Understanding habitat use of the Endangered Alligator Rivers Yellow Chat Epthianura crocea tunneyi to inform monitoring and management

Robin Leppitt, Luke Einoder, Peter M. Kyne, John C.Z. Woinarski, Stephen Garnett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Knowledge of where a threatened species occurs in a landscape is crucial for determining its habitat requirements and informing its conservation planning and management. We conducted the first broad-scale survey of the Endangered Alligator Rivers Yellow Chat Epthianura crocea tunneyi across much of its known range on drying coastal floodplains in northern Australia. Presence-absence records from 257 sites surveyed in the late dry season (August-December) of 2018 and 2019 were modelled using occupancy/detectability models. Occupancy was estimated to be 0.10 ± 0.04 with a high detection probability (0.89 ± 0.07). Modelling of 13 site-level environmental covariates found that chats were more likely to be detected at sites where the native shrub Sesbania sesban was present, were close to hydrogeological features such as depressions or channels, were long unburnt (5+ years) and/or with topsoil damage caused by feral pigs. Our estimates of chat occupancy, detectability, and the covariates that influence their occupancy, have improved our understanding of the role that fire and feral animals have on chat distribution and habitat selection, and can be used as a baseline for future monitoring. We also provide recommendations on how to design and implement future monitoring of this subspecies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)423-438
Number of pages16
JournalBird Conservation International
Volume32
Issue number3
Early online dateFeb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the research was conducted, most notably Victor Cooper, Sean Nadji, and the Larrakia People, on which Charles Darwin University stands. We would also like to acknowledge Roy Tipiloura, Harold Swan, and the volunteers who contributed to the collection of data. This research received support from Charles Darwin University and the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub. PMK was supported through the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program.

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