Rock-wallaby Biology and Management: Synthesis and Directions for Future Research.

Abstract

This paper is a summary and overview of the National Rock-wallaby Symposium held in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia in November/December 1994. Whilst no rock-wallaby taxon of full specific rank is critically endangered, many distinct populations are at immediate risk of extinction. In particular, there is a strong north-south gradient in the conservation status of rock-wallabies. Southern taxa are more threatened than northern taxa, and within species, southern populations are more threatened than northern ones. A clear agenda for future research emerged. Much of this agenda can usefully be placed in the "declining population paradigm" recently identified by Caughley (1994). The threatening process most clearly indicated is predation by foxes, but whether this applies to rock-wallaby populations throughout Australia needs to be determined. Until it is, any manipulations of predation pressure should be treated as experiments. To measure the success of such manipulations, improved methods of population monitoring must be developed. Finally, the level of knowledge about rock-wallabies must be improved, both at the broad scale of taxonomy and distribution, and at the fine scale of detailed studies of the ecology and behaviour of particular populations.