The Effect of Environmental Change on Six Rare Birds

Abstract

The effect of past environmental changes on the status of Atrichornis clamosus, A. rufescens, Dasyornis broadbenti, D. longirostris, D. brachypterus and Psophodes nigrogularis are considered. During the Tertiary and Pleistocene all species were more widely distributed and abundant. The vegetational change from the late Tertiary onwards reduced them to small remnant populations by the time that European man arrived. The subsequent activities of European man (fire practice, agricultural clearing, forestry) have been more important to the further decline of these birds than have climatic changes.