Dispersal of the Blue-breasted Fairy-wren in fragmented habitat in the wheatbelt of Western Australia

Abstract

Dispersal of the Blue-breasted Fairy-wren Malurus pulcherrimus was studied in an agricultural landscape in which 93% of their preferred habitat has been cleared for farming and the remaining 7% is highly fragmented. In these conditions, the wrens were still capable of dispersing through non-breeding habitat for distances in excess of 10 km. Most long dispersals were by juvenile females moving between habitat patches, although shorter movements were made within habitat patches by breeding females and juvenile males. While it would seem that the population in this area is not entirely limited by the ability to disperse at the present time, persistence may depend more on the rigorous maintenance of existing habitat and inter-connecting corridors than on the revegetation of farmed land.