The effect of recent chaining on birds in the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia

Abstract

The decline of woodland birds that follows from habitat fragmentation, degradation and loss of connectivity is well reported in the literature. However, reports of immediate responses by birds to these events are scant. This study, in the eastern whealtbelt of Western Australia, detected that when half of a 10 ha remnant of Allocasuarina shrubland was chained (vegetation knocked over and largely killed), birds responded quickly; increaser species apparently benefited and decliner species became restricted to the remaining unchained remnant of shrubland. There was some correspondence between the trends in variety and/or abundance of arthropods with those of bird species richness. Two Near-threatened species, the White-browed Babbler Pomatostomus supercilious and the Crested Bellbird Oreoica gutturalis, were only detected in the non-chained part of the remnant. These findings clearly highlight the immediate ecological consequences of clearing of native vegetation, and highlight the importance of conserving even the smallest remaining fragments.