Landscapes without boundaries: wildlife and their environments in northern Australia

J. C. Z. Woinarski; R. J. Williams; O. Price; B. Rankmore

doi:10.1071/WR03008

50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION

Previous Next Contents Vol 32(5)

Landscapes without boundaries: wildlife and their environments in northern Australia

J. C. Z. Woinarski ^A ^B , R. J. Williams ^B ^C , O. Price ^A ^B and B. Rankmore ^A ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, PO Box 496, Palmerston, NT 0831, Australia.

^B Tropical Savannas Cooperative Research Centre, Northern Territory University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia.

^C CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, PMB 44 Winnellie, NT 0821, Australia.

^D Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management, Northern Territory University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia.

Wildlife Research 32(5) 377-388 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR03008
Submitted: 23 January 2003 Accepted: 23 December 2003 Published: 8 August 2005

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to the ecological fabric of northern Australia, described here as being a land characterised by extreme climatic seasonality and largely devoid of marked topographic features. Largely as a result of the latter trait, many species have extensive geographic ranges, and the spatial turnover in species composition is extremely limited. Somewhat counter-intuitively, these two traits can be accommodated by organisms only through reliance on critical, but often subtle, landscape variation. We present some preliminary models for Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) and black-footed tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii) to illustrate patterns of variation in their resource availability, and the consequences of such variation. We discuss briefly some studies that have attempted to integrate, or at least consider, these elements.

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the interest of Peter Whitehead and Jeremy Russell-Smith in inviting this contribution. The ideas discussed here owe much to a long collaboration involving them and many other Darwin-based ecologists. For information from unpublished studies, we are grateful to Garry Cook, Alaric Fisher and Christine Bach. Maps were produced by Greg Connors and Craig Hempel. Comments from Stephen Garnett and an anonymous referee were most helpful.

References

Andersen, A. N. , Azcarate, F. M. , and Cowie, I. D. (2000). Seed selection by an exceptionally rich community of harvester ants in the Australian seasonal tropics. Journal of Animal Ecology 69, 975–984.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Barrett G., Silcocks A., Barry S., Cunningham R., and Poulter R. (2002). ‘The Atlas of Australian Birds (1988–2001)’. (Birds Australia: Melbourne.)

Bowman, D. M. J. S. , Wilson, B. A. , and Hooper, R. J. (1988). Response of Eucalyptus forest and woodland to four fire regimes at Munmarlary, Northern Territory Australian Journal of Ecology 76, 215–232.
Cook G. D., and Mordelet P. (1997). A tale of two savannas: the effects of fire on vegetation patterns in West Africa and the Northern Territory. In ‘Bushfire 97: Proceedings of the 6th Australian Bushfire Conference, Darwin, NT’. (Eds B. J. McKaige, R. J. Williams and W. M. Waggitt.) pp. 45–50. (CSIRO: Darwin.)

Crowley, G. , and Garnett, S. (1999). Seeds of the annual grasses Schizachyrium spp. as a food resource for tropical granivorous birds. Australian Journal of Ecology 24, 208–220.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Fisher A. (2001). Biogeography and conservation of Mitchell grasslands in northern Australia. Ph.D. Thesis, Northern Territory University, Darwin.

Franklin, D. C. (1999). Opportunistic nectarivory: an annual dry season phenomenon among birds in monsoonal northern Australia. Emu 99, 135–141.
Kennett R., and Christian K. (1993). Aestivation by freshwater crocodiles Crocodylus johnstoni occupying a seasonally ephemeral creek in tropical Australia. In ‘Herpetology in Australia: a Diverse Discipline’. (Eds D. Lunney and D. Ayers.) pp. 315–319. (Surrey Beatty: Sydney.)

Lane A. M., and Williams R. J. (1997). The effect of wet season burning on understorey vegetation in a humid tropical savanna in northern Australia. In ‘Bushfire97: Proceedings of the Australasian Bushfires Conference’. (Eds B. J. McKaige, R. J. Williams and W. M. Waggitt.) pp. 25–30. (CSIRO: Darwin.)

Liddle D. T., Russell-Smith J., Brock J., Leach G. J., and Connors G. T. (1994). ‘Atlas of the Vascular Rainforest Plants of the Northern Territory’. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series No. 3. (Australian Biological Resources Study: Canberra.)

Madsen, T. , and Shine, R. (1996). Seasonal migration of predators and prey – a study of pythons and rats in tropical Australia. Ecology 77, 149–156.
Russell-Smith J., McKenzie N. L., and Woinarski J. C. Z. (1992). Conserving vulnerable habitat in northern and northwestern Australia: the rainforest archipelago. In ‘Conservation and Development Issues in Northern Australia’. (Eds I. Moffatt and A. Webb.) pp. 63–68. (North Australia Research Unit: Darwin.)

Russell-Smith, J. , Whitehead, P. J. , Cook, G. D. , and Hoare, J. L. (2003). Response of Eucalyptus-dominated savanna to frequent fires: lessons from Munmarlary, 1973–1996. Ecological Monographs 73, 349–375.
Whitehead P. J., Wilson B. A., and Saalfeld K. (1992). Managing the magpie goose in the Northern Territory: approaches to conservation of mobile fauna in a patchy environment. In ‘Conservation and Development Issues in Northern Australia’. (Eds I. Moffatt and A. Webb.) pp. 90–104. (North Australia Research Unit: Darwin.)

Williams, R. J. , Myers, B. A. , Eamus, D. , and Duff, G. A. (1999). Reproductive phenology of woody species in a north Australian tropical savanna. Biotropica 31, 626–636.
Wilson B. A., Brocklehurst P. S., Clark M. J., and Dickinson K. J. M. (1990). Vegetation survey of the Northern Territory, Australia. Technical Report No. 49. Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory: Darwin.

Woinarski, J. C. Z. (1990). Effects of fire on bird communities of tropical woodlands and open forests in northern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 15, 1–22.
Woinarski J. C. Z. (2004). The forest fauna of the Northern Territory: knowledge, conservation and management. In ‘Conservation of Australia’s Forest Fauna’. 2nd edn. (Ed. D. Lunney.) pp. 36–55. (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Sydney.)

Woinarski, J. C. Z. , and Tidemann, S. C. (1991). The bird fauna of a deciduous woodland in the wet–dry tropics of northern Australia. Wildlife Research 18, 479–500.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Woinarski, J. C. Z. , Fisher, A. , and Milne, D. (1999). Distribution patterns of vertebrates in relation to an extensive rainfall gradient and soil variation in the tropical savannas of the Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15, 381–398.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Woinarski, J. C. Z. , Franklin, D. , and Connors, G. (2000). Thinking honeyeater: nectar maps for the Northern Territory, Australia, showing spatial and temporal variation in nectar availability. Pacific Conservation Biology 6, 61–80.

Woinarski, J. C. Z. , Milne, D. J. , and Wanganeen, G. (2001). Changes in mammal populations in relatively intact landscapes of Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology 26, 360–370.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Woinarski, J. C. Z. , Risler, J. , and Kean, L. (2004). The response of vegetation and vertebrate fauna to 23 years of fire exclusion in a tropical Eucalyptus open forest, Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology 29, 156–176.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Yibarbuk, D. , Whitehead, P. J. , Russell-Smith, J. , Jackson, D. , Godjuwa, C. , Fisher, A. , Cooke, P. , Choquenot, D. , and Bowman, D. M. J. S. (2001). Fire ecology and Aboriginal land management in central Arnhem Land, northern Australia: a tradition of ecosystem management. Journal of Biogeography 28, 325–343.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |