Tests of predictions associated with temporal changes in Australian bird populations
- Lindenmayer, David, Lane, Peter, Westgate, Martin, Scheele, Ben, Barton, Philip
- Authors: Lindenmayer, David , Lane, Peter , Westgate, Martin , Scheele, Ben , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Conservation Vol. 222, no. (2018), p. 212-221
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Global biodiversity loss is the cumulative result of local species declines. To combat biodiversity loss, detailed information on the temporal trends of at-risk species at local scales is needed. Here we report the results of a 13-year study of temporal change in bird occupancy in one of the most heavily modified biomes worldwide; the temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia. We sought to determine if temporal changes in bird species were different between three broad native vegetation types (old-growth woodland, regrowth woodland and restoration plantings) and between species traits (body size, migratory status, rarity, woodland dependency, or diet). We found evidence of decline for over a quarter of all bird species for which we had sufficient data for detailed analysis (30 out of 108 species). In contrast, only 14 species increased significantly. Temporal change of birds was linked to life-history attributes, with patterns often being habitat-dependent. Nectarivores and large-bodied birds declined across all vegetation types, whereas small-bodied species increased, particularly in restoration plantings. Contrasting with patterns documented elsewhere, resident but not migratory species declined, with this trend strongest in restoration plantings. Finally, our analyses showed that, as a group, common birds tended to decline whereas rare birds tended to increase, with effects for both most pronounced in restoration plantings. Our results highlight the benefit of targeted restoration planting for some species, but also demonstrate that many common species that have long-persisted in human-dominated landscapes are experiencing severe declines. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
- Authors: Lindenmayer, David , Lane, Peter , Westgate, Martin , Scheele, Ben , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Conservation Vol. 222, no. (2018), p. 212-221
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Global biodiversity loss is the cumulative result of local species declines. To combat biodiversity loss, detailed information on the temporal trends of at-risk species at local scales is needed. Here we report the results of a 13-year study of temporal change in bird occupancy in one of the most heavily modified biomes worldwide; the temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia. We sought to determine if temporal changes in bird species were different between three broad native vegetation types (old-growth woodland, regrowth woodland and restoration plantings) and between species traits (body size, migratory status, rarity, woodland dependency, or diet). We found evidence of decline for over a quarter of all bird species for which we had sufficient data for detailed analysis (30 out of 108 species). In contrast, only 14 species increased significantly. Temporal change of birds was linked to life-history attributes, with patterns often being habitat-dependent. Nectarivores and large-bodied birds declined across all vegetation types, whereas small-bodied species increased, particularly in restoration plantings. Contrasting with patterns documented elsewhere, resident but not migratory species declined, with this trend strongest in restoration plantings. Finally, our analyses showed that, as a group, common birds tended to decline whereas rare birds tended to increase, with effects for both most pronounced in restoration plantings. Our results highlight the benefit of targeted restoration planting for some species, but also demonstrate that many common species that have long-persisted in human-dominated landscapes are experiencing severe declines. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
Reptiles and frogs use most land cover types as habitat in a fine-grained agricultural landscape
- Pulsford, Stephanie, Barton, Philip, Driscoll, Don, Kay, Geoffrey, Lindenmayer, David
- Authors: Pulsford, Stephanie , Barton, Philip , Driscoll, Don , Kay, Geoffrey , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Austral Ecology Vol. 43, no. 5 (2018), p. 502-513
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Agricultural landscapes comprise much of the earth's terrestrial surface. However, knowledge about how animals use and move through these landscapes is limited, especially for small and cryptic taxa, such as reptiles and amphibians. We aimed to understand the influence of land use on reptile and frog movement in a fine-grained grazing landscape. We surveyed reptiles and frogs using pitfall and funnel traps in transects located in five land use types: 1) woodland remnants, 2) grazed pastures, 3) coarse woody debris added to grazed pastures, 4) fences in grazed pastures and 5) linear plantings within grazed pastures. We found that the different land cover types influenced the types and distances moved by different species and groups of species. Reptiles moved both within, and out of, grazed paddocks more than they did in woodland remnants. In contrast, frogs exhibited varying movement behaviours. The smooth toadlet (Uperoleia laevigata) moved more often and longer distances within remnants than within paddocks. The spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) moved out of grazed pastures more than out of pastures with coarse woody debris added or fences and were never recaptured in plantings. We found that most recaptured reptiles and frogs (76.3%) did not move between trapping arrays, which added to evidence that they perceived most of the land cover types as habitat. We suggest that even simple fences may provide conduits for movement in the agricultural landscape for frogs. Otherwise, most reptile and frog species used all land cover types as habitat, though of varying quality. Reptiles appeared to perceive the woodland remnants as the highest quality habitat. This landscape is fine-grained which may facilitate movement and persistence due to high heterogeneity in vegetation cover over short distances. Therefore, intensification and increasing the size of human land use may have negative impacts on these taxa. © 2018 Ecological Society of Australia
Birds as surrogates for mammals and reptiles: Are patterns of cross-taxonomic associations stable over time in a human-modified landscape?
- Yong, Ding, Barton, Philip, Okada, Sachiko, Crane, Mason, Lindenmayer, David
- Authors: Yong, Ding , Barton, Philip , Okada, Sachiko , Crane, Mason , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecological Indicators Vol. 69, no. (2016), p. 152-164
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Cross-taxonomic surrogates can be feasible alternatives to direct measurements of biodiversity in conservation if validated with robust data and used with explicit goals. However, few studies of cross-taxonomic surrogates have examined how temporal changes in composition or richness in one taxon can drive variation in concordant patterns of diversity in another taxon, particularly in a dynamic and heavily modified landscape. We examined this problem by assessing changes in cross-taxonomic associations over time between the surrogate (birds) and target vertebrate taxa (mammals, reptiles) that demand high sampling effort, in a heterogeneous mosaic landscape comprising pine monoculture, eucalypt woodland remnants and agricultural land. Focussing on four study years (1999, 2001, 2011, 2013) from a dataset collected over 15 years, we: (1) investigated temporal changes in cross-taxonomic congruency among three animal taxa (2) explored how temporal variation in composition and species richness of each taxon might account for variation in cross-taxonomic congruency, and (3) identified habitat structural variables that are strongly correlated with species composition of each taxon. We found the strength of cross-taxonomic congruency varied between taxa in response to both landscape context and over time. Among the three taxa, overall correlations were weak but were consistently positive and strongest between birds and mammals, while correlations involving reptiles were usually weak and negative. We also found that stronger species richness and composition correlations between birds and mammals were not only more prevalent in woodland remnants in the agricultural matrix, but they also increased in strength over time. Temporal shifts in species composition differed in rate and extent among the taxa even though these shifts were significant over time, while important habitat structural correlates were seldom shared across taxa. Our study highlights the role of the landscape matrix and time in shaping animal communities and the resulting cross-taxonomic associations in the woodland remnants, especially after a major perturbation event (i.e. plantation establishment). In such dynamic landscapes, differing and taxon-specific shifts in species diversity over time can influence the strength, direction and consistency of cross-taxonomic correlations, therefore posing a 'temporal' problem for the use of surrogates like birds in monitoring and assessment of biodiversity, and conservation management practices in general. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Authors: Yong, Ding , Barton, Philip , Okada, Sachiko , Crane, Mason , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecological Indicators Vol. 69, no. (2016), p. 152-164
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Cross-taxonomic surrogates can be feasible alternatives to direct measurements of biodiversity in conservation if validated with robust data and used with explicit goals. However, few studies of cross-taxonomic surrogates have examined how temporal changes in composition or richness in one taxon can drive variation in concordant patterns of diversity in another taxon, particularly in a dynamic and heavily modified landscape. We examined this problem by assessing changes in cross-taxonomic associations over time between the surrogate (birds) and target vertebrate taxa (mammals, reptiles) that demand high sampling effort, in a heterogeneous mosaic landscape comprising pine monoculture, eucalypt woodland remnants and agricultural land. Focussing on four study years (1999, 2001, 2011, 2013) from a dataset collected over 15 years, we: (1) investigated temporal changes in cross-taxonomic congruency among three animal taxa (2) explored how temporal variation in composition and species richness of each taxon might account for variation in cross-taxonomic congruency, and (3) identified habitat structural variables that are strongly correlated with species composition of each taxon. We found the strength of cross-taxonomic congruency varied between taxa in response to both landscape context and over time. Among the three taxa, overall correlations were weak but were consistently positive and strongest between birds and mammals, while correlations involving reptiles were usually weak and negative. We also found that stronger species richness and composition correlations between birds and mammals were not only more prevalent in woodland remnants in the agricultural matrix, but they also increased in strength over time. Temporal shifts in species composition differed in rate and extent among the taxa even though these shifts were significant over time, while important habitat structural correlates were seldom shared across taxa. Our study highlights the role of the landscape matrix and time in shaping animal communities and the resulting cross-taxonomic associations in the woodland remnants, especially after a major perturbation event (i.e. plantation establishment). In such dynamic landscapes, differing and taxon-specific shifts in species diversity over time can influence the strength, direction and consistency of cross-taxonomic correlations, therefore posing a 'temporal' problem for the use of surrogates like birds in monitoring and assessment of biodiversity, and conservation management practices in general. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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