Farm study suggests birds on a fast flight to oblivion
By Greg Roberts July 19, 2004
ALMOST half the bird species on a central Queensland grazing property
have declined dramatically over the past 130 years, adding to fears that
many wildlife species across the nation are on the path to extinction.
....
The full piece is at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10176588%255E2702,00.html
I've appended the abstract of the paper describing the research.
Andrew Taylor
Biological Conservation Volume 116, Issue 3 , April 2004, Pages 379-401
Historical changes in the bird fauna at Coomooboolaroo, northeastern Australia,
from the early years of pastoral settlement (1873) to 1999
J.C.Z. Woinarski, and C.P. Catterall
Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, PO Box 496,
Palmerston, NT 0831, Australia
Environmental Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111,
Australia
Abstract
Across most of northern Australia, the historical record is generally
insufficient to serve as a baseline for interpreting the impacts of
European settlement on fauna. A notable exception is the pastoral
property Coomoobolaroo (454 km2) in central Queensland, where
the ornithologist Charles Barnard maintained a detailed record of
bird fauna from 1873 to 1933. We re-surveyed the property in 1999,
and collated other information on its current avifauna, giving 242
species in total recorded over the period 1873-1999 (of which we had
sufficient information to ascribe trends to 200 species). The bird
fauna of Coomooboolaroo has undergone substantial change, across
both of the periods 1873-1933 and 1934-1999. From 1873 to 1999, 45%
of species declined or were lost from the property, compared with 13%
of species that either colonised the property or increased. Most of the
latter are widespread species or those known to benefit from clearing
and land development. This extent of change appears at least as high
as that reported for most comparable studies elsewhere in Australia,
despite these being conducted at sites that have been subjected to
superficially greater environmental degradation. The greatest rates of
loss occurred among birds associated with softwood scrub (dry rainforest),
grasslands and swamps. Smaller species were more susceptible to decline,
but change in status was not significantly associated with foraging
style nor different between residents and migrants. Many of the species
that have declined at Coomooboolaroo have also declined in many other
geographic regions, habitats and land-uses. Change in status at this
property can be attributed to diverse factors, including changes in
predation pressures; environmental change due to altered fire regimes
and/or grazing by livestock; and vegetation clearance at both property
and regional scales. The multiplicity and complex interrelationships of
such factors renders it difficult to predict assemblage-level change.
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