ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5122-3405
Current Organisation
University of Adelaide
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 23-10-2018
DOI: 10.3390/ANI8110186
Abstract: Broad-scale abundance estimates of the southern hairy-nosed wombat population use a proxy measure based on counting the number of active burrows, which is multiplied by an index of ‘wombats/active burrow’. However, the extant indices were calculated in the 1980s, prior to the use of calicivirus to control rabbits, and used invasive monitoring methods which may have affected the results. We hypothesise that the use of video might provide a logistically simple, non-invasive means of calculating updated indices. To this end, motion-activated, infra-red still and video cameras were placed at various distances outside active wombat burrows in the South Australian Murraylands and Eyre Peninsula regions. The captured imagery was inspected to determine how often the burrow was occupied by one or more wombats, and how effective the cameras were at detecting wombat activity. Video data was clearly superior to the still imagery, with more than twice as many burrow occupancies being positively identified (still: 43%). The indices of wombats/active burrow calculated based on video imagery were: Murraylands: 0.43, Eyre Peninsula: 0.42. 1948 false positive videos were recorded, of which 1674 (86%) occurred between noon and sunset.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1071/AM20017
Abstract: The southern hairy-nosed wombat has a fragmented distribution across the arid and semiarid regions of southern South Australia and south-eastern Western Australia. Its distribution and abundance are highly patchy, with large clusters of warrens in some areas but few to no warrens in adjacent areas. In order to understand why this occurs, we mapped the species’ distribution and correlated the locations of over 8130 data points (5349 presence points and 2781 absence points) with environmental and landscape data. Overall, the wombat distribution is influenced by rainfall, with no wombats in areas where the mean annual rainfall is & mm. Abundance is greatest in areas where rainfall is & mm per annum. At the regional/local scale, warrens are found only in areas where the soil clay content is between 9 and 40%, and warren abundance is higher in open vegetation classes (saltbush/bluebush shrublands, grasslands) than in closed vegetation (mallee woodlands with shrubby understorey). Over-riding all of these environmental influences are anthropogenic land-use practices: although 38% of the wombats are located in protected areas and 51% are located on grazing land, they are virtually absent from croplands (~2%).
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1071/AM20016
Abstract: There is disagreement within the community regarding whether the distribution and abundance of southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons) is increasing or decreasing. On one hand, farmers and graziers within areas where wombats can be found have consistently claimed that wombat numbers have increased in recent decades. Conversely, conservation groups, including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), claim that the wombat population is experiencing a species-wide decline, and recently upgraded its conservation status to ‘Near Threatened’. To resolve this disparity, we used a combination of field surveys and the analysis of satellite imagery to map the species-wide distribution and to estimate the overall population abundance of southern hairy-nosed wombats. We found that the wombat population has grown substantially since the last major surveys in the 1980s however, the growth has not been uniform. While the population group in the Gawler Ranges has experienced marked population growth, there has been only relatively modest growth in the Murraylands. On the Yorke Peninsula, while the overall population numbers do not appear to have changed, some colonies have disappeared entirely. We also found a substantial population of wombats in Western Australia that had not been previously reported.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Michael Swinbourne.