Fine‐scale impacts on avian biodiversity due to a despotic species, the bell miner (<scp><i>M</i></scp><i>anorina melanophrys</i>)

Leseberg, Nicholas P.; Lambert, Kathryn T. A.; McDonald, Paul G.

doi:10.1111/aec.12206

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In this study it was observed being given by adult birds, where the call did not elicit feeding, but likely served as a form of contact vocalisation that acoustically linked visually separated colony members. Alternatively, it may be used as a heterospecific 'warning' indicating an area occupied by Noisy Miners, similar to the likely function of the 'tink' vocalisations of Bell Miners (Heathcote 1989), as both species are highly despotic (Mac Nally et al 2012;Leseberg et al 2015). This possibility warrants further investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complex acoustic repertoire of a highly social species, the Noisy Miner,Manorina melanocephala

Holt

Barati

McDonald

2017

Emu - Austral Ornithology

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Communication is an essential component of social interactions between individuals, particularly in larger group sizes. To gain further insight into the factors that underpin cooperative behaviour, herein we examine the acoustic repertoire of the Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala, a cooperative species that lives in large colonies. To determine the structure and composition of the Noisy Miner repertoire, we measured the call rates and major acoustic parameters of common vocalisations from colour-banded individuals located at two discrete colonies. A total of 13 different vocalisation types were identified, of which 3 are newly described, with an additional 10 vocalisations being quantified in a new social context. Importantly, we describe a call given only by females and document both sexes producing some calls that were previously thought to be sex-specific. The putative repertoire identified was supported by statistical assessments confirming differences in their spectral and temporal features. Vocalisations were given across a range of social contexts, including the mobbing of predators, aerial alarm vocalisations, apparent maintenance of group cohesion and advertisement of individual location and/or status. This study quantifies the rich vocal repertoire of this social species, and provides further implications for the link between cooperative breeding and large vocal repertoires.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complex acoustic repertoire of a highly social species, the Noisy Miner,Manorina melanocephala

Holt

Barati

McDonald

2017

Emu - Austral Ornithology

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“…The endemic colonial Honeyeater genus, Manorina, is foremost among the threats represented by overabundant native birds in Australia. Three of the four species in the genus have become overabundant since European settlement and have negative impacts on other native birds due to extreme interference competition (Mac Nally et al 2012, Leseberg et al 2014, Kutt et al 2016. The Noisy Miner is particularly problematic because of its hyper-aggressive competitive behavior and unique effectiveness in structuring avian assemblages at a subcontinental scale in remnant woodland habitat in heavily cleared agricultural landscapes (Dow 1977, Maron et al 2013.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patch‐scale culls of an overabundant bird defeated by immediate recolonization

Beggs

Tulloch

Pierson

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Overabundant native animals cause a variety of human–wildlife conflicts that can require management to reduce their social, environmental, or economic impacts. Culling is an intuitively attractive management response to overabundance, but poor monitoring of results and costs means that evidence for successful outcomes is often lacking. Furthermore, many culls worldwide have been ineffective or counterproductive due to ecological release mechanisms or compensatory responses by the overabundant species. We completed a controlled, replicated, costed, and rigorously monitored experimental cull of the endemic Australian honeyeater, the Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala). Aggressive exclusion of birds from remnant woodland patches by overabundant Noisy Miners is listed as a Key Threatening Process under Australian conservation legislation due to its impacts on threatened birds. The problem is particularly prevalent in the highly modified agricultural landscapes of eastern Australia. The species impacts avian assemblages at low densities (0.6–0.8 birds/ha) and at a subcontinental scale (>1 million km2). Some ecologists recommend culling as the only management response capable of timely reversal of declines of threatened small woodland birds. We monitored Noisy Miner abundance before and for 12 months after a culling program and found that immediate recolonization from the surrounding landscape negated the impact of the cull. We hypothesize that this is due to a vacuum effect; whereby, birds resident in more marginal habitat around treatment patches move into the vacant territory post‐cull. Modeled mean abundance of Noisy Miners declined by 22% in treatment sites compared to an increase of 4% in control sites in the post‐cull period. Abundance in all sites, however, remained three to five times higher than published ecological impact thresholds. Return on investment analysis indicated no relationship between culling effort and reduction in Noisy Miner abundance. We conclude that culling at a patch scale is not an efficient method of reducing Noisy Miner abundance to levels unlikely to impact threatened woodland birds in the highly modified study landscape, despite estimated costs 18 times lower than another potential management response of revegetation. Our study highlights the importance of building empirical evidence before intuitively attractive but not necessarily ecologically effective management responses are applied more widely.

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“…Native Manorina honeyeater species are strong competitors within the extensive Australian woodland systems, with bell miners ( Manorina melanophrys ), yellow‐throated miners ( Manorina flavigula ), and noisy miners ( Manorina melanocephala ) implicated in the widespread decline in small woodland birds (Kutt, Vanderduys, Perry, Mathieson, & Eyre, ; Leseberg, Lambert, & McDonald, ; Maron et al., ). The presence of noisy miners (Figure ) has increased substantially in nine bioregions across eastern Australia (and decreased in none) since 1998 (Maron et al., ), and it is likely that the species is more common now than ever before, given the substantially altered landscape and habitat structure throughout these regions (Thomson et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐term response of a declining woodland bird assemblage to the removal of a despotic competitor

Davitt

Maute

Major

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Interspecific aggression by the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), a highly despotic species, is homogenizing woodland avifaunas across eastern Australia. Although a native species, the noisy miner's aggressive exclusion of small birds is a Key Threatening Process under national law. Large‐scale removal of noisy miners has been proposed as a management response to this threat following increases in miner presence due to anthropogenic land use practices. We tested this proposal by experimentally removing noisy miners from eucalypt woodland remnants (16–49 ha), assigned randomly as control (n = 12) or treatment (miner removal) sites (n = 12). Standardized bird surveys were conducted before and after removal, and generalized linear mixed models were used to investigate the effect of miner removal on bird assemblage metrics. Despite removing 3552 noisy miners in three sessions of systematic shooting, densities of noisy miners remained similarly high in treatment and control sites, even just 14 days after their removal. However, there was evidence of an increase in richness and abundance of small birds in treatment sites compared to controls—an effect we only expected to see if noisy miner densities were drastically reduced. We suggest that miner removal may have reduced the ability of the recolonizing miners to aggressively exclude small birds, even without substantially reducing miner densities, due to the breakdown of social structures that are central to the species' despotic behaviour. However, this effect on small birds is unlikely to persist in the long term. Synthesis and applications: Despite evidence from other studies that direct removal of noisy miners can result in rapid and sustained conservation benefit for bird communities at small scales, our findings cast doubt on the potential to scale‐up this management approach. The circumstances under which direct control of noisy miners can be achieved remain unresolved.

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Fine‐scale impacts on avian biodiversity due to a despotic species, the bell miner (Manorina melanophrys)

Cited by 16 publications

References 31 publications

The complex acoustic repertoire of a highly social species, the Noisy Miner,Manorina melanocephala

The complex acoustic repertoire of a highly social species, the Noisy Miner,Manorina melanocephala

Patch‐scale culls of an overabundant bird defeated by immediate recolonization

Short‐term response of a declining woodland bird assemblage to the removal of a despotic competitor

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