Recovering malleefowl with adaptive management of feral predators

Date: 26, Feb, 2019
Author(s):   David Lindenmayer, Sarah Legge, Darren Southwell, Tim Burnard, Joe Benshemesh, Liz Kington
Publisher: TSR Hub

The distribution and abundance of malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) has declined markedly since the arrival of Europeans in Australia. The main identified threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, herbivore grazing, changed fire regimes and invasive predators. Predator control for foxes and cats is the most common management strategy to conserve the species, yet it is probably the most expensive and the benefits are unclear. This project aims to better understand the effectiveness of predator control for malleefowl by monitoring malleefowl breeding activity and predator activity at adaptive management sites set up across southern Australia. This research addresses a National Recovery Plan action.