Australia's tree-kangaroos: current issues in their conservation
TL;DR: Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) and Bennett's tree kangaroo as discussed by the authors are the two largest arboreal folivores in Australia and are both restricted to tropical rainforests and adjacent forest communities in North Queensland.
About: This article is published in Biological Conservation.The article was published on 1999-01-01. It has received 43 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Dendrolagus lumholtzi & Conservation status.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: It is asserted that such impacts are often qualitatively and quantitatively different in tropical forests than in other ecosystems, and practical measures to reduce the negative impacts of roads and other linear infrastructure on tropical species are highlighted.
Abstract: Linear infrastructure such as roads, highways, power lines and gas lines are omnipresent features of human activity and are rapidly expanding in the tropics. Tropical species are especially vulnerable to such infrastructure because they include many ecological specialists that avoid even narrow (<30-m wide) clearings and forest edges, as well as other species that are susceptible to road kill, predation or hunting by humans near roads. In addition, roads have a major role in opening up forested tropical regions to destructive colonization and exploitation. Here, we synthesize existing research on the impacts of roads and other linear clearings on tropical rainforests, and assert that such impacts are often qualitatively and quantitatively different in tropical forests than in other ecosystems. We also highlight practical measures to reduce the negative impacts of roads and other linear infrastructure on tropical species.
903 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used systematic spotlighting surveys to sample arboreal mammals in 36 linear rainforest remnants in tropical Queensland, Australia, and assessed the effects of corridor width, height, isolation, elevation, and floristic composition on mammals with multiple regression models.
169 citations
Cites background from "Australia's tree-kangaroos: current..."
...All ®ve of the folivorous (leaf-eating) mammals we studied are most abundant at higher elevations (Winter et al., 1984; Laurance, 1990; Newell, 1998), while the insectivorous striped possum is most common in the lowlands (<300 m)....
[...]
...The coppery brushtail and tree-kangaroo cross open areas quite readily (Pahl et al., 1988; Laurance, 1990), apparently for distances of up to a few hundred meters, although tree-kangaroos appear vulnerable to dog predation while on the ground (Newell, 1998, 1999)....
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of weather data and spatial modeling is used to quantify thermally buffered environments in a regional tropical rainforest, and a spatial surface of maximum air temperature that takes into account important climate-mediating processes is constructed.
Abstract: Complex landscapes interact with meteorological processes to generate climatically suitable habitat (refuges) in otherwise hostile environments. Locating these refuges has practical importance in tropical montane regions where a high diversity of climatically specialized species is threatened by climate change. Here, we use a combination of weather data and spatial modeling to quantify thermally buffered environments in a regional tropical rainforest. We do this by constructing a spatial surface of maximum air temperature that takes into account important climate-mediating processes. We find a strong attenuating effect of elevation, distance from coast and foliage cover on maximum temperature. The core habitat of a disproportionately high number of endemic species (45%) is encompassed within just 25% of the coolest identified rainforest. We demonstrate how this data can be used to (i) identify important areas of cool habitat for protection and (ii) efficiently guide restoration in degraded landscapes to expand extant networks of critical cool habitat.
88 citations
Cites background from "Australia's tree-kangaroos: current..."
...Third, much of the clearing has occurred on fertile basalt soils that are known to support mammal populations at greatest abundance (Newell, 1999; Kanowski et al., 2001)....
[...]
TL;DR: It is shown that only a relatively small proportion of north Queensland rainforests support abundant populations of the endemic folivorous marsupials, and variation in folivore abundance with geology is plausibly explained as a response to the nutritional quality of foliage.
Abstract: The ecological factors controlling the distribution and abundance of the folivorous marsupials endemic to the rainforests of northern Australia are not understood. In this study, we surveyed folivore abundance at 40 sites stratified by altitude and geology in rainforests of the Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. All five species of folivore that inhabit the study area were more abundant in highland (800–1200 m) than in upland (400–800 m) forests. Allowing for the effects of altitude, four species of folivore were more abundant in forests on nutrient-rich basalts than in forests on nutrient-poor acid igneous or metamorphic rocks. The abundance of two folivore species also varied inversely with rainfall. Altitudinal variation in folivore abundance in the study area has been attributed to habitat destruction, Aboriginal hunting, the distribution of host plants and climate; however, none of these hypotheses has been tested. Variation in folivore abundance with geology is plausibly explained as a response to the nutritional quality of foliage. Foliage quality may also explain the inverse relationship between two of the folivores and rainfall. The results of this study show that only a relatively small proportion of north Queensland rainforests support abundant populations of the endemic folivorous marsupials.
62 citations
Cites background from "Australia's tree-kangaroos: current..."
...After a century of survey and collecting work, the distributions of the folivores across the various rainforest isolates of the region are well established (Lumholtz 1889; Cairn and Grant 1890; Waite 1894; Tate 1952; Winter 1984; Nix and Switzer 1991; Winter et al. 1991; Williams et al. 1996; Newell 1999a)....
[...]
...bennettianus may well be maintained by competitive exclusion (Winter 1997; Newell 1999a)....
[...]
...Other suggested explanations for altitudinal variation in the abundance of the folivores include intense Aboriginal hunting pressure in lowland forests (Flannery et al. 1996; Newell 1999a), the distribution of plants eaten by the folivores (Laurance 1990b) and an intolerance of high temperatures by the folivores (Winter 1997)....
[...]
TL;DR: In a recent study of habitat use by tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) in the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland, Australia, a 20ha rainforest fragment was unexpectedly clearfelled by the landowner as discussed by the authors.
54 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: Interspecific patterns of defense mechanisms are discussed in terms of current theories of plant apparency, and an alternative model for the evolution of plant defenses is presented.
Abstract: Rates of herbivory and defensive characteristics of young and mature leaves were measured for saplings of 46 canopy tree species in a lowland tropical rain forest (Barro Colorado Island, Panama). Grazing rates were determined in the field for sample periods in the early wet, late wet, and dry seasons. Leaf properties such as pubescence, toughness, water, protein, fiber, and phenolic contents explained over 70W% of the variation among plant species in the rates of herbivory on mature leaves. Leaf toughness was most highly correlated with levels of herbivory, followed by fiber content and nutritive value. Phenol content and phenol: protein ratios were not significantly correlated with damage. Mature leaves of gap-colonizing species were grazed six times more rapidly than leaves of shade- tolerant species. Gap-colonizers have less tough leaves, lower concentrations of fiber and phenolics, higher levels of nitrogen and water, shorter leaf lifetimes, and faster growth rates than do shade- tolerant species. Gap-colonizers did not escape discovery by herbivores to any greater extent than shade-tolerant species, as measured by the spatial distribution of plants or by the intraspecific dis- tribution of herbivore damage under natural or experimentally manipulated conditions. In 70W% of the species, young leaves suffered higher damage levels than mature leaves. Although young leaves are more nutritious and less tough and fibrous, they have two to three times the con- centrations of phenols. The temporal appearance of young leaves was not correlated with the distri- bution of herbivory among individuals of a species. Interspecific patterns of defense mechanisms are discussed in terms of current theories of plant apparency, and an alternative model for the evolution of plant defenses is presented.
1,523 citations
TL;DR: Captive breeding should be viewed as a last resort in species recovery and not a prophylactic or long-term solution because of the inexorable genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in captive environments.
Abstract: The use of captive breeding in species recovery has grown enormously in recent years, but without a concurrent growth in appreciation of its limitations. Problems with (1) establishing self-sufficient captive populations, (2) poor success in reintroductions, (3) high costs, (4) domestication, (5) preemption of other re- covery techniques, (6) disease outbreaks, and (7) maintaining administrative continuity have all been signif- icant. The technique has often been invoked prematurely and should not normally be employed before a care- ful field evaluation of costs and benefits of all conservation alternatives has been accomplished and a determination made that captive breeding is essential for species survival. Merely demonstrating that a spe- cies" population is declining or has fallen below what may be a minimum viable size does not constitute enough analysis to justify captive breeding as a recovery measure. Captive breeding should be viewed as a last resort in species recovery and not a prophylactic or long-term solution because of the inexorable genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in captive environments. Captive breeding can play a crucial role in re- covery of some species for which effective alternatives are unavailable in the short term. However, it should not displace habitat and ecosystem protection nor should it be invoked in the absence of comprehensive ef- forts to maintain or restore populations in wild habitats. Zoological institutions with captive breeding pro- grams should operate under carefully defined conditions of disease prevention and genetic~behavioral man- agement. More important, these institutions should help preserve biodiversity through their capacities for public education, professional training, research, and support of in situ conservation efforts.
672 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the story of how human beings have consumed the resources they need for their own future is described, and the original "future eaters" who were the first people to leave the Afro-Asian homeland and travel down the chain of islands to Australasia and became the Aboriginal, Maori and other Polynesian peoples.
Abstract: This is the story of how human beings have consumed the resources they need for their own future. It examines the original "future eaters" who were the first people to leave the Afro-Asian homeland and travel down the chain of islands to Australasia and became the Aboriginal, Maori and other Polynesian peoples. They changed the flora and fauna in ways that seem inconceivable. The book then continues on to discuss how Europeans have made an even greater impact and how today "future eating" is a universal occupation.
575 citations
363 citations