Book Chapter
Large owl territories as a planning tool for vertebrate fauna conservation in the forests and woodlands of eastern Australia
-
Published:2004
Citation
David Milledge, 2004. "Large owl territories as a planning tool for vertebrate fauna conservation in the forests and woodlands of eastern Australia", Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna, Daniel Lunney
Download citation file:
The spatial patterns of Sooty OwlTyto tenebricosa and Barking OwlNinox connivens records, obtained from large owl surveys in the Victorian Central Highlands and the Pilliga Scrub in New South Wales respectively, allow the suggestion to be made that these species select territories with particular sets of habitat attributes. Estimated Sooty and Barking Owl territories in the Mountain AshEucalyptus regnans forests of the Central Highlands and the cypress pineCallitris spp-ironbarkEucalyptus spp forests and woodlands of the Pilliga Scrub were concentrated in areas with abundant tree hollows and other old-growth attributes and less frequent fires. Higher soil nutrients and plant productivity also appeared to be important attributes in the Pilliga Scrub. Territories of the large owls in both survey areas contained most of the sites where the highest nocturnal bird and arboreal marsupial species richness and abundance were recorded, enabling the proposal to be advanced that Sooty and Barking Owls could serve as indicators of high quality habitat for a range of forest and woodlanddependent vertebrates. In particular, they appear able to function as indicators for hollow-dependent and other specialised species disadvantaged by disturbances such as intensive logging and frequent fire. Territories of these large owls form a pattern that provides a natural planning template ideal for mapbased reserve selection aimed at maximising biodiversity conservation in the forests and woodlands of eastern Australia.
Beattie, A.J. and Dangerfield, M. 2000. Expert workshop on Western Regional Assessment. Key Centre for Biodiversity, Macquarie University, Ryde, NSW.
Braithwaite, L.W. 1983. Studies on the arboreal marsupial fauna of eucalypt forests being harvested for woodpulp at Eden, NSW I. The species and distribution of animals. Australian Wildlife Research 10: 219-229.
Braithwaite, L.W., Turner, J. and Kelly, J. 1984. Studies on the arboreal marsupial fauna of eucalypt forests being harvested for woodpulp at Eden, NSW III. Relationships between faunal densities, eucalypt occurrence and foliage nutrients, and soil parent materials. Australian Wildlife Research 11: 41-48.
Brown, D.M., Hines, H.B., Ferrier, S., and MacKay, K. (eds). 2000. Establishment of a biological information base for regional planning in north-east New South Wales. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville, NSW.
Cann, B., Williams, J. and Shields, J.M. 2002. Monitoring large forest owls and gliders after recent logging in production regrowth forests of the mid-north coastal region of New South Wales. Pp 255-264 in Ecology and Conservation of Owls, edited by I. Newton, R. Kavanagh, J. Olsen and I. Taylor. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.
Commonwealth of Australia. 1997 Central Highlands Comprehensive Regional Assessment. Joint Commonwealth and Victorian Forest Agreement (RFA) Steering Committee, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne, Victoria.
Countrywide Ecological Services 1995. Draft FIS for the Dorrigo 3-year Forestry Management Area EIS. Countrywide Ecological Services, Cremorne, NSW.
Debus, S.J.S. 1994. The Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa in New South Wales. Australian Birds 28 (suppl.): 4-19.
Fanning, F.D. 1993. Native Fauna of the Tenterfield Management area. A report on the potential impacts of proposed timber harvesting operations on the native fauna. Gunninah Consultants, Greenwich, NSW.
Higgins, P.J. (ed.) 1999 Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Vol. 4 Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria.
Kavanagh, R.P. 2002. Conservation and management of large forest owls in southeastern Australia. Pp 201-219 in Ecology and Conservation of Owls, edited by I. Newton, R. Kavanagh, J. Olsen and I. Taylor. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.
Kavanagh, R.P. and Bamkin, K.L. 1994. Distribution of nocturnal forest birds and mammals in relation to the logging mosaic in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Biological Conservation 71: 41-53.
Kavanagh, R. and Barrott, E. 2001. Koala populations in the Pilliga forests. Pp 93-103 in Perfumed Pineries: Environmental history of Australia's Callitris forests, edited by J. Dargavel, D. Hart and B. Libbis. CRES, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
Lindsay, A.D. 1967. Forest Types of the N.S.W. Cypress Pine Zone. Forestry Commission of New South Wales Technical Paper No. 8. Forestry Commission of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
Loyn, R.H., Macfarlane, M.A., Chesterfield, E.A. and Harris, J.A. 1980. Forest utilisation and the forest flora and fauna in Boola Boola State Forest in south-eastern Victoria. Bulletin 2. Forests Commission Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria.
Loyn, R.H., Traill, B.J. and Triggs, B.E. 1986. Prey of Sooty Owls in East Gippsland before and after fire. Victorian Naturalist 103: 147-149.
Loyn, R.H., McNabb, E.G., Volodina, L. and Willig, R. 2001. Modelling landscape distributions of large forest owls as applied to managing forests in north-east Victoria, Australia. Biological Conservation 97: 361-376.
Loyn, R.H., McNabb, E.G., Volodina, L. and Willig, R. 2002. Modelling distributions of large owls as a conservation tool in forest management: a case study from Victoria, southeastern Australia. Pp 242-254 in Ecology and Conservation of Owls, edited by I. Newton, R. Kavanagh, J. Olsen and I. Taylor. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.
Lundie-Jenkins, G. 1993. The diet of the Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Emu 92: 124-127.
Lunney, D. (ed.) 1991 Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna. Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman, NSW.
Mackey, B.G., Lindenmayer, D.B., Gill, M.A. and McCarthy, M. 2000. The Central Highlands ecosystem study: wildfire, refugia, fire regimes and climate change. Unpubl. report to Australian Greenhouse Office. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
McIntyre, A D. and Henry, S.R. 2002. Large forest owl conservation in the East Gippsland Forest Management Area, Victoria. Pp 220-232 in Ecology and Conservation of Owls, edited by I. Newton, R. Kavanagh, J. Olsen and I. Taylor. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.
Margules Groome Poyry. 1993. Draft EIS on the export by Sawmillers Exports Pty Ltd of woodchips produced from silvicultural operations in State Forests in northern NSW and from private property operations. Margules Groome Poyry Pty Ltd, Canberra, ACT.
Milledge, D.R. 1994. The distribution and ecology of the Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa in Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forests of the Victorian Central Highlands. MRSc thesis. Department of Ecosystem Management. University of New England, Armidale, NSW.
Milledge, D.R. 2002. A survey of large owls in the cypress pine-ironbark forests and woodlands of central western NSW. Unpubl. report to Western Directorate, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Landmark Ecological Services, Suffolk Park, NSW.
Milledge, D. and Soderquist, T.in prep. Distribution of a dense population of Barking Owls Ninox connivens in the Pilliga forests of New South Wales.
Milledge, D.R., Palmer, C.L. and Nelson, J.L. 1991. “Barometers of change”: the distribution of large owls and gliders in Mountain Ash forests of the Victorian Central Highlands and their potential as management indicators. Pp 53-65 in Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna, edited by D. Lunney. Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman, NSW.
Mount King Ecological Surveys. 1992. Proposed Forestry Operations-Dorrigo Management Area. Fauna Impact Statement October 1992. Forestry Commission of NSW, Sydney, NSW.
Schedvin, N.K. 2003. Life on the edge-habitat requirements of the Barking Owl in southeastern Australia. Abstracts. Australasian Ornithological Conference 2003, Australian National University, Canberra, 10-13 December 2003.
Schedvin, N., Soderquist, T., Baker, J. and Taylor, I. 2001. One Barking Owl-6000 ha of forest. Australian Wildlife Society poster (subsequently included in Price, C. and Baker, J. 2003. Wail and Bark. Wingspan 10: 10-15).
Schodde, R. and Mason, I.J. 1980 Nocturnal Birds. Landsdowne Editions, Melbourne, Victoria.
Simberloff, D. 1998. Flagships, umbrellas and keystones; is single species management passe in the landscape era? Biological Conservation 83: 247-257.
Thackway, R. and Cresswell, I. 1995 An Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia; A framework for setting priorities in the national reserve system cooperative programme. The Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra, ACT.
York, A. and Shields, J.M. 1992. Fauna Survey, Wingham Management Area. Part 2: Birds. Forest Resources Series No. 20. Forestry Commission of NSW, Sydney, NSW.
This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access.
