Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities

Sarah Legge is with the Australian National University and University of Queensland and is one of Australia's leading conservation ecologists and managers. Her previous books include Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities. David Lindenmayer is a Professor at The Australian National University. He has worked on the conservation of forests and their wildlife for more than 35 years. He has published 45 books and over 1100 scientific papers, and has broad interests in conservation biology, landscape ecology, vertebrate ecology, forest ecology and woodland conservation. He has received numerous awards and is a member of the Australian Academy of Science and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. Natasha Robinson performs research on threatened species monitoring and management, mammal re-introductions and fire ecology. She works closely with partner management agencies to ensure that her research improves on-ground management outcomes. Previously, she worked for the Victorian State Government in ecological fire management and biodiversity conservation, and in northern rural Vietnam developing sustainable livelihood projects that had cultural, conservation and socio-economic benefits. She completed her PhD on the importance of refuges for birds in the severely burnt forest of central Victoria. Benjamin Scheele is an ecologist with a particular interest in threatened species management and recovery. He has researched threatened species across diverse landscapes ranging from the Australian Alps to the ancient farming landscapes of Transylvania. Ben's research has strong links to management and his work on threatened amphibians has informed the development of innovative applied management responses. Darren Southwell is an ecologist with an interest in optimal monitoring, adaptive management and population viability analysis. His PhD developed population models for threatened and invasive species to inform cost-effective management decisions. Previously, he worked as a quantitative scientist at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and as a field biologist at the Australian Antarctic Division. Brendan Wintle is a conservation ecologist who develops quantitative methods to support conservation decision-making and policy. He publishes in monitoring design, cost-efficient conservation spending, population viability analysis, species occupancy and distribution modelling, and Bayesian statistics with application to practical conservation problems.

Acknowledgements

Editors

List of contributors

Contributing organisations


1. Introduction: Making it count | Sarah Legge, David B. Lindenmayer, Natasha M. Robinson, Benjamin C. Scheele, Darren M. Southwell, Brendan A. Wintle, John C.Z. Woinarski and Elisa Bayraktarov


Section 1: Monitoring extent and adequacy

2. A framework for evaluating the adequacy of monitoring programs for threatened species | John C.Z. Woinarski

3. The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened mammal species | John C. Z. Woinarski, Andrew A. Burbidge and Peter L. Harrison

4. The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened bird species | Stephen T. Garnett and Hayley Geyle

5. The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened frog species | Benjamin C. Scheele and Graeme R. Gillespie

6. The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened reptile species | John C.Z. Woinarski

7. The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened freshwater fish species | Mark Lintermans and Wayne Robinson

8. Monitoring threatened ecosystems and ecological communities | David A. Keith, Belinda J. Pellow and Matthew Appleby

9. Summary: Monitoring extent and adequacy for threatened biodiversity | Sarah Legge, Benjamin C. Scheele, John C.Z. Woinarski, Stephen T. Garnett, David A. Keith, Mark Lintermans, Natasha M. Robinson and David B. Lindenmayer


Section 2: The value of monitoring

10. The value of assessing species recovery: towards a national framework | Peter Latch

11. Shorebird monitoring in Australia: a successful long-term collaboration among citizen scientists, governments and researchers | Birgita D. Hansen, Robert S. Clemens, Eduardo Gallo-Cajiao, Micha V. Jackson, Richard T. Kingsford, Grainne S. Maguire, Golo Maurer, David Milton, Danny I. Rogers, Dan R. Weller, Michael A. Weston, Eric J. Woehler and Richard A. Fuller

12. A tale of threatened frogs: demonstrating the value of long-term monitoring | Graeme R. Gillespie, David Hunter, Greg Hollis, Benjamin C. Scheele and Matt West

13. Insights from multi-species mammal monitoring programs in the Upper Warren, Western Australia | Adrian Wayne

14. The multiple benefits of monitoring threatened species – Leadbeater’s possum as a case study | David B. Lindenmayer

15. Summary: The value of monitoring threatened biodiversity | David B. Lindenmayer, Natasha M. Robinson, Benjamin C. Scheele and Sarah Legge


Section 3: Monitoring frameworks

16. Why, what, how much, and is it worth it? Questions to answer before spending a penny on monitoring | Brendan A. Wintle

17. Saving our Species: cost-effective monitoring and evaluation for a large-scale threatened species program | James Brazill-Boast

18. Designing a monitoring framework for Australian Wildlife Conservancy, a national conservation organisation | John Kanowski, Liana Joseph, Rod Kavanagh and Atticus Fleming

19. Parks Australia monitoring for threatened species | Kerrie Bennison and Judy West


Section 4: Monitoring program design

20. Optimising broad-scale monitoring for trend detection: review and re-design of a long-term program in northern Australia | Luke D. Einoder, Darren M. Southwell, Graeme R. Gillespie, Alaric Fisher, José J. Lahoz-Monfort and Brendan A. Wintle

21. Determining trends in irruptive desert species | Chris R. Dickman, Aaron C. Greenville and Glenda M. Wardle

22. The challenge of monitoring coastal marine mammals | Helene Marsh, Lyndon Brooks and Rie Hagihara

23. The technology revolution: improving species detection and monitoring using new tools and statistical methods | José J. Lahoz-Monfort and Reid Tingley

24. Summary: Monitoring frameworks and monitoring program design for threatened biodiversity |
Darren M. Southwell


Section 5: Community participation

25. Threatened species monitoring on Aboriginal land: finding the common ground between Kuka, Jukurrpa, ranger work and science | Rachel Paltridge and Anja Skroblin

26. Involving volunteers in threatened plant monitoring in South Australia: the best laid plans of plants and men | Doug Bickerton

27. Community involvement in monitoring threatened species: a WWF perspective | Jessica Koleck

28. What makes a successful citizen science program? | Kerryn Herman

29. Summary: Community participation in monitoring for threatened biodiversity | Natasha M. Robinson, Sarah Legge and Ben C. Scheele


Section 6: Monitoring and adaptive management

30. Recovery of the red-finned blue-eye: informing action in the absence of controls and replication | Jim Radford, Rob Wager and Adam Kerezsy

31. The national malleefowl monitoring effort: citizen scientists, databases and adaptive management | Joe Benshemesh, Darren M. Southwell, Jose J. Lahoz-Monfort, Cindy Hauser, Libby Rumpff, Michael Bode, Tim Burnard and Brendan A. Wintle

32. Difficulties in fitting an adaptive management approach to threatened species monitoring | David B. Lindenmayer

33. Summary: Monitoring and adaptive management of threatened biodiversity | Ben C. Scheele and David B. Lindenmayer

34. Organisational perspectives on threatened species monitoring | Natasha M. Robinson, Rachel Morgain, Sarah Legge, Ben C. Scheele, David B. Lindenmayer, Darren M. Southwell, Kerrie Bennison, Joe Benshemesch, Doug Bickerton, Lyndon Brooks, Oberon Carter, Chris Dickman, Glen Ehmke, John Kanowski, Jessica Koleck, Mark Lintermans, Helene Marsh, Damon Oliver, Rachel Paltridge, Jim Radford, Anja Skroblin, Adrian Wayne and John C. Z. Woinarski

35. Essential principles to guide monitoring of threatened biodiversity | Natasha M. Robinson, Sarah Legge, Benjanim C. Scheele, David B. Lindenmayer, Darren M. Southwell, Brendan A. Wintle, Kerrie Bennison, Joe Benshemesch, Doug Bickerton, Lyndon Brooks, Oberon Carter, Chris Dickman, Luke Einoder, Graeme Gillespie, Kerryn Herman, John Kanowski, Jessica Koleck, Jose J. Lahoz-Monfort, Peter Latch, Mark Lintermans, Helene Marsh, Rachel Paltridge, Jim Radford, Anja Skroblin, Adrian Wayne and John C. Z. Woinarski


Index