ABSTRACT The 2016 annual forum of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW was entitled: “The critical value of long-term field studies and datasets”. As Charley Krebs and co-authors comment in their paper, if there is one overall limitation on our ecological understanding, it is that our generalizations depend too much on short-term studies. All the authors in this theme edition of the Australian Zoologist identify the key reasons why long-term studies and datasets are important. David Lindenmayer states that long-term ecological research and monitoring studies are critical to tracking the state of the environment, assessing the effectiveness of management interventions, and informing policy and practices. White and Travers, in their 38-year study of the changes in frog communities in response to sand mining, conclude that the impact of mining does not disappear as a result of rehabilitation work, no matter how good it is. Brad Law takes another tack, noting long-term research on Australian bats as being glaring in its absence. He points out that long-term data are vital for understanding climate change impacts and other environmental changes resulting from management practices, such as timber harvesting or fire. Law concludes with the observation that improved technology has led to major advances in the study of bats, and firmly asserts that the degree of difficulty is no longer a reason to avoid studying bats. Plenary sessions were a feature of the forum. With the skilful facilitation of the plenary sessions by Paul Willis, many general and novel ideas emerged that were the result of listening intelligently to each of the individual accounts. Collectively, the authors and the participating audience demonstrated that there is critical value in long-term field studies and datasets. We highlight the key points and themes that emerged from the forum in this editorial perspective.

ABSTRACT Fire is a common feature of Australian forests and prescribed burning is a routine management strategy, often utilised to mitigate the effects of wildfire. However, the impacts of fire on terrestrial invertebrates are poorly understood. Here we provide an overview of continuing long-term fire studies in temperate and sub-tropical forest ecosystems, with a focus on terrestrial invertebrates. Longitudinal fire study sites exist in southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. Most studies have focussed on fire frequency and have identified certain taxa or taxonomic groups that prefer either habitat associated with long unburnt areas, habitat associated with more frequently burnt areas or those that show no response to varied fire frequency. The limited number of studies investigating fire season report similar findings, but there are few studies that have focussed on other components of the fire regime. Long-term experiments are important when studying the effects of various fire regimes on invertebrate assemblages as responses often take time to be expressed, and may follow changes in habitat availability associated with interactions between components of the fire regime. We recommend that ecological studies continue to utilise long-term study sites through monitoring programs to improve our understanding of how invertebrate taxa respond to fire regimes; and to better identify the important role of invertebrate groups in ecosystem functioning (e.g. for nutrient cycling, pollination).

ABSTRACT There are 5.2 million hectares of public native forest within the coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA) regions in New South Wales on and east of the Great Dividing Range. 4.3 million hectares or 83% of these forests are set aside in formal or informal conservation reserves. State Forests which comprise 1.55 million hectares or 30% of the public estate within the coastal IFOA regions in New South Wales are managed for a variety of reasons including timber production, recreation, and conservation. While commonly associated with timber harvesting, 43% (675,717 hectares) of the native State forest estate is set aside for conservation in informal reserves. State forest conservation areas include formal Flora Reserves, and a suite of informal reserves including riparian protections, ridge and headwater connection, old growth patches, rare and non– commercial forest types, rainforest, heath, rock outcrops, steep slopes, wildlife corridors, large forest owl protection areas and species specific exclusion zones. These informal reserves receive legal protection via the State Forest Management Zones (FMZ) across the landscape. These informal reserves facilitate the movement of forest fauna and provide important habitat for a unique subset of species. When harvesting occurs in adjoining forest land the reserved areas provide refugia and opportunities from which re–colonisation can occur. Additionally and importantly, the juxtaposition of the undisturbed forest in informal reserves and open areas created by harvest operations creates an ecotone and a variety of successional forest habitats. In addition to describing the current extent of these areas in State Forests in eastern NSW, we reviewed research that assessed their effectiveness as a complementary conservation measure to formal Reserves. Our review indicates that there is a considerable body of knowledge supporting their effectiveness at the local level. To date, however, there has been limited investment in extending and testing these findings more broadly across the landscape. The current forestry regulatory framework is a mix of broad landscape exclusions, general protective conditions implemented routinely regardless of the result of biodiversity surveys and also the option of implementing a condition in lieu of survey, but relies heavily on localised pre– harvesting surveys of threatened species. The costly nature of these surveys and the requirement for these surveys to comply with licence conditions, however, limits the ability to undertake post– harvest surveys or monitoring on a broader scale with available resources. A new model is currently being developed whereby minimum standards are set for informal reserves across the landscape, in conjunction with local scale protection of key habitat features. The new direction has arisen from recognition that effective biodiversity conservation demands a holistic approach. However, the effectiveness of this approach and proposed retention thresholds needs to be rigorously monitored. This would require transferring effort from pre–harvest surveys towards monitoring occupancy trends and status of biodiversity over time.

Our aim in this study is to provide the first ever quantitative, historical and map–based information of what fauna has been studied and recorded both outside and inside the protected areas of New South Wales (NSW), which are principally National Parks and Nature Reserves. Our objective was to consider the value of National Parks and Nature Reserves for fauna research and biodiversity conservation, and gauge the extent and limits of our knowledge of the fauna of NSW. We compared the increase in the area of parks and reserves in NSW with the expansion of the fauna records in the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) Atlas of NSW Wildlife, and analysed the use of Scientific Licences issued by OEH for fauna research for 3.5 years to mid–2014. We found that the distribution and the number of Scientific Licences within protected areas show a heavy bias to the eastern strip of the State, with a greater clustering for the area around Sydney and the north coast, but it is evident that researchers make considerable use of protected areas. The 6,070,769 Atlas fauna records were divided by tenure type: National Parks held 1,118,204 records (21.4 records/km 2 ), while Nature Reserves held 386,755 records (40.6 records/km 2 ). The off–park records total was 4,407,486 representing 72.6% of all records, with a density of 6.0 records per km 2 . Of the grand total of all the fauna records, 7% were of threatened species. Birds and mammals comprise 81% of all fauna records in the Atlas. The greatest number of records are of birds (n = 4,913,511), followed by mammals (n = 832,361, of which 321,721, or 39%, were from WildCount). Given the success of the growth of the number, area and distribution of parks and reserves in NSW, the idea that they can carry the heavy load of the aspiration to conserve the biodiversity of NSW now seems feasible, even desirable, especially given the increasing intensity of land use from never–ending population growth and its impacts, such as land clearing, roading, logging, water use, alien invasive species and climate change. However, this study has also revealed that we have a very poor understanding of some faunal groups, in particular invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. Fauna accumulation curves of both records and of species match closely the growth in the area of parks and reserves since the formation of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1967. Thus, the greater the area of parks and reserves, the greater the number of fauna records and of species. We took the historical view so that research is encouraged and the trajectory of the acquisition of new protected areas can be maintained. This study shows the ever–increasing value of protected areas to fauna conservation, and that it is vital to uphold the protected areas concept as a principal way to conserve our fauna. It should also be a guide to help recognise the importance of sustaining the effort to study our native fauna.

ABSTRACT The Royal Zoological Society of NSW forum on the value of protected areas for fauna conservation, held in Sydney in November 2014, comprised a series of papers interlaced with a series of plenary discussions, which can be read in full in this theme edition of Australian Zoologist . The forum was a parallel event to the IUCN World Parks Congress on protected areas, also held in Sydney in the week following the forum. One outcome of the IUCN Congress was the inspirational statement entitled ‘Promise of Sydney’, which included a call to invest “in nature's solutions, supported by public policy, incentives, tools and safeguards that help to halt biodiversity loss, mitigate and respond to climate change, reduce the risk and impact of disasters, improve food and water security, and promote human health and dignity”. The papers and plenary discussions in this RZS NSW forum all foreshadowed this vision as it applies to protected areas. Our focus in this theme edition of Australian Zoologist is on conserving fauna in Australia, and in protected areas in particular. Our concern is not so much whether we are on the right track as a society in establishing and managing protected areas, but that we are going too slowly, much too slowly, if our aim is to ensure the survival of our fauna.

This paper gives an overview of research into the history and use of donkeys in Australia. Although the role that other draught animals played in the opening up and economy of the colony has been recorded, that of the donkey has not been systematically researched before. The first three donkeys arrived in New South Wales in 1793 but they were not greatly used by Europeans to colonise the land in Eastern Australia. They came into wider use with the opening up of Central and Western Australia in the 1860s and were extensively employed until the late 1930s for freight haulage in more inhospitable areas where horse and bullock teams perished. When the motorcar finally took over, the teamsters - the men who drove the teams of donkeys - simply set their donkeys free, as they had no wish to shoot them. Conditions were ideal for the donkeys to prosper in their feral state. They are now classified as vermin and shot in the hundreds of thousands. The paper considers social, economic, environmental and ethical issues associated with the introduction and use of donkeys in Australia and identifies parallels with the more general shift in attitudes towards the Australian environment since colonisation.

A survey of the bird and non-flying mammal fauna in Pomingalarna Park, a small woodland remnant near Wagga Wagga, on the New South Wales South Western Slopes, recorded 91 native bird species and five native mammal species. Three introduced bird species and eight introduced mammal species were also recorded. The woodland is an association of Western Grey Box Eucalyptus microcarpa, Biakely's Red Gum E. blakelyi and White Cypress Pin0 Callitris glaucophylla. The results highlight the significance of small remnants for the conservation of biological diversity in the New South Wales South Western Slopes region.