Sixteen Barking Owl Ninox connivens records, accounting for 29 birds were made by Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) staff from 1996-2004 within the lower Macquarie River floodplain in New South Wales. Records suggest a strong association between owl presence and riparian River Red Gum E. camaldulensis forest / woodland. Nearest neighbour distances between records were similar to those found elsewhere on the NSW central west slopes and plains.

The Australian grasswrens ( Amytornis ) comprise a genus of cryptically plumaged species inhabiting the arid regions of southern, western, central, and northern Australia. Isolated, fragmented populations characterise the distributional pattern of several species, whereas others appear to show ecophenotypic clinal variation in plumage patterns. These features have made the species-level taxonomy of the genus a matter of ongoing debate. We undertook qualitative considerations of morphological, biogeographical and ecological features in combination with quantitative DNA distance measures from published studies, to provide a comprehensive species level revision of Amytorni s. In addition to the ten species recognised by Schodde and Mason (1999) ( housei , textilis , goyderi , purnelli , ballarae , merrotsyi , woodwardi , dorotheae , striatus , barbatus ), we also recognise as species the following: modestus , rowleyi , oweni and whitei . These fourteen species are placed into four subgenera: Amytornis , Magnamytis , Maluropsis and Cryptamytis subgen. nov. The latter subgenus is erected for A . merrotsyi . The potential impacts that this new taxonomy will have on the conservation status of the various taxa are canvassed.

ABSTRACT We used two survey methods - citizen science for private land and cameras for protected areas - to map the distribution of dingoes/wild dogs and foxes in NSW. Dingo/wild dog records were mostly confined to the east coast and ranges, with scattered locations in western NSW. This contrasts to the distribution of foxes, in which occupancy was high across most of the state. Data from 200 WildCount camera sites within protected areas also showed marked differences in the distribution of the two canid species. At the scale of the state, dingoes/wild dogs are uncommon, with the greatest concentration being in the north-east of the state, as well as a marked presence in the south-east. Foxes are common and widespread within protected areas, but less common in the north-east of the state. The camera data also indicated that feral cats are widespread within protected areas. The second aim of our study was to examine the WildCount data for behavioural patterns of the canid species. Foxes and dingoes/wild dogs significantly separated within two sub-formations of dry sclerophyll forest based on the Keith (2004) classification of NSW vegetation. From species pairwise interactions at sites, we found only limited evidence for significant interactions, and then only for the co-occurrence of fox-rabbit and fox-swamp wallaby, but no avoidance for any of the predators with each other. Camera records of the time of day of being active showed little effect of the presence of dingoes/wild dogs on the times of activity of foxes, but foxes curtailed the activity times of dingoes/wild dogs. From the analysis of inter-animal times at sites where both canids were recorded, there was little difference between the time since the other species was present. Thus, there was no evidence that dingoes/wild dogs or foxes inhibit the other from being at a site. We concluded that at the landscape level, both vegetation type and land tenure play a role in the interactions between dingoes/wild dogs and foxes. We also concluded that citizen science and cameras are complementary, not alternative techniques, especially as they sample different land tenures, and that cameras in protected areas and occupancy from citizen science have produced higher resolution maps and behaviour patterns than have been previously available. We can confirm that foxes are a ubiquitous threat throughout NSW, whereas dingoes/wild dogs are concentrated into a much smaller area of eastern, particularly north-eastern, NSW.

ABSTRACT The catastrophic 2009 wildfires in the Mountain Ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ) forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria provided an opportunity to gain new insights into the responses to fire by various elements of the biota. Ongoing long-term monitoring at a large number of permanent field sites for up to 25 years prior to the fire, together with 10 years of post-fire monitoring, has provided an unparalleled series of datasets on mammal, bird, and plant responses on burned and unburned sites. The empirical studies briefly summarized in this paper show patterns of steep declines in large old trees and declines in site occupancy by arboreal marsupials and birds. These changes contrast markedly with the responses of the two most common species of small mammals (the Agile Antechinus [ Antechinus agilis ] and Bush Rat [ Rattus fuscipes ]), which recovered within two generations after the fire. Declines in arboreal marsupials, birds and large old trees have also occurred on unburned sites, indicating an ecosystem-wide trend. In general, logging had a greater impact than fire on the majority of groups of birds and plants, particularly post-fire salvage logging that occurred in some areas following the 2009 wildfires. Beyond interactions between fire and post-fire (salvage) logging and their effects on forest biota, we have uncovered evidence of other kinds of interactions in Mountain Ash forests. These include interactions between: (1) the severity of fires and logging history, (2) post-fire bird population recovery and long-term climate and short-term weather conditions, and (3) impacts on forest soils. The structure and landscape composition of the Mountain Ash ecosystem has been radically altered over the last century. This has resulted from the combined impact of several large fires, including the 2009 fires as well as widespread clearfell logging that has been conducted within state forests over the last 50 years. The ecosystem now supports old growth cover that is 1/30 th to 1/60 th of what it was estimated to have been prior to European settlement. The ongoing decline of key components of the Mountain Ash ecosystem has led to it being classified as Critically Endangered and at high risk of ecosystem collapse. We argue that current forest policy and practices need to better mitigate the effects of fire on this already highly disturbed forest and enhance the possible persistence of species in this ecosystem. Several key strategies are required to do this. First, there is a need to significantly expand the extent of old growth within the Mountain Ash forest estate. This is because fire severity is diminished in such areas. Spatial contagion across old-growth dominated landscapes also may be suppressed relative to landscapes composed primarily of young forest. Allied management strategies include the protection of more mesic parts of Mountain Ash landscapes as these are less likely to burn or at least burn at high severity. Such enhanced protection should include an expanded network of buffers around drainage lines and waterways as these are where fire severity is likely to be lowest and also where old growth elements like large old hollow-bearing trees are more abundant. In addition, all existing living and dead hollow-bearing trees need to be protected by buffers of unlogged forest within wood production forests to promote their standing life and better conserve cavity-dependent fauna such as the Critically Endangered Leadbeater’s Possum ( Gymnobelideus leadbeateri ) and other declining taxa like the Greater Glider ( Petauroides volans ).

ABSTRACT Many invasive species have had negative effects on the Australian environment, including the introduced Sambar Deer (Rusa unicolor) . However, there is a paucity of information on the factors influencing the fine scale distribution and abundance patterns of Sambar Deer in south-eastern Australia. We present the results of a field survey of Sambar Deer in the Critically Endangered Mountain Ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ) forests of the Central Highlands, Victoria. Our key question was: What factors influence detections of Sambar deer (based on scat counts) within the Mountain Ash forests of the Victorian Central Highlands? We surveyed 86 long-term field sites and detected a total of 245 groups of Sambar Deer pellets on 42% of these sites. Negative binomial regression modelling identified three factors associated with the occurrence of deer pellets. We recorded more pellets: (1) in 30 and 80 year old forest that remained unburned in fires that occurred in 2009, (2) on sites within closed National Parks relative to sites in State Forest, and (3) close to streams.