Effects of different management strategies on long-term trends of Australian threatened and near-threatened mammals

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dc.contributor.authorTulloch, A.I.T.
dc.contributor.authorJackson, M.V.
dc.contributor.authorBayraktarov, E.
dc.contributor.authorCarey, A.R.
dc.contributor.authorCorrea-Gomez, D.F.
dc.contributor.authorDriessen, M.
dc.contributor.authorGynther, I.C.
dc.contributor.authorHardie, M.
dc.contributor.authorMoseby, K.
dc.contributor.authorJoseph, L.
dc.contributor.authorPreece, H.
dc.contributor.authorSuarez-Castro, A.F.
dc.contributor.authorStuart, S.
dc.contributor.authorWoinarski, J.C.Z.
dc.contributor.authorPossingham, H.P.
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractMonitoring is critical to assess management effectiveness, but broadscale systematic assessments of monitoring to evaluate and improve recovery efforts are lacking. We compiled 1,808 timeseries from 71 threatened and near-threatened terrestrial and volant mammal species and subspecies in Australia (48% of eligible threatened mammal taxa), to compare relative trends of populations subject to different management strategies. We adapted the Living Planet Index to develop the Australian Threatened Mammal Index and track aggregate trends for all sampled threatened mammal populations, and for small (<35 g), medium (35-5,500 g) and large mammals (>5,500 g), between 2000 and 2017. Unmanaged populations (42 taxa) declined by 63% on average between 2000 and 2017, with unmanaged small mammals suffering the greatest declines (96%). Populations of 17 taxa in havens (islands and fenced areas that excluded or eliminated introduced red foxes and domestic cats) increased by 680%. Outside havens, populations undergoing sustained predator baiting initially declined by 75% but subsequently increased to 47% of their abundance in 2000. At sites where predators were not excluded or baited but other actions like fire management and introduced herbivore control occurred, populations of small and medium mammals declined faster, but large mammals slower, than unmanaged populations. Only 13% of taxa had data for both unmanaged and managed populations, but Index comparisons for this subset showed that taxa with populations increasing inside havens declined outside havens, but taxa with populations subject to predator baiting outside havens declined at a slower rate than populations with no management, then increased while unmanaged populations continued to decline. More comprehensive and improved monitoring (particularly encompassing poorly represented management actions and taxonomic groups like bats and small mammals) is required to understand if, and where, management has worked. Improved implementation of management for threats other than predation is critical to recover Australia's threatened mammals.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityAyesha I. T. Tulloch, Micha V. Jackson, Elisa Bayraktarov, Alexander R. Carey, Diego F. Correa-Gomez, Michael Driessen, Ian C. Gynther, Mel Hardie, Katherine Moseby, Liana Joseph, Harriet Preece, Andrés Felipe Suarez-Castro, Stephanie Stuart, John C. Z. Woinarski, Hugh P. Possingham
dc.identifier.citationConservation Biology, 2023; 37(2):1-15
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/cobi.14032
dc.identifier.issn0888-8892
dc.identifier.issn1523-1739
dc.identifier.orcidJackson, M.V. [0000-0002-5150-2962]
dc.identifier.orcidMoseby, K. [0000-0003-0691-1625]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/137576
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWiley
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE170100599
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14032
dc.subjectbiodiversity conservation
dc.subjectinvasive predator control
dc.subjectLiving Planet Index
dc.subjectlong-term ecological monitoring
dc.subjectmanagement effectiveness
dc.subjectpopulation trends
dc.subjectpredator-free havens
dc.subjectthreatened species
dc.titleEffects of different management strategies on long-term trends of Australian threatened and near-threatened mammals
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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