ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4062-4155
Current Organisations
South Australian Museum
,
Murdoch University
,
Charles Darwin University - Darwin Waterfront
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Publisher: Atlas of Living Australia
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.54102/AJT.40AOK
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-05-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13550
Abstract: Invertebrates make up the vast majority of fauna species but are often overlooked in impact assessment and conservation response. The extent to which the 2019–2020 Australian megafires overlapped with the range of vertebrate species has been well documented consequently, substantial resourcing has been directed towards their recovery. Here, we attempt to document the extent of overlap of these megafires with invertebrate species. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate that it is possible and worthwhile to assess the effect of a catastrophic event on a large number of poorly known species. Temperate and subtropical Australia. 2019–2020. Australian invertebrates. We adapted a published analytical pathway for the assessment of distributional fire overlap on vertebrate species. Overlaps with fire for 32,163 invertebrate taxa were determined using point records and polygons. We found that 13,581 invertebrate taxa had part of their range burnt in the 2019–2020 Australian megafires. Of these, 382 taxa had the whole of their known range burnt, and a further 405 taxa had 50–99.9% of their range burnt. Five ex les are described. Poorly known groups of bio ersity can be impacted significantly by major disturbance events, but such impact is often overlooked. This oversight has the consequences of under‐estimating the magnitude of impacts and the potential failure to direct conservation responses to those species most in need of them. Our analysis demonstrates that the 2019–2020 megafires burnt ≥50% of the known range of nearly 800 Australian invertebrate taxa, a tally far higher than for vertebrates (19 taxa). Assessment of the real impact (i.e., beyond simply overlap with fire) requires more consideration of susceptibility and/or post‐fire survey and monitoring. The magnitude of overlap of the 2019–2020 megafires on invertebrate species justifies a conservation response that is less biased towards iconic vertebrate species.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2021
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.13428
Abstract: The incidence of major fires is increasing globally, creating extraordinary challenges for governments, managers and conservation scientists. In 2019–2020, Australia experienced precedent‐setting fires that burned over several months, affecting seven states and territories and causing massive bio ersity loss. Whilst the fires were still burning, the Australian Government convened a bio ersity Expert Panel to guide its bushfire response. A pressing need was to target emergency investment and management to reduce the chance of extinctions and maximise the chances of longer‐term recovery. We describe the approach taken to rapidly prioritise fire‐affected animal species. We use the experience to consider the organisational and data requirements for evidence‐based responses to future ecological disasters. Forested biomes of subtropical and temperate Australia, with lessons for other regions. We developed assessment frameworks to screen fire‐affected species based on their pre‐fire conservation status, the proportion of their distribution overlapping with fires, and their behavioural/ecological traits relating to fire vulnerability. Using formal and informal networks of scientists, government and non‐government staff and managers, we collated expert input and data from multiple sources, undertook the analyses, and completed the assessments in 3 weeks for vertebrates and 8 weeks for invertebrates. The assessments prioritised 92 vertebrate and 213 invertebrate species for urgent management response another 147 invertebrate species were placed on a watchlist requiring further information. The priority species lists helped focus government and non‐government investment, management and research effort, and communication to the public. Using multiple expert networks allowed the assessments to be completed rapidly using the best information available. However, the assessments highlighted substantial gaps in data availability and access, deficiencies in statutory threatened species listings, and the need for capacity‐building across the conservation science and management sectors. We outline a flexible template for using evidence effectively in emergency responses for future ecological disasters.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 30-06-2023
DOI: 10.3390/D15070827
Abstract: Catastrophic wildfires impacted large areas of western Kangaroo Island (KI), South Australia in 2019–2020, burning habitat for many species, including large proportions of the distributional range of the KI micro-trapdoor spider Moggridgea rainbowi, which led to it being listed as Endangered under Australia’s Environment Protection and Bio ersity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). In order to assess population genetic structure in M. rainbowi and detect diagnosable lineages and their distributional patterns across KI, 28 in iduals were genotyped for 2495 loci, s ling from all known populations of the species. Population genetic and phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data provided strong support for three Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) within M. rainbowi two populations on eastern KI and a heavily fire-impacted western population. High levels of ergence and fixed allelic differences between 5 and 16% indicate a lack of gene flow between ESUs and long periods of isolation. Distributional patterns of these lineages match likely locations of isolation events caused by successive changes to sea level during the Quaternary (2.58 million years ago to present), which led to KI being intermittently connected to the mainland or separated into one or more islands. Our findings have strong conservation implications for M. rainbowi and highlight the importance of inclusion of population genetic structure to inform conservation strategies and to conserve lineage bio ersity at the species level and below.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-10-2022
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.13640
Abstract: Fires can severely impact aquatic fauna, especially when attributes of soil, topography, fire severity and post‐fire rainfall interact to cause substantial sedimentation. Such events can cause immediate mortality and longer‐term changes in food resources and habitat structure. Approaches for estimating fire impacts on terrestrial species (e.g. intersecting fire extent with species distributions) are inappropriate for aquatic species as sedimentation can carry well downstream of the fire extent, and occur long after fire. Here, we develop an approach for estimating the spatial extent of fire impacts for aquatic systems, across multiple catchments. Southern Australian bioregions affected by the fires in 2019–2020 that burned million ha of temperate and subtropical forests. We integrated an existing soil erosion model with fire severity mapping and rainfall data to estimate the spatial extent of post‐fire sedimentation threat in waterways and in basins and the potential exposure of aquatic species to this threat. We validated the model against field observations of sedimentation events after the 2019–20 fires. While fires overlapped with ~27,643 km of waterways, post‐fire sedimentation events potentially occurred across ~40,449 km. In total, 55% ( n = 85) of 154 basins in the study region may have experienced substantial post‐fire sedimentation. Ten species—including six Critically Endangered—were threatened by post‐fire sedimentation events across 100% of their range. The model increased the estimates for potential impact, compared to considering fire extent alone, for % of aquatic species. Some species had distributions that did not overlap with the fire extent, but that were entirely exposed to post‐fire sedimentation threat. Compared with estimating the overlap of fire extent with species' ranges, our model improves estimates of fire‐related threats to aquatic fauna by capturing the complexities of fire impacts on hydrological systems. The model provides a method for quickly estimating post‐fire sedimentation threat after future fires in any fire‐prone region, thus potentially improving conservation assessments and informing emergency management interventions.
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 12-04-2021
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.4952.3.10
Abstract: A new species of halotolerant Ariadna Audouin, 1826 is described from Western Australia, based on morphological features of both the male and female, and elevating the total number of described species of Ariadna in Australia to 14. This is the first record of the tube-web spider family Segestriidae Simon, 1893 inhabiting salt lakes, where they construct burrows in to the lake surface. The species is likely to be of conservation importance, due to its specialised habitat requirements and the many threats posed to the salt lake ecosystem. We provide recommendation for Ariadna phantasma sp. nov. to be considered for inclusion in the IUCN Red List.
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 03-03-2022
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5105.2.1
Abstract: The genus Ariadna Audouin, 1826 is revised for Tasmania to include 13 species, ten of which are described as new: Ariadna abbreviata sp. nov., A. alta sp. nov., A. amabilia sp. nov., A. crypticola sp. nov., A. ferrogrisea sp. nov., A. fragilis sp. nov., A. gonzo sp. nov., A. muscosa Hickman, 1929, A. segmentata Simon, 1893, A. subnubilum sp. nov., A. thylacinus sp. nov. and A. tigrina sp. nov.. The species described in this manuscript exhibit high levels of sympatry.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 14-10-2022
Abstract: The tube-web spider genus Ariadna Audouin, 1826 has been revised for South Australia and Victoria, revealing a remarkable ersity, particularly centred in the arid north of South Australia. We describe 23 species as new, ten of which are supported by molecular data, where these were available. We recognise two species groups for some of the species based on a combination of genitalic morphology, macrosetae patterns and somatic characters: the clavata species group, which includes Ariadna clavata Marsh, Baehr, Glatz & Framenau, 2018 and A. spinosa sp. nov. from South Australia, and A. otwayensis sp. nov. and A. sinuosa sp. nov. from Victoria, and the formosa species group, including A. formosa sp. nov. and A. umbra sp. nov. from South Australia, and A. tria sp. nov. from Victoria. Seventeen new species could not be placed into these two species groups: A. arenacea sp. nov., A. bellatula sp. nov., A. curvata sp. nov., A. deserta sp. nov., A. diucrura sp. nov., A. flavescens sp. nov., A. inflata sp. nov., A. insula sp. nov., A. pollex sp. nov., A. propria sp. nov., A. rutila sp. nov., Ariadna simplex sp. nov., A. subplana sp. nov., A. una sp. nov., A. ungua sp. nov., A. valida sp. nov. and A. woinarskii sp. nov. We provide updated diagnoses and distributional data for A. clavata and A. tangara Marsh, Baehr, Glatz & Framenau, 2018 however, the holotype of A. burchelli (Hogg, 1900) from Victoria could not be located for this project.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-09-2021
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.15879
Abstract: The 2019–2020 Australian Black Summer wildfires demonstrated that single events can have widespread and catastrophic impacts on bio ersity, causing a sudden and marked reduction in population size for many species. In such circumstances, there is a need for conservation managers to respond rapidly to implement priority remedial management actions for the most‐affected species to help prevent extinctions. To date, priority responses have been biased towards high‐profile taxa with substantial information bases. Here, we demonstrate that sufficient data are available to model the extinction risk for many less well‐known species, which could inform much broader and more effective ecological disaster responses. Using publicly available collection and GIS datasets, combined with life‐history data, we modelled the extinction risk from the 2019–2020 catastrophic Australian wildfires for 553 Australian native bee species (33% of all described Australian bee taxa). We suggest that two species are now eligible for listing as Endangered and nine are eligible for listing as Vulnerable under IUCN criteria, on the basis of fire overlap, intensity, frequency, and life‐history traits: this tally far exceeds the three Australian bee species listed as threatened prior to the wildfire. We demonstrate how to undertake a wide‐scale assessment of wildfire impact on a poorly understood group to help to focus surveys and recovery efforts. We also provide the methods and the script required to make similar assessments for other taxa or in other regions.
Start Date: 2020
End Date: 2021
Funder: Department of Agriculture and Water, Australian Government
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2020
End Date: 2021
Funder: Department of Environment and Water
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2020
End Date: 2021
Funder: Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australian Government
View Funded Activity