scholarly journals Numbat nirvana: conservation ecology of the endangered numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) (Marsupialia : Myrmecobiidae) reintroduced to Scotia and Yookamurra Sanctuaries, Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt W. Hayward ◽  
Aline Si Lin Poh ◽  
Jennifer Cathcart ◽  
Chris Churcher ◽  
Jos Bentley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
Conservation Ecology ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Captive Populations ◽  
Introduced Predators ◽  
Founder Populations

Despite a vigorous reintroduction program between 1985 and 2010, numbat populations in Western Australia are either static or declining. This study aimed to document the population ecology of numbats at two sites that are going against this trend: Scotia Sanctuary in far western New South Wales and Yookamurra Sanctuary in the riverland of South Australia. Scotia (64 659 ha) and Yookamurra (5026 ha) are conservation reserves owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and where numbats were reintroduced in 1999 and 1993 respectively. Both sites have large conservation-fence-protected introduced-species-free areas where there are no cats (Felis catus) or red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Numbats were sourced from both wild and captive populations. From small founder populations, the Scotia numbats are now estimated to number 169 (113–225) with 44 at Yookamurra. Radio-collared individuals at Scotia were active between 13 and 31°C. Females had home ranges of 28.3 ± 6.8 ha and males 96.6 ± 18.2 ha, which leads to an estimated sustainable population or carrying capacity of 413–502 at Scotia. Captive-bred animals from Perth Zoo had a high mortality rate upon reintroduction at Scotia due to predation by raptors and starvation. The habitat preferences for mallee with a shrub understorey appear to be driven by availability of termites, and other reintroduced ecosystem engineers appear to have been facilitators by creating new refuge burrows for numbats. This study shows that numbats can be successfully reintroduced into areas of their former range if protected from introduced predators, and illustrates the difficulties in monitoring such cryptic species.

Factors affecting the trappability of red foxes in Kosciusko National Park

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Bubela ◽  
Robert Bartell ◽  
Warren Müller
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
New South ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
Foraging Patterns ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
South Wales

The factors that affect the trappability of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) in alpine and subalpine New South Wales were examined by means of treadle snares. Trapping (1) on animal tracks without the use of a bait or lure, and (2) by setting snares around a bait, led to the capture of individuals of both sexes and all age-classes. A greater number of foxes was captured per number of snares set in winter than in other seasons because of the commensal foraging patterns of foxes at this time. Foxes were more likely to be caught within 100 m of their home-range boundaries during snow-free months and outside their home ranges while foraging at ski resorts in winter. Snares were found to be difficult to set, and foxes were captured in only 50% of sprung snares. Treadle snares caused no apparent long-term injuries to 40 red foxes that were radio- tracked and observed for 1–24 months after capture.

Two ecological universes separated by the Dingo Barrier Fence in semi-arid Australia: interactions between landscapes, herbivory and carnivory, with and without dingoes

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Newsome ◽  
P. C. Catling ◽  
B. D. Cooke ◽  
R. Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Gradient ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
Feral Cats ◽  
Aerial Surveys ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease

This paper challenges conclusions of Caughley et al. (1980) that the abundance of red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) in western New South Wales is solely due to lack of dingoes (Canis lupus dingo), and vice versa for neighbouring South Australia. A Dingo Barrier Fence divides the two different ecological systems, which have sheep in New South Wales and cattle in South Australia. This paper re-examines in particular whether there is an environmental gradient across the Fence that was dismissed by Caughley et al. This paper concludes to the contrary, that there is a strong environmental gradient. Our aerial surveys demonstrate significantly that habitats favouring red kangaroos are prevalent in New South Wales today, but are very scarce or absent in South Australian landscapes. Aerial surveys were used in both studies, but designs differed. Caughley et al. flew at right angles across the Fence on paths 28 km apart. Flights would have crossed the south-westerly streamlines rarely. Our flight lanes followed streamlines looking for floodouts, the favourite habitat of red kangaroos. Return lanes went between streamlines sampling other habitats. Counts of red kangaroos seen were made every 1.75 km, with the specific habitat also identified. Three extra factors are invoked in our study. One is that the low annual rainfalls translate into intrinsically low survival rates of pouch-young of red kangaroos, contrary to their abundance in New South Wales today. The other two are related to that current abundance also. There is now evidence for greatly increased run-off of rainfall from catchments onto the open plains in New South Wales. Also present is a very large shallow basin lying between catchments and the Dingo Barrier Fence. Streamlines enter it but none flow past its western rim. The above conclusions were confirmed during subsequent ground surveys over three years. Of eleven species of medium and large vertebrates seen in New South Wales, five were absent in South Australia. Three were kangaroos, and the others were feral pigs and goats. Emus are more abundant in New South Wales also. All of those species would be targets for dingoes, especially as alternate prey to rabbits that generate huge eruptions every decade or so. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were in lower abundance in South Australia with dingoes present, as expected with meso-predator interactions. Feral cats (Felis catus) were in similar numbers on both sides of the Fence for unknown reasons. Competition between rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and sheep for food in New South Wales was shown to significantly reduce rabbit numbers in drought. That rabbits are perennially in lower densities there than in South Australia may be due to the higher densities of foxes than in South Australia. Historically, red kangaroos were rare in the region in the mid-1800s. Their abundance has arisen since European occupation. Thc species was rare on those open plains, and permanent water was scarce. Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease reached the study-area in 1995. Its impact reduced rabbit populations to a rarity that prevails today on both sides of the Dingo Fence. Predation from dingoes, foxes and feral cats may assist continuance of low numbers of rabbits. Pastures, seedling trees and livestock will benefit, as will the kangaroos.

In A Fix: Fixed-Term Parliaments in the Australian States

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-298
Author(s):  
Peter Congdon
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
South Wales

Constitutional systems of Westminster heritage are increasingly moving towards fixed-term parliaments to, amongst other things, prevent the Premier or Prime Minister opportunistically calling a ‘snap election’. Amongst the Australian states, qualified fixed-term parliaments currently exist in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have also deliberated over whether to establish similar fixed-term parliaments. However, manner and form provisions in those states' constitutions entrench the Parliament's duration, Governor's Office and dissolution power. In Western Australia and Queensland, unlike Tasmania, such provisions are doubly entrenched. This article considers whether these entrenching provisions present legal obstacles to constitutional amendments establishing fixed-term parliaments in those two states. This involves examining whether laws fixing parliamentary terms fall within section 6 of the Australia Acts 1986 (Cth) & (UK). The article concludes by examining recent amendments to the Electoral Act 1907 (WA) designed to enable fixed election dates in Western Australia without requiring a successful referendum.

The Relation Between the Food of the Australian Barracouta, Thyrsites atun (Euphrasen), and Recent Fluctuations in the Fisheries

1957 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Population Distribution ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Downward Trend ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Fish Diet ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
South Wales

The diet of surface-swimming Australian barracouta was studied from over 10,000 stomachs. The principal prey organisms in Bass Strait are the euphausiid Nyctiphanes australis Sars, the anchovy Engraulis australis (White), and young barracouta, in that order; and in eastern Tasmania Nyctiphanes, Engraulis, and the sprat Clupea bassensis McCulloch, in that order. The pilchard Sardinops neopilchardus (Steindachner) is not an important item of the diet in these regions although it is so in New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia. The jack mackerel Trachurus declivis Jenyns is a significant item in eastern Tasmania and New South Wales but not in Bass Strait. These and other features of the fish diet of the barracouta reflect actual availability of the various small fish species in the waters. Barracouta eat Nyctiphanes by herding them into dense masses (or finding them already concentrated) and swallowing them. The movements of the anchovy make it unavailable to Bass Strait and eastern Tasmanian barracouta for much of the summer and autumn period, when the barracouta are thus dependent upon Nyctiphanes for the bulk of their food. A close positive relationship between the availability of barracouta and Nyctiphanes might therefore be expected at those seasons. There is evidence of such a relationship between mean availability (catch per boat-month) of barracouta and mean percentage of barracouta stomachs containing Nyctiphanes, at those seasons, from year to year. For southern Victorian coastal waters both show a downward trend from 1948-49 to 1950-51 and then an upward trend to 1953-54; for eastern Tasmania both show a downward trend (for autumn only) from 1949-50 through 1952-53. The records of catch per boat-month furnish independent evidence that the main variations in this index were effects of availability (population distribution or behaviour) rather than abundance (population size), at least for southern Victoria. It is therefore considered that when scarcity of barracouta occurs in summer and autumn in the coastal fishing areas it may be due to scarcity of Nyctiphanes, forcing the fish to go offshore for this food which is known to be available there. This would take the fish out of range of the fishermen.

Mycosphaerella linicola. [Distribution map].

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Linum Usitatissimum ◽  
New South ◽  
Russian Far East ◽  
Far East ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Rio Grande Do Sul ◽  
Distribution Map ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Distribution

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Mycosphaerella linicola Naumov. Hosts: Flax (Linum usitatissimum) and other (Linum) spp. Information is given on the geographical distribution in Argentina, Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Bulgaria, Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Russia (European), Russian Far East, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, UK, Scotland, USA, Arizona, California, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Ukraine, Uruguay, Yugoslavia (former).

Monilochaetes infuscans. [Distribution map].

1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
North America ◽  
South America ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Ipomoea Batatas ◽  
New South ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Distribution Map ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Distribution

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Monilochaetes infuscans Halsted ex Harter. Hosts: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). Information is given on the geographical distribution in Africa, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Asia, China, Israel, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australasia & Oceania, Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, US Trust Terr., Europe, Portugal, Azores, North America, USA, South America, Argentina, Brazil.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi. [Distribution map].

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New York ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Pisum Sativum ◽  
Pseudomonas Syringae ◽  
New South ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Distribution Map ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Distribution

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi (Sackett) Young, Dye & Wilkie. Hosts: Pea (Pisum sativum) and other Apiaceae. Information is given on the geographical distribution in Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Asia, India, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Armenia, Kirghizistan, Australasia & Oceania, Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, New Zealand, Europe, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Voronezh, Moldavia, Switzerland, UK, England, Yugoslavia, North America, Bermuda, Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Mexico, USA, New York, South America, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay.

Dacus tryoni. [Distribution map].

1960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Distribution Map ◽  
Bactrocera Tryoni ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Distribution

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Dacus tryoni[Bactrocera tryoni] (Frogg.) (Dipt., Trypetidae) (Queensland Fruit-fly) Hosts: Many deciduous and subtropical fruits. Information is given on the geographical distribution in AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria.

Listronotus bonariensis. [Distribution map].

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
South America ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
New South ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Distribution Map ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Pasture Grasses ◽  
Listronotus Bonariensis ◽  
New Distribution

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel) Coleoptera: Curculionidae Attacks Lolium spp. and other pasture grasses and cereals. Information is given on the geographical distribution in SOUTH AMERICA, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, OCEANIA, Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand.

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