand their habitat range on
islands where only one of the species occurred.
The most notable conservation feature of the mammal fauna of the Wessel and
English Company Islands is the occurrence of the golden bandicoot,
Isoodon auratus, a vulnerable species apparently now
extinct on the Northern Territory mainland. Four feral animal species
(Rattus rattus, Canis familiaris, Bubalus bubalis and
Capra hircus) were recorded from a total of 6 islands.
Large mammal species richness and late Quaternary precipitation change in south-western Australia