Vehicles and Koalas Phascolarctos cinereus collide frequently where the Pacific Highway crosses a 3.5 km stretch of forest in Bongil Bongil National Park. Despite the number of road-kills, resident Koalas survive in a 200-500m wide area of forest that lies between the highway and a parallel powerline easement, and seldom cross either boundary. Home ranges of radio-collared animals (which included some overlap) were 22.7 (± 5.1 s.e.) hectares for males and 9.7 (± 1.1 s.e.) hectares for females and extended to the very edge of the highway. Most road deaths, which peaked in September and October, therefore result from young, dispersing animals attempting to cross the highway. Moreover, the locations of fatalities coincide with the intersection of side-tracks and the highway suggesting that some animals are dispersing along the tracks until they meet the highway. Realignment of the highway will reduce habitat for Koalas and is likely to affect some resident animals. After construction of the upgrade is complete, which will include over- and underpasses and associated exclusion fencing to cater for dispersing animals, we predict that Koalas will re-establish home ranges to the edge of the realigned highway.

We radiotracked 18 pet cats Felis catus from rural and urban areas within the City of Armadale, Western Australia, both at night and during the day between August 2003 and February 2005 to estimate the size of buffer zone required to reduce incursions by pet cats into native bushland. Home ranges of rural cats ranged from 0.07ha to 2.86ha, while those of urban cats were 0.01ha to 0.64ha. Male and female cats had similar home ranges and there was no evidence of seasonal differences in home ranges. The longest linear distance moved by any cat was 300m, so allowing a 20% margin for estimation error a buffer zone of 360m is needed to reduce incursions by pet cats into native bushland in this municipality.

Long-nosed bandicoots Perameles nasuta were thought to have disappeared from inner western Sydney by the mid to late 1960s. This paper documents recent (2002-present) records of long-nosed bandicoots in the urban areas of inner western Sydney, including carcases (n=7), animals live-trapped or observed by us (n=7), and reports from the public (n=35). We also surveyed for bandicoot diggings in 88 urban parks and found 12 which contained possible diggings. Most of these records are concentrated in the suburbs of Dulwich Hill, Marrickville, Lewisham, and Petersham in an area of less than 1.9 km by 1.1 km (approximately 95 ha) in the local government area (LGA) of Marrickville, but when other scattered records are included, come from an 8.5 km x 6 km area in the LGAs of Ashfield, Canada Bay, Canterbury, and Leichhardt. A pilot radio-tracking study of two adult females found that they foraged almost exclusively in urban backyards and nested by day under old buildings. One female provided enough data for home range analysis, and had a home range of 2.7 ha (MCP) or 1.47 ha (KL95%); the core home range (KL50%) was only 0.16 ha. There were no signs that either individual avoided activity during peak hour traffic, although they often did not come out to forage for a whole night, or only foraged for a few hours within a night. We suggest that this might be a form of predator avoidance behaviour since feral and domestic cats were common in the area, and/or that they are able to obtain sufficient food in the short times they are active. We also speculate on the origins of these animals.

Despite the difficulties associated with conducting research on the Yellow-bellied Glider Petaurus australis , a reasonable body of information has accumulated on its ecology. This information has been collected from several locations throughout the species’ range. Thus, it is timely to present a synthesis of these studies. Moreover, due to the patchiness of its populations and further fragmentation and alteration of habitat from logging, it is appropriate to consider such information in a management context Yellow-bellied Gliders live in small family groupings (either monogamous or polygynous) which occupy large and exclusive home-ranges (30–65 ha), apparently because of the ephemeral nature of their food resources. This species is extremely vocal and this can be useful as a technique for censusing its abundance. Gliders make characteristic incisions into trees when feeding on sap and the identification of these trees can be used to determine the presence of gliders on a regional basis. We outline how gliders may be affected by habitat alteration and review information on the use of corridors by gliders. We suggest that studies are now required to determine the effectiveness of present management decisions and to examine directly the impact of logging on the behavioral ecology of this species.

At the time of European settlement, the terrestrial reptile fauna of the Sydney metropolitan area, west and north to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, consisted of 45 species, based on Australian Museum records, although most regions had between 30-36 species. Skinks and elapid snakes dominated the fauna, with progressively fewer agamid and gekkonid lizards, pygopod and varanid lizards, colubrid snakes, pythons and typhlopid snakes. Most of these species have declined and some have disappeared over the past 140 years, both in suburban environments and adjacent small bushland fragments. Some species disappear rapidly from bushland areas with only minor disturbance, and listings based on records over the past 50 years often underestimate historical faunal diversity. Only large bushland reserves appear to retain the majority of species. Only a small number of skink species are typically retained in suburban environments, although a small number of other lizards and snakes may persist if suitable habitats are retained, and some large snake species may utilise suburban environments adjacent to undeveloped or agricultural areas. Ecological features possessed by the surviving suburban reptile fauna include either a lack of habitat specialisation or a habitat preference for moist environments, high fecundity, a lack of dietary specialisation, and small size. In contrast, a habitat specialisation for sandstone environments (other than caves), stenophagy, low fecundity and large size combined with large home ranges are features commonly possessed by species that have not persisted in suburban environments.

The objective of this study was to relate the spread of the human population of Sydney to the natural history of the koala population in Campbelltown on its south-western edge. The first ever report of a koala by Europeans was near Bargo, just south of Campbelltown in 1798, making this population of great historical interest. In 1986, a housing development was approved in the Campbelltown suburb of Wedderburn, which threw the local koala population into the public and political spotlight. This peri-urban koala population is under threat from traffic from the Appin Road, potential construction of the Georges River Parkway and increasing urbanisation. Retaining a connection to other koala populations to the south is also important to conserving Campbelltown koalas. State Environmental Planning Policy Number 44 i.e. SEPP 44 (Koala Habitat Protection) requires two independent data sources to map koala habitat in a Local Government Area. Our study examined the value of using multiple independent data sets, generated from different methods, to establish the location of koalas in the Campbelltown area, and beyond, and derive a more reliable distribution map than those currently available. This provided a test of the value of independent data sets to establish the location of a population of a species that has had such an impact on the planning system. Further, this study gave us the ability to utilise modelled koala habitat from the local area, employ information from long-term population studies, particularly home range studies, enlist community data to support koala conservation, and assess the effectiveness of koala habitat conservation efforts in the area. The long-term future of this koala population depends on maintaining the integrity of koala habitat throughout the region, as well as in the Campbelltown LGA. Only a long-term commitment to koalas and their habitat will prevent the natural history of Campbelltown's koalas transforming into an unnatural future over the next 210 years.

The behavioural repertoire of the diurnal rainbow skink (Carlia rostralis), a common species found along eastern creeks in the Wet Tropics of northern Queensland, was documented as part of a larger study of the animal’s reproductive biology. Focal observations of assertive, exploratory, maintenance, escape, aggressive, and courtship behaviour were made in the field during the early part of the breeding season and in the laboratory with males and females in staged encounters. Although much of the behavioural repertoire of this species is typical of diurnal lizards, several features of the behaviour of C. rostralis are notable. Female C. rostralis exhibit a high frequency of head bobbing and conspicuous perching, two assertive behaviours that appear to be related to their maintenance of female-exclusive home ranges during the breeding season. Another assertive display, the head raised posture, is exhibited by both males and females in encounters. The head raised posture prominently displays the sexually dimorphic gular colouration of adult C. rostralis and is used as a visual sexual recognition signal. In addition, copulatory postures in which the male grasps the female with a lateral mid-flank bite, are described and depicted, with this representing the first portrayal of these postures for any member of the genus Carlia. Overall the complexity of social and sexual behaviour exhibited by C. rostralis is greater than that previously attributed to scincid lizards which have been studied elsewhere. These observations suggest that more attention to comparative behavioural study of Australian scincid lizards would be productive.

The most recent round of the forestry reform process in north-east NSW began in 1995 and resulted in the direct reservation of 737,602 hectares of forest as National Parks estate in north-east NSW, the exclusion of logging from all mapped oldgrowth forest (greater than 25 hectares) and rainforest in remaining State Forests, and the provision of 20 year, binding wood supply agreements to the timber industry in the region at 50% of 1995 levels. The forestry reform process is reviewed and a qualitative assessment of its impact on forest fauna conducted. The process was successful in using comprehensive spatial information on fauna distributions in the form of quantitative habitat models, in applying a rigorous method to set fauna reservation targets, and in employing recognised conservation planning software in reserve selection with fauna as one of the key parameters that determined reserve placement. These all represented important positive developments for the conservation of forest fauna in north-east NSW, which ensured that many of the areas identified for reservation were high priority areas for fauna conservation. However, the forestry reform process also included aspects that resulted in significant negative outcomes for forest fauna including; the use of timber commitments rather than fauna needs to determine the overall scale of reserves, the provision of long-term wood supply agreements to the timber industry at demonstrably unsustainable levels, the development of a substandard set of requirements for management on remaining State Forest areas, and the drastic weakening of legislative controls on logging operations which allow for increased intensification over time. Reservation targets set during the forestry reform process were used to provide an empirical assessment of reserve adequacy for fauna in the region. The assessment indicates that only 29% of priority fauna populations have fully achieved reservation targets in north-east NSW, and that across all populations, mean target achievement is only 49%. Therefore, the scale of the reserve outcome does not satisfy the national reserve criteria for forests and is considered to be inadequate to ensure the survival of priority species in north-east NSW. The target assessment indicates that the most poorly reserved habitats are dry coastal and dry tablelands sclerophyll forests, and habitat for species with large home ranges and species most vulnerable to threatening processes. While additional gains in reservation target achievement can still be made through the reservation of public lands, the large gains in habitat protection now required will have to be made on private land in the region. Future conservation efforts for fauna in the region should include; making full use of the current knowledge of fauna distributions and reservation status through appropriate publication and distribution of existing information; improving and refining the priority fauna habitat models, reservation targets and conservation requirements; and providing strong legislative protection for priority fauna habitat, as depicted by quantitative fauna models, across all land tenures. A clear lesson from the forestry reform process in north-east NSW is that independent ( i.e. non-Government) scientific involvement is crucial to the scientific integrity of conservation outcomes and assessments conducted by Governments via bureaucratic processes. Increased involvement by independent scientists in an active and direct way into the political process is also required to lessen the divide between science and politics into the future.

Five large (greater than 35 ha) urban bushland reserves in Greater Sydney were selected where herpetofaunal assemblages could be deduced and there were recent herpetofauna surveys. Four reserves (Rockdale Wetlands Corridor, Wolli Creek Valley, Burnt Bridge Creek Corridor and Middle Harbour Bushland Reserves) had been surrounded by residential development for more than 50 years. The fifth (University of Western Sydney, Richmond campus) was surrounded by agricultural and peri-urban development. Records from the scientific literature, local natural history groups, amateur herpetologists and council archives were used to gather historic information on the frogs and reptiles. Interviews were also conducted with researchers and neighbours of the reserves. Eight extant species were common to all reserves while another, predicted to be in all reserves, was universally absent. Despite the relatively large size of these bushland remnants, in all reserves the number of reptile and frog species had declined since urbanisation. The largest losses occurred in the four urban reserves. Seven species predicted to have occurred historically were now only present in the peri-urban site. Some herpetofaunal groups were more vulnerable than others. Goannas were locally extinct in urban reserves. Tree frogs and geckos were depleted while ground frogs and skinks were reduced to approximately half their original species numbers. This is in contrast to the peri-urban site where there had been no loss of tree frogs or goannas and generally more than half of the species in each group were extant. Urban impacts that appeared to relate to herpetofauna decline were direct human intervention that resulted in death or removal of individuals ( e.g. goannas, large snakes), interference with habitat such as bush rock removal ( e.g. smaller snakes, geckoes, skinks), fire ( e.g. non-burrowing small residents), interference with the water cycle including infilling and pollution ( e.g. frogs) and exotic predators ( e.g. dragons, turtles, skinks). In general, herpetofauna with the least future prospects were those most susceptible to decline. These included the large, conspicuous fauna that required a substantial home range, attracted the attention of humans because of ‘pet appeal’ or due to their perceived danger; were vulnerable at some stage of the lifecycle to predation by feral species; and had specific habitat requirements for reproduction such as quality water or open sandy banks for egg incubation. Those that are small, generalist and unappealing to humans are most likely to survive. There is, therefore, little doubt that diversity in reserves will continue to dwindle unless strategies are devised to overcome the present trend. Current conservation strategies that generally target single species need to be expanded to ecosystem level to monitor threats and management implemented for their removal.