Maron, Martine (2005) Threshold effect of eucalypt density on birds in buloke woodlands: the importance of species choice in restoration projects. In: 3rd Biennial Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC2005), 6-10 December 2005, Blenheim, New Zealand.
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Abstract
The buloke woodlands of south eastern Australia are of high value for bird conservation but are nationally endangered and highly depleted. Buloke is a slow-growing species and current projects aiming to restore buloke woodland usually incorporate a high density of faster-growing eucalypts in plantings. I aimed to determine whether the habitat value of buloke woodland to woodland bird assemblages is altered when eucalypts are present, and in particular, whether a particular density of eucalypts facilitates invasion by agressive noisy miners - a species absent from pure buloke woodland. Transects in 31 buloke woodland sites containing eucalypt densities between .0-16/ha were surveyed three times each over a period of one year. I found that the probability of noisy miner presence in buloke woodland increased markedly where eucalypts were present at a density of approximately five per hectare. This is the likely cause of a substantial difference in bird assemblage structure and composition between sites with >5 eucalypts/ha and those with fewer eucalypts. Low-eucalypt density sites had more hooded robins, dusky woodswallows, varied sittellas and yellow thornbills, all smaller-bodied insectivorous species which are experiencing population declines in southern Australia. Higher eucalypt density sites were characterised by Australian magpies, white-plumed honeyeaters, crested pigeons and eastern rosellas, all common open-country or aggressive species. These findings have implications for revegetation and restoration practices in buloke woodlands, and potentially also in other non-eucalypt woodlands within the range of the noisy miner.
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| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Commonwealth Reporting Category E) (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | No |
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Conference publication consists of only the abstracts of papers presented at the conference. Paper itself was a spoken paper so no print copy available. Abstract only posted here. |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Biological and Physical Sciences (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Biological and Physical Sciences (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Oct 2007 00:29 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Jul 2013 22:34 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | buloke woodlands; south eastern Australia; threshold effect; eucalypt density; birds |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 10 Technology > 1002 Environmental Biotechnology > 100203 Bioremediation 06 Biological Sciences > 0602 Ecology > 060202 Community Ecology(excl. Invasive Species Ecology) 05 Environmental Sciences > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050211 Wildlife and Habitat Management |
| Socio-Economic Objectives (2008): | D Environment > 96 Environment > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960806 Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
| URI: | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/805 |
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