Thresholds, incidence functions, and species-specific cues: responses of woodland birds to landscape structure in south-eastern Australia

AbstractThe speckled warbler and other woodland birds of south-eastern Australia have declined dramatically since European settlement; many species are at risk of becoming locally and/or nationally extinct. Coincidently, Australian environmental education research of the last decade has largely been silent on the development of pedagogy that refects the natural history of this continent (Stewart, 2006). The current circumstances that face the speckled warbler, I argue, is emblematic of both the state of woodland birds of south-eastern Australia, and the condition of natural history pedagogy within Australian environmental education research. In this paper I employ Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) philosophy “becoming-animal” to explore ways that the life and circumstances of the speckled warbler might inform natural history focused Australian environmental education research. The epistemology and ontology ofbecoming-speckled warbleroffers a basis to reconsider and strengthen links between Australian natural history pedagogy and notions of sustainability.

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Eucalypt plantings on farms benefit woodland birds in south-eastern Australia

Austral Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1442-9993.2007.01746.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 32 (6) ◽

pp. 635-650 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

RODNEY P. KAVANAGH ◽

MATTHEW A. STANTON ◽

MATTHEW W. HERRING

Keyword(s):

Woodland Birds ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

South Eastern Australia

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Woodland birds and rural towns: artificial clutch survival in fragmented Box-Ironbark forests

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ◽

10.1071/rs18001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 130 (1) ◽

pp. 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

B. Meney ◽

S. Cunningham ◽

M.A. Weston ◽

D.A. Whisson

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Woodland Birds ◽

Landscape Type ◽

South Eastern ◽

Avian Predators ◽

Rural Town ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Landscape Types ◽

South Eastern Australia

Woodland birds are declining throughout the agricultural landscapes of south-eastern Australia, but the specific mechanisms driving these declines remain unclear. Reproductive failure via clutch depredation could conceivably contribute to these declines. Although site-scale habitat may influence the risk of clutch failure, larger-scale influences, such as whether a landscape contains a rural town or not (‘landscape type’), may also play a role. This study monitored artificial open-cup nests deployed in three pairs of the two landscape types and: 1) indexed clutch survival and predator assemblage; and 2) determined if clutch survival was influenced by landscape type and/or local habitat characteristics. High levels of clutch depredation were observed in both landscape types and for all landscapes, with no evidence to suggest that landscape type or habitat characteristics influenced clutch survival or the time-to-first-predator visit. Predator assemblage also was consistent between landscape types. Generalist avian predators were the most common egg predators. Such egg predators may be ubiquitous throughout the fragmented Box-Ironbark woodlands of south-eastern Australia.

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