New Publication in Austral Ecology

Using monitors to monitor ecological restoration

Did you know that across Australia there are around 60,000 abandoned mine sites, and among active sites, around 75% are on land of considered to be of high conservation value?

Habitat loss is a leading driver of biodiversity loss globally, and restoring lands degraded through human activities is essential for conserving our incredible wildlife.

But how do we assess the progress of restoration, and are these areas actually promoting use by animals?

Our new paper assesses how monitor lizards move through and use restored habitats on a mine site in the Mid West of Western Australia.

You can find the paper in Austral Ecology, here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12905

Particle WA Podcast

Excited to be a part of this weeks Scitech Particle Podcast! Head over to the Particle WA website to have a listen to me chat about monitor lizards, conservation, working in the outback, and cool lizard facts!

https://particle.scitech.org.au/podcast/which-lizards-are-dragons/?fbclid=IwAR1rKVbJXihgN_0MCg0YslBkATVR6rbCRDNoSGZs3S2nJBawNMY59rXkI1k
Which Lizards Are Dragons?

Cover Image for the Australian Journal of Zoology

My perentie and her mate were featured on the cover of the newest issue of the Australian Journal of Zoology. You can check out all the great wildlife papers in the issue here, including our article which discusses the need for assessments of animal behaviour in studies of restoration success and tracks a perentie through a mine site.

New publication!

Animals are often overlooked in assessments of mine site restoration success, or when considered, primarily assessed in terms of their presence or absence from restored landscapes. Understanding how animals behaviorally respond to habitat change and restoration is key to facilitating their conservation in the face of ever increasing rates of habitat destruction. We present a case study assessing the movements of a young-adult perentie (Varanus giganteus) through restored and reference vegetation on a mine site in the Mid West of Western Australia. We demonstrate the effectiveness of a novel method of home range construction (The Time Local Convex Hull method, or T-LoCoH) in analysing selective habitat use and behaviour of animals in their environment.

You can find the publication here:
https://www.publish.csiro.au/ZO/ZO19040

 

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Society for Ecological Restoration, Cape Town South Africa

In assessments of mine site restoration success, animals are often overlooked and assumed to return following the return of vegetation. This is commonly known as the Field of Dreams hypothesis, as in practice, recovering biodiversity to a level representative of the pre-disturbance system can be a very challenging task. Among existing studies, there is a focus towards assessing species diversity or abundance in restored habitats; however, this may be limited in its ability to show whether restoration is supporting animal populations long term, or if these areas are only in opportunistic use.

So, how can we assess behaviour of animals in restored mine sites, and how can this be used to help understand the longer term success of restoration efforts? I recently presented on my research at the 2019 8th World Conference on Ecological Restoration in Cape Town, South Africa. You can view the talk here:

https://www.ser-rrc.org/…/using-monitors-to-monitor-mine-s…/

New Publication!

Restoration goals: Why are fauna still overlooked in the process of recovering functioning ecosystems and what can be done about it?

S. L. Cross, P. W. Bateman, and A. T. Cross

Animals are often overlooked in assessments of restoration success and assumed to return following the return of vegetation. However, in practice, recovering diverse and representative fauna communities can be exceptionally difficult, not only to achieve, but to monitor. In our new publication, we argue that fauna must be considered to a greater extent in assessments of restoration success, and management policies. You can read the full paper, published in the journal Ecological Management and Restoration, here.

 

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