A long tern view: distribution of small terns (Sternula) in Western Australia and implications for their conservation
J. N. Dunlop A and C. N. Greenwell
A B C *
A Conservation Council of Western Australia, Lotteries House, 2 Delhi Street, West Perth, WA 6150, Australia.
B Murdoch University, Environmental and Conservation Sciences, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
C Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
Pacific Conservation Biology 29(4) 351-356 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC22016
Submitted: 29 March 2022 Accepted: 24 June 2022 Published: 26 July 2022
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Recent observations confirm the Indo-Pacific Little Tern Sternula albifrons sinensis has been extending its breeding range in Western Australia in recent years, following a pattern documented in other tern and noddy species on the western coast of Australia. Nesting Indo-Pacific Little Terns have been recorded annually as far south as North West Cape since 2016. A similar southward shift in breeding range may have occurred during the last interglacial period and it is hypothesised that Little Terns isolated at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands during the following glacial period gave rise to the Australian Fairy Tern Sternula nereis nereis. The Australian Fairy Tern subsequently colonised the continental shelf from Dampier, Western Australia to the south-eastern states and then New Zealand as sea levels rose again during the Holocene. The two former sibling species are now sympatric between Dampier and North West Cape and interbreeding and hybridisation have the potential to occur in that area. Most jurisdictions require populations to be defined at the species or subspecies level in order to be listed and managed as threatened. However, relying on such taxonomic criteria has the potential to obscure the management of threats faced by each inter-breeding population unit. Approaches that identify and protect the sub-structure of superspecies and meta-populations might be more effective in the longer term.
Keywords: breeding range expansion, conservation, Fairy Tern, Little Tern, management units, meta-population, Sternula, superspecies complex, range extension, tropicalisation.
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