An ecological approach to identifying the endangered fauna of New South Wales

Abstract

This study used ecological criteria to evaluate systematically the conservation status of all mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs in New South Wales. The outcome was an official schedule of endangered fauna as defined under the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 as amended by the Endangered Fauna (Interim Protection) Act 1991. The work was modelled on the study by Millsap et al. (1990) which scored a range of biological variables and used expert opinion to determine priorities for conservation. The listing was undertaken by a statutory Scientific Committee and the results provided the first baseline status list for all species in New South Wales. Of the 883 faunal species (including 10 Lord Howe Island subspecies) identified in the state, 233 (26%) were recognized as endangered. Of these, 40 are considered to be extinct in New South Wales. Mammals constituted the worst affected group, with 77 (59%) of the 130 species recorded as endangered, of which 27 species are recorded as extinct in the state. The assessment of the New South Wales fauna also found that adequate ecological information exists for only 6% of the state's species. The outcome of this study not only provided the first official list of the endangered fauna of New South Wales and explained the methods and reasons for listing or excluding each species, but also furnished new material, ideas and directions for programmes to conserve the state's fauna.

The state of Australia's avifauna: a personal opinion and prediction for the new millennium

“…Recher and Lim (1990) predicted that, without changes in land management (see Newsome 1994), there would be further significant declines in the distribution and abundance of birds in the same parts of Australia where mammals had already disappeared; a view echoed by Woinarski and Braithwaite (1990) in their evaluation of the distribution of Australia's endangered fauna and by Lunney et al (1996Lunney et al ( , 1997 in their assessment of the endangered fauna of New South Wales. According to Recher and Lim (1990), major losses of bird species would occur first in the agricultural and pastoral regions of southern Australia, but similar losses would develop in northern Australia as development, agriculture, land degradation, and the human population of the north expanded.…”

“…1995;SEAC 1996 for details on habitat loss and degradation in Australia) and that trends in the abundances of birds will parallel these. Thus, my interpretation of the status of the Australian avifauna is more ecological in the sense of being population and functionally based, and less legalistic than, for example, the assessments of Garnett (1992) and Lunney et al (1996) who emphasized species and total numbers to fulfil policy and legislative criteria. While the survival of individual species is important, of greater importance is the retention of the evolutionary potential of the avifauna and the contribution of birds to ecological processes.…”

“…Most lists are dominated by non-passerines. These are the groups with the best knowledge base (see Lunney et al 1996). Yet when regional avifaunas are studied (e.g., the Western Australian wheatbelt) many more passerine species have declined than nonpasserines (Denis Saunders, in litt.).…”

“…Based on a survey of biologists familiar with the State's avifauna (Lunney et al 1996) Table 5). Garnett (1992) listed 91 taxa in New South Wales as threatened.…”

“…A consequence of the severity of the impact on mammals, and the interest in this group of animals among Australian biologists, was an attitude that birds were abundant, widely distributed and secure (Recher and Lim 1990). In the past decade, there have been encouraging signs that this view is changing (e.g., Woinarski and Braithwaite 1990;Garnett 1992;Robinson 1993;Saunders and Ingram 1995;'Robinson and Traill 1996; State of the Environment Advisory Committee (SEAC) 1996; Lunney et al 1996Lunney et al , 1997Craig 1997;Stattersfield 1998;Franklin, in press). …”