Cape Otway Conservation Ecology Centre Welcome to Issue 3 “You will never solve problems using the same thinking you created them with” – Albert Einstein By the 1940s, and only 150 years since the arrival of the First Fleet heralded the beginning of European colonisation, 27species of mammal had become extinct in Australia – the worst record of mammal extinctions for any country or continent. A number of factors contributed to this sad statistic – habitat destruction and fragmentation; the introduction of feral animals such as cats and foxes; exotic flora (weeds) taking over river systems and huge swathes of land and new farming practices involving large scale land clearing. In this edition of ECO, Dr Jack Pascoe reflects on the reasons behind these extinctions, reviews the currently unhealthy state of the Australian landscape and its inhabitants, and shares a number of innovative ways in which the Conservation Ecology Centre is helping to arrest the decline and turn the situation around. You will see from reading the attached references that every proposed solution comes with a host of further problems; we acknowledge that the problems confronting Australian wildlife are multi-layered and complex, and we endeavour to base our actions on rigorous science, enhanced by new thinking. For, as Tim Flannery observed, “Things are now so dire that we cannot afford to persist with business as usual”. 1 Lizzie Corke CEO Mammalian extinction and how we can work to prevent it Australia holds the shameful record for the greatest number of mammal extinctions for any country or continent over the last two centuries. Since western colonisation, 27 species of mammal have been driven to extinction through dramatic changes to land stewardship practices, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and the acclimatisation of exotic and feral flora and fauna. Though many mammal species continue to decline across the Australian landscape, until 2009 we managed to avoid any further mammalian extinction for 60 years. The reasons for this improvement are complex but are likely due in part to efforts to preserve areas for nature conservation. Australian National Parks now include more than 500 parks covering more than 28 million hectares. While these reserves are not solely focused on nature conservation, they do play an important role in protecting our natural values. However in 2009, the last Christmas Island Pipistrelle died. Tim Flannery 2 has argued that the extinction of this diminutive bat could well herald a second wave of mammalian extinctions as human activity continues to change our environment. There are currently up to 12 mammal species within Australia that are critically endangered and at genuine risk of extinction. So, while protecting reserves from wholesale exploitation by humans is important, it may not be enough to prevent extinctions. ECO Ecology + Conservation Outcomes Issue 3 | May 2013 The scientific report of the Conservation Ecology Centre – Cape Otway
Transcript
Cap e O tway
Conservation Ecology Centre
Welcome to Issue 3“You will never solve problems using the same thinking you created them with” – Albert Einstein
By the 1940s, and only 150 years since the arrival of the First Fleet heralded the beginning of European colonisation, 27species of mammal had become extinct in Australia – the worst record of mammal extinctions for any country or continent. A number of factors contributed to this sad statistic – habitat destruction and fragmentation; the introduction of feral animals such as cats and foxes; exotic flora (weeds) taking over river systems and huge swathes of land and new farming practices involving large scale land clearing.
In this edition of ECO, Dr Jack Pascoe reflects on the reasons behind these extinctions, reviews the currently unhealthy state of the Australian landscape and its inhabitants, and shares a number of innovative ways in which the Conservation Ecology Centre is helping to arrest the decline and turn the situation around.
You will see from reading the attached references that every proposed solution comes with a host of further problems; we acknowledge that the problems confronting Australian wildlife are multi-layered and complex, and we endeavour to base our actions on rigorous science, enhanced by new thinking. For, as Tim Flannery observed, “Things are now so dire that we cannot afford to persist with business as usual”.1
Lizzie Corke CEO
Mammalian extinction and how we can work to prevent itAustralia holds the shameful record for the greatest number of mammal extinctions for any country or continent over the last two centuries. Since western colonisation, 27 species of mammal have been driven to extinction through dramatic changes to land stewardship practices, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and the acclimatisation of exotic and feral flora and fauna.
Though many mammal species continue to decline across the Australian landscape, until 2009 we managed to avoid any further mammalian extinction for 60 years. The reasons for this improvement are complex but are likely due in part to efforts to preserve areas for nature conservation. Australian National Parks now include more than 500 parks covering more than 28 million hectares. While these reserves are not solely focused on nature conservation, they do play an important role in protecting our natural values.
However in 2009, the last Christmas Island Pipistrelle died. Tim Flannery2 has argued that the extinction of this diminutive bat could well herald a second wave of mammalian extinctions as human activity continues to change our environment. There are currently up to 12 mammal species within Australia that are critically endangered and at genuine risk of extinction. So, while protecting reserves from wholesale exploitation by humans is important, it may not be enough to prevent extinctions.
ECO Ecology + Conservation OutcomesIssue 3 | May 2013The scientific report of the Conservation Ecology Centre – Cape Otway
Cap e O tway
Conservation Ecology Centre
So, what is the way forward for species conservation?Using Fire
Bill Gammage3 has recently revealed how different the Australian landscape was under the stewardship of its Indigenous people, when carefully managed burning created landscapes overflowing with diversity and life.
“Aboriginal people worked hard to make plants and animals abundant, convenient and predictable. By distributing plants and associating them in mosaics, then using these to lure and locate animals, Aborigines made Australia as it was in 1788, when Europeans arrived.” – Bill Gammage
However, calls for a return to this state often create friction with land managers who feel they are being held responsible for not finding a correct balance4 – yet there are few suggestions as to how to achieve results.
Understandable concerns for infrastructure and human life have resulted in increasingly efficient methods of reducing fires in wilderness areas today. This means that instead of regular cool burns over small areas, we are now seeing infrequent, large hot fires fed by high fuel loads. As well as causing destruction and suffering to human populations, these large hot burns can be detrimental to our fauna species and the vegetation on which they rely.
Conservation depends on active restoration of degraded habitat through reconnection of habitat fragments and the reintroduction of fire through local, carefully controlled burns. It is therefore essential that research is used to develop effective burning regimes to preserve and improve the environment for Australian flora and fauna.
Right now at the Conservation Ecology Centre, we are assessing the effects of small patch burns to stimulate regeneration of manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), and mosaic burning to maintain biodiversity in declining woodlands.
Managing exotic predators
Small ground-dwelling mammals weighing between 35 and 5500g are particularly vulnerable to attack from introduced pest predators. In fact, nearly all of the mammals to become extinct on the mainland of Australia fit in this category – which has led many biologists to conclude that depredation by foxes and cats has been and continues to be a significant threat. While it will be impossible to completely exclude exotic species over an island as large as Australia, other solutions have been offered, including calls to reintroduce ‘apex predators’ such as Dingoes5 and Tasmanian Devils.
This ‘mesopredator release hypothesis’ states that if an apex predator is removed from an ecosystem then the number of medium sized mesopredators (e.g. foxes and cats) will increase, placing greater pressure on smaller more vulnerable prey (e.g. small marsupials). This hypothesis offers an explanation for significant declines in prey abundance and diversity and supports the argument for the conservation of top predators because by preying on the mesopredators, they protect smaller prey species that are in danger of extinction.
Cap e O tway
Conservation Ecology Centre
There is much debate over these assumptions, and good quality science continues to underpin the practical solutions to land management and conservation. Often leading the way in this field are NGOs like the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, whose exotic predator-free properties provide suitable areas for study. The CEC works to achieve effective predator control whilst maintaining wildlife movements between bushland across our property, neighbouring properties and the adjacent National Park.
Endangered Tiger Quoll conservation
The CEC is also on the frontline of conserving the Otways population of the endangered Tiger Quoll. Little is known about the distribution and movements of this elusive marsupial, so, in order to address this knowledge gap, the CEC is in the process of developing novel detection techniques.
Our project ‘Otways Conservation Dogs’ is advancing, with a number of dogs completing training that will enable them to detect quoll scats without impacting on the wild populations. And we are using automated acoustic sensors to detect the calls of Tiger Quolls. We hope these new methods will provide vital
information, answering important questions such as:
• Where do Tiger Quolls live in the Otways?
• Are there enough individuals in the wild to support an ongoing population?
Our small population of captive-bred Tiger Quolls continues to thrive, offering our researchers the chance to learn more about these cryptic animals through close observation.
Armed with the knowledge gained from this research, the Conservation Ecology Centre will be in a great position to significantly contribute to the conservation of Tiger Quolls through targeted habitat reconnection, landscape scale predator control and, if required, ex-situ breeding programs to restock the wild populations.
The task is huge but, together, we are steadily moving forwards using acquired knowledge and new thinking.
