ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5264-5260
Current Organisation
Murdoch University
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Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1071/ZO17080
Abstract: To assist the management of the critically endangered woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi), a quantitative study of its diet was conducted across five of the larger subpopulations in south-western Australia. There was a close match between dietary composition established from foregut contents and faecal pellets. Woylies were predominantly mycophagous in all subpopulations, but consumed a broad diet including invertebrates, seeds and other plant material. In iduals in a high-density, fenced subpopulation ate significantly less fungi than free-ranging animals from lower-density subpopulations. Dietary composition did not vary significantly amongst subpopulations in the Upper Warren region, where a range of population densities was observed. Altogether, 79 fungal spore classes were identified, including at least 15 genera from 14 families. S ling across one year showed that fungi made up a larger fraction of the diet in autumn or winter, and greater ersities of fungi were consumed at these times than at other times of year. This information is essential to provide valuable ecological context for effective population management of woylies, as well as identification and conservation of important habitats.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1071/PC080285
Abstract: We analysed Pacific Conservation Biology?s authorship and readership from 1993?2007 to quantify who publishes in the journal, who cites the journal, how the journal compares to other conservation journals and whether there are trends in authorship and useage over time. Authors came from Australia (73%, represented in 15 of 15 years), the Americas (Canada, USA and South American countries) (12%, represented in 13 of 15 years), New Zealand (8%, represented in 14 of 15 years), other Pacific and Asian countries (4%, represented in 11 of 15 years) and Europe (2%, represented in 11 of 15 years). Overall, 46% of authors were academics. Using the Scopus database in April 2008 and the cited reference feature in the ISI Web of Science in July 2008, =84% papers published each year between 1993 and 2001 were cited at least once in each database, declining to under 19% in 2007 because articles had far less time to accrue citations. Using the cited reference feature in the ISI Web of Science database in July 2008, authors citing Pacific Conservation Biology came from Australia and 82 other countries. Compared to 24 journals listed in Thomson Reuters? ?Bio ersity Conservation? category in 2008, Pacific Conservation Biology ranked between the 10th and 39th percentiles for a range of citation statistics derived from both Scopus and ISI Web of Science, including: Journal Impact Factor (JIF) for 2006, mean JIF for 2001?2006 and h-index, g-index, mean citations aper and median citations aper for 2000?2006. Overall, most authors are Australian, but with consistent international representation and academic and non-academic authors. With time, most papers are cited (including many international citations) and citation statistics are within the range of similar journals abstracted in ISI Web of Science. On the basis of the results, we offer suggestions for increasing Pacific Conservation Biology?s use and a critique of the growing tendency to accept citation-based bibliometric data as indicators of the quality or achievements of journals and in idual scientists.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/AM09033
Abstract: We tested whether four preservation methods for faecal s les affected the identification of dietary components from the mycophagous woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi). All storage techniques identified fungi as the most abundant food type ( %), followed by plant material (9–17%) and invertebrates ( %). Between 8 and 13% of material from each technique was unidentifiable. Despite these general similarities in the results from the different techniques, there were small but statistically significant differences in the relative importance of the food types estimated using the different preservation techniques. In idual researchers will need to decide on a case-by-case basis whether these small differences can be disregarded given the general aims of their study or whether a correction factor is appropriate if small differences in diet are important to their objectives.
Publisher: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.7882/AZ.2015.013
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 06-04-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-02-2018
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 25-02-2021
DOI: 10.1071/PC20076
Abstract: When using camera traps for wildlife studies, determining suitable camera models and deployment methods is essential for achieving study objectives. We aimed to determine if camera trap performance can be increased by (1) using cameras with wider detection angles, and (2) by periodically repositioning cameras within sites. We compared three camera trap groups: stationary Reconyx PC900/HC600 (40° detection angle), and paired, periodically-repositioned Reconyx PC900/HC600 and Swift 3C wide-angle camera traps (110° detection angle). Cameras operated simultaneously at 17 sites over 9 weeks within the Upper Warren region, Western Australia. Swift cameras had significantly higher detection rates, leading to better performance, especially for species kg and kg bodyweight. Reconyx cameras missed 54% of known events, with most being animals that moved within the cameras’ detection zones. Stationary and periodically-repositioned Reconyx camera traps performed similarly, although there were notable differences for some species. The better performance of Swift 3C wide-angle camera traps makes them more useful for community-level and species-level studies. The increased sensitivity of the Swift’s passive infrared sensor along with the wider detection zone played an important role in its success. When choosing camera trap models, detection angle and sensor sensitivity should be considered to produce reliable study results. Periodically repositioning cameras within sites is a technique that warrants further investigation as it may reduce camera placement bias, animal avoidance of camera traps, and increase spatial/habitat information when a limited number of cameras are deployed.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2000
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 10-03-2021
DOI: 10.1071/WR20020
Abstract: Abstract Context Determining the most efficient detection method for a target species is key for successful wildlife monitoring and management. Driven transects and sign surveys are commonly used to monitor populations of the endangered numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Camera trapping is being explored as a new method. These methods were unevaluated for efficacy and cost for numbat detection. Aims To compare efficacy and costing of driven transects, sign surveys and camera trapping for detecting numbats in the Upper Warren region, Western Australia. Methods Seven repeat sign surveys and driven transects, as well as 4 months of camera trapping, were conducted concurrently at 50 sites along three transects. Numbat detection rates and costing of the three techniques were compared, and detection probabilities were compared between sign surveys and camera trapping. Key results Numbat signs were detected during 88 surveys at 39 sites, exceeding camera trapping (26 detections at 13 sites) and driven transects (seven detections near five sites). The estimated probability for detecting a numbat or a sign thereof (at a site where numbats were present) ranged from 0.21 to 0.35 for a sign survey, and 0.02 to 0.06 for 7 days of camera trapping. Total survey costs were lowest for driven transects, followed by camera trapping and sign surveys. When expressed as cost per numbat detection, sign surveys were cheapest. Conclusions Comparative studies of survey methods are essential for optimal, cost-effective wildlife monitoring. Sign surveys were more successful and cost effective than camera trapping or driven transects for detecting numbats in the Upper Warren region. Together with occupancy modelling, sign surveys are appropriate to investigate changes in occupancy rates over time, which could serve as a metric for long-term numbat monitoring. Implications There is no ‘best’ method for wildlife surveys. Case-specific comparison of animal detection methods is recommended to ensure optimal methods. For the numbat population in the Upper Warren region, further studies are needed to improve numbat detection rates from camera trapping, and to test sign surveys in autumn (March to May), when surviving juvenile numbats have established their own territory and assumptions regarding population closure are less likely to be violated.
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Date: 29-10-2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 13-07-2020
DOI: 10.1071/AM20020
Abstract: Camera traps are widely used to collect data for wildlife management, but species-specific testing is crucial. We conducted three trials to optimise camera traps for detecting numbats (Myrmecobius fasciatus), a 500–700-g mammal. We compared detection rates from (1) Reconyx PC900 camera traps installed at heights ranging from 10–45 cm, and (2) Reconyx PC900, Swift 3C standard and wide-angle camera traps with differing detection zone widths. Finally, we compared elevated, downward-angled time-lapse cameras installed at heights ranging from 1–2 m to obtain dorsal images for in idual numbat identification. Camera traps set at 25 cm had the highest detection rates but missed 40% of known events. During model comparison, Swift 3C wide-angle camera traps recorded 89%, Swift 3C standard 51%, and Reconyx PC900 37% of known events. The number of suitable images from elevated, downward-angled cameras, depicting dorsal fur patterns, increased with increasing camera height. The use of well regarded camera trap brands and generic recommendations for set-up techniques cannot replace rigorous, species-specific testing. For numbat detection, we recommend the Swift 3C wide-angle model installed at 25-cm height. For in idual numbat identification, elevated, downward-angled time-lapse cameras were useful however, more research is needed to optimise this technique.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-05-2016
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.13622
Abstract: The identification of species and population boundaries is important in both evolutionary and conservation biology. In recent years, new population genetic and computational methods for estimating population parameters and testing hypotheses in a quantitative manner have emerged. Using a Bayesian framework and a quantitative model-testing approach, we evaluated the species status and genetic connectedness of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops spp.) populations off remote northwestern Australia, with a focus on pelagic 'offshore' dolphins subject to incidental capture in a trawl fishery. We analysed 71 dolphin s les from three sites beyond the 50 m depth contour (the inshore boundary of the fishery) and up to 170 km offshore, including incidentally caught and free-ranging in iduals associating with trawl vessels, and 273 dolphins s led at 12 coastal sites inshore of the 50 m depth contour and within 10 km of the coast. Results from 19 nuclear microsatellite markers showed significant population structure between dolphins from within the fishery and coastal sites, but also among dolphins from coastal sites, identifying three coastal populations. Moreover, we found no current or historic gene flow into the offshore population in the region of the fishery, indicating a complete lack of recruitment from coastal sites. Mitochondrial DNA corroborated our findings of genetic isolation between dolphins from the offshore population and coastal sites. Most offshore in iduals formed a monophyletic clade with common bottlenose dolphins (T. truncatus), while all 273 in iduals s led coastally formed a well-supported clade of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (T. aduncus). By including a quantitative modelling approach, our study explicitly took evolutionary processes into account for informing the conservation and management of protected species. As such, it may serve as a template for other, similarly inaccessible study populations.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2000
DOI: 10.1071/ZO00071
Abstract: Honey possums, Tarsipes rostratus, tiny (7–12 g) flower-dependent marsupials, were trapped in three areas of south coastal heathland in Western Australia on 5–8 occasions each year from 1984 to 1995. Mark–recapture estimated annual mortality at 86%, with only a few in iduals living for more than one year. Most females breed for the first time while not yet fully grown and may produce up to four litters in a year. Maximal litter size is four, but usually only two or three young are reared. The small litter size and relatively slow growth of pouch young is attributed to the time needed for the mothers to harvest pollen, upon which T. rostratus relies for its nitrogen requirements. Females with pouch-young were recorded in all months, but with a higher frequency over winter when nectar was most abundant, and at a lower frequency (in some years, none) when food was scarce in autumn. Young are in the pouch for about 60 days and some females give birth to the next litter soon after pouch exit, presumably from delayed blastocysts. We suggest that T. rostratus females are polyandrous and that the smaller males compete by searching for females in oestrus. The multiple paternity of several litters, confirmed by single-locus microsatellite profiling, supports this model.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2016
No related grants have been discovered for Kate Bryant.