Register      Login
Pacific Conservation Biology Pacific Conservation Biology Society
A journal dedicated to conservation and wildlife management in the Pacific region.
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > PC > PC24065
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 30(6)

A challenging future for Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) under a changing climate

Denis A. Saunders https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5959-573X A , Peter R. Mawson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6729-2966 B * , Rick Dawson B and Geoffrey Pickup C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Retired, Weetangera, ACT 2614, Australia.

B Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia.

C Retired, Nicholls, ACT 2913, Australia.

* Correspondence to: petermawson1@hotmail.com

Handling Editor: Mike Calver

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24065 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC24065
Submitted: 5 September 2024  Accepted: 18 November 2024  Published: 17 December 2024

© 2024 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

Context

With climate change causing unprecedented and rapid changes, conservation agencies need to establish the impacts on vulnerable and threatened species to prioritise actions to minimise threats associated with those impacts.

Aims

Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) is endemic to south-western Australia and this paper provides data to underpin future conservation management actions.

Methods

We used data on the commencement of egg laying, breeding success, nestling condition, fledgling survival over their first year, and annual survival from the first year to construct a life table to examine the impacts of decreasing annual rainfall and increasing temperature in south-western Australia on the future viability of Carnaby’s Cockatoos.

Key results

Long-term survival of Carnaby’s Cockatoos will be impacted by changes in rainfall, projected to be 16% drier in winter and up to 20% drier in spring, and by an increase in the number of days with maxima ≥35°C, conditions when the birds are unable to forage.

Conclusions

This drying and warming is likely to lead to a further contraction in the range of Carnaby’s Cockatoo.

Implications

Conservation management needs to address revegetation of foraging and breeding areas, repairs to derelict natural hollows and their maintenance, and provision of artificial hollows. Management should concentrate on areas with the best prospects for species survival and recovery including in the areas identified in this paper based on life table analysis and mapped across regions.

Keywords: Carnaby’s Cockatoos, fledgling survival, heatwaves, impacts of changes in annual rainfall, life history analyses, longevity, nestling condition and rainfall, nestling condition and temperature.

References

Bureau of Meteorology (2024) Previous droughts. Available at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/knowledge-centre/previous-droughts.shtml [Accessed 5 August 2024]

Coyle M (2021) Characterizing the habitat of road trauma hotspots for threatened black cockatoos in metropolitan Perth. MSc thesis, University of Western Australia.

Dawson R, Saunders DA (2014) Individually marked wild Carnaby’s Cockatoos: a challenge and opportunity for keen photographers. Western Wildlife 18, 4-5.
| Google Scholar |

Dawson R, Saunders DA, Lipianin E, Fossey M (2013) Young-age breeding by a female Carnaby’s cockatoo. Western Australian Naturalist 29, 63-65.
| Google Scholar |

Department of Environment and Conservation (2012) Carnaby’s cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) Recovery Plan. Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth, Western Australia.

Donovan TM, Welden CW (2022) ‘Spreadsheet exercises in ecology and evolution.’ (Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA)

Evans A, Jones D, Smalley R, Lellyett, S (2020) An enhanced gridded rainfall analysis scheme for Australia, Bureau Research Report 41. Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Victoria.

Government of Western Australia (2022) Western Australian climate projections summary. Available at https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2022-01/Western_Australian_Climate_Projections_Summary.pdf.

Hopkins AJM, Smith GT, Saunders DA (2024) Introduction to the special issue of the natural history of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24023.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

IPCC (2023) Summary for Policymakers. In ‘Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’. (Eds Core Writing Team, H Lee, J Romero) pp. 1–34. (IPCC: Geneva, Switzerland) 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.001

Le Souëf AT, Bruce M, Barbosa A, Shephard JM, Mawson PR, Dawson R, Saunders DA, Warren KS (2024) Health parameters for wild Carnaby’s cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) nestlings in Western Australia: results of a long-term study. Conservation Physiology 12(1), coae005.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Lunney D, Dickman CR, Predavec M (2018) The critical value of long-term field studies and datasets: An editorial perspective. Australian Zoologist 39(4), 559-567.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

NCSS (2024) Statistical Software. Data Analysis & Graphics. NCSS, LLC, Kaysville, Utah, USA. Available at ncss.com/software/ncss

Saunders DA (1974) Subspeciation in the White-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus baudinii, in Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 1, 55-69.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA (1980) Food and movements of the short-billed form of the White-tailed Black Cockatoo. Australian Wildlife Research 7, 257-269.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA (1982) The breeding behaviour and biology of the short-billed form of the White-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus. Ibis 124, 422-455.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA (1988) Patagial tags: do the benefits for the research worker outweigh the risks to the animal? Australian Wildlife Research 15, 565-569.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA (1990) Problems of survival in an extensively cultivated landscape: the case of Carnaby’s cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus latirostris. Biological Conservation 54, 277-290.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Dawson R (2018) Cumulative learnings and conservation implications of a long-term study of the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris. Australian Zoologist 39, 591-609.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Ingram JA (1998) Twenty-eight years of monitoring a breeding population of Carnaby’s cockatoo. Pacific Conservation Biology 4, 261-270.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Pickup G (2023) A review of the taxonomy and distribution of Australia’s endemic Calyptorhynchinae black cockatoos. Australian Zoologist 43, 145-191.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Rowley I, Smith GT (1985) The effects of clearing for agriculture on the distribution of cockatoos in the Southwest of Western Australia. In ‘Birds of eucalypt forests and woodlands: ecology, conservation, management’. (Eds A Keast, HF Recher, H Ford, D Saunders) pp. 309–321. (Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton, NSW, Australia)

Saunders DA, Smith GT, Ingram JA, Forrester RI (2003) Changes in a remnant of salmon gum Eucalyptus salmonophloia and York gum E. loxophleba woodland, 1978 to 1997. Implications for woodland conservation in the wheat-sheep regions of Australia. Biological Conservation 110, 245-256.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson P, Dawson R (2011a) The impact of two extreme weather events and other causes of death on Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo: a promise of things to come for a threatened species? Pacific Conservation Biology 17, 141-148.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Dawson R, Mawson P (2011b) Photographic identification of bands confirms age of breeding Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris. Corella 35, 52-54.
| Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Wintle BA, Mawson PR, Dawson R (2013) Egg-laying and rainfall synchrony in an endangered bird species: implications for conservation in a changing climate. Biological Conservation 161, 1-9.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson PR, Dawson R (2014a) One fledgling or two in the endangered Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris): a strategy for survival or legacy from a bygone era? Conservation Physiology 2, cou001.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson PR, Dawson R (2014b) Use of tree hollows by Carnaby’s Cockatoo and the fate of large hollow-bearing trees at Coomallo Creek, Western Australia 1969–2013. Biological Conservation 177, 185-193.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Dawson R, Nicholls N (2015) Aging nestling Carnaby’s cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus latirostris, and estimating the timing and length of the breeding season. Nature Conservation 12, 27-42.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, White NE, Dawson R, Mawson PR (2018) Breeding site fidelity, and breeding pair infidelity in the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris. Nature Conservation 27, 59-74.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Dawson R, Mawson PR, Nicholls AO (2019) Factors affecting nestling condition and timing of egg-laying in the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris. Pacific Conservation Biology 26, 22-34.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Dawson R, Mawson PR, Cunningham RB (2020) Artificial hollows provide an effective short-term solution to the loss of natural nesting hollows for Carnaby’s cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris. Biological Conservation 245, 108556.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson PR, Dawson R, Johnstone RE, Kirkby T, Warren K, Shepherd J, Rycken SJE, Stock WD, Williams MR, Yates CJ, Peck A, Barrett GW, Stokes V, Craig M, Burbidge AH, Bamford M, Garnett ST (2021) Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Zanda latirostris. In ‘Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020’. (Eds ST Garnett, GB Baker) pp. 402–407. (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne)

Saunders D, Dawson R, Mawson PR (2023) Artificial nesting hollows for the conservation of Carnaby’s Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris: definitely not a case of erect and forget. Pacific Conservation Biology 29, 119-129.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson PR, Dawson R, Beswick H, Pickup G, Usher K (2024a) Movements of adult and fledgling Carnaby’s cockatoos (Zanda latirostris Carnaby, 1948) from eleven breeding areas throughout their range. Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24042.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Saunders DA, Mawson PR, Dawson R (2024b) Longevity in Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) Carnaby, 1948. Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24066.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Shoemaker K (undated) Lab 1 Excel demo. Life Tables. NRES 470/670. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv1CMsoKd0s [accessed 27 June 2024]

Williams MR, Yates CJ, Saunders DA, Dawson R, Barrett GW (2017) Combined demographic and resource models quantify the effects of potential land-use change on the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris). Biological Conservation 210, 8-15.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |