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The Action Plan for Australian
Mammals 2012
by John CZ Woinarski, Andrew A Burbidge and Peter L Harrison
A comprehensive snapshot of the current conservation status of Australian
mammals.
The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012 is the first review to assess the conservation
status of all Australian mammals. It complements The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010
(Garnett et al. 2011, CSIRO Publishing), and although the number of Australian mammal
taxa is marginally fewer than for birds, the proportion of endemic, extinct and threatened
mammal taxa is far greater. These authoritative reviews represent an important foundation
for understanding the current status, fate and future of the nature of Australia.
This book considers all species and subspecies of Australian mammals, including those of
external territories and territorial seas. For all the mammal taxa (about 300 species and
subspecies) considered Extinct, Threatened, Near Threatened or Data Deficient, the size
and trend of their population is presented along with information on geographic range
and trend, and relevant biological and ecological data. The book also presents the current
conservation status of each taxon under Australian legislation, what additional information
is needed for managers, and the required management actions. Recovery plans, where they
exist, are evaluated.
DUE June 2014
CSIRO PUBLISHING
1072 pages, Hardback
ISBN: 9780643108738
$120.00
Available as an eBook
upon publication.
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more information:
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The voluntary participation of more than 200 mammal experts has ensured that the
conservation status and information are as accurate as possible, and allowed considerable
unpublished data to be included. All accounts include maps based on the latest data
from Australian state and territory agencies, from published scientific literature and other
sources.
The Action Plan concludes that 29 Australian mammal species have become extinct and 63
species are threatened and require urgent conservation action. However, it also shows that,
where guided by sound knowledge, management capability and resourcing, and longerterm commitment, there have been some notable conservation success stories, and the
conservation status of some species has greatly improved over the past few decades.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
CONTENTS
John CZ Woinarski has been involved in research, management,
advocacy and policy relating to biodiversity conservation,
particularly in relation to threatened species, in Australia since
the 1970s. Much of this work has been undertaken in northern
Australia, with a particular focus on threatened mammal species.
He has received numerous awards, including the Eureka Prize,
the Australian Natural History Medallion, and the Serventy Medal
for lifetime contribution to Australian ornithology. He is currently
Professor in the Research Institute for the Environment and
Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University.
Summary
About the authors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. A list of native Australian mammal species and subspecies
3. Evaluation of taxa that have been translocated to ‘mainland islands’ and continental islands
4. Status assigned to every Australian mammal species and subspecies
5. Taxon conservation summaries
6. Analysis: the status and trends of Australian mammals
7. Conclusions
Andrew A Burbidge worked as a research scientist and manager
in Western Australian government conservation departments
from 1968 to 2002, where he had a strong focus on threatened
species. His research and management also included conservation
reserve design and selection, biological survey, island research
and management including eradication of invasive mammals and
biosecurity, indigenous oral history of mammals and fire ecology,
and translocations. He is currently chair of the Western Australian
Threatened Species Scientific Committee. Since 2002 he has worked
part time as a consultant conservation biologist.
Appendix A. Accounts for taxa that were not evaluated
Appendix B. Calculation of taxonomic distinctiveness
Index
Peter L Harrison has worked as a marine ecologist for more than
30 years and is Professor and Director of the Marine Ecology
Research Centre at Southern Cross University. His diverse research
and teaching interests encompass marine mammals to corals, with
a focus on linking research findings to improved conservation and
management outcomes. He was awarded a joint Eureka Prize for
environmental research. He has been a member of the Threatened
Species Scientific Committee since 2005, and is a member of the
NSW Marine Fauna Advisory Group, the Sea World Research and
Rescue Foundation Scientific Committee, the Port Curtis and Port
Alma Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Program Advisory Panel,
and the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium.
364
Quokka
Tammar
sandstone areas, typically boulder piles, escarpments and
gorges (Press 1988, 1989; Telfer et al. 2008). Within this
area, it occurs across a wide range of habitat types,
including hummock grasslands, heathlands, eucalypt
open forests and monsoon rainforests (Press 1988, 1989),
although exhibiting some preference for grasslands
(Telfer et al. 2008). The diet may vary seasonally, and
includes a wide range of grasses, herbs, flowers, fruits,
seeds, yams and browse (Telfer and Garde 2006; Telfer
and Bowman 2006).
Breeding is probably seasonal, with large pouch
young observed mostly between June and September
(Telfer and Calaby 2008). From information for other
Macropus species, age at sexual maturity is 1–2 years and
longevity about 15–20 years, so generation length is
about 10 years (Jones et al. 2009).
2. A list of native Australian
mammal species and
subspecies
A.A. Burbidge, M.D.B. Eldridge, C. Groves, P.L. Harrison,
S.M. Jackson, T.B. Reardon, M. Westerman and J.C.Z. Woinarski
Recovery plan
Species Conservation Summary
There is no recovery plan. However, a recovery outline
for the species was included in Roache (2011).
Quokka
Current management
Setonix brachyurus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1830)
Macropodidae
There is no specific management targeted to this species.
Most of the distributional range of this species falls
within Kakadu National Park and the recently established Djelk and Warddeken Indigenous Protected
Areas. Fire management is a major priority in these areas
(Russell-Smith et al. 2009).
Conservation status
Vulnerable B2ab(iii,iv,v)
Justification
The Quokka is evaluated as Vulnerable because the area
of occupancy is <2000 km2, the range is severely fragmented and there is an inferred continuing decline in
population size due to the loss of small, isolated subpopulations, the drying climate, and predation by the Red
Fox. Significant projected loss of EOO and AOO due to
climate change, mainly a continuing reduction in winter
rainfall, has been predicted.
Conservation objectives
1
Maintain existing range and abundance.
Comments received from
Simon Ward
Retrospective status 2002
Species Conservation Summary
Near Threatened (approaches B1ab(iii,iv,v)+2ab(iii,iv,v))
Reason for change: projected ongoing decline.
Tammar
INTRODUCTION
After more than 200 years of study, the taxonomy of Australian mammals remains far from firmly resolved. New
species continue to be described; long-established names
have been overhauled; and the robustness and comprehensiveness of taxonomic treatment varies appreciably
between different groups. Even some previously stable
taxa are being revised and seen in a new light as a result of
recent advances in genetic techniques.
The most recent authoritative and comprehensive
review of the taxonomy of Australian mammals was in
1988 (Walton 1988), and much has changed subsequently.
To some extent the Australian Faunal Directory (Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) (2012) maintains a
watching brief on such changes and attempts to maintain
a regularly updated listing of valid taxa. The Mammal’s
Planet on-line taxonomic database (http://www.planetmammiferes.org/) and the Mammal Species of the World
(Wilson and Reeder 2005) provide a useful complement,
and global context, to Australian mammal taxonomy,
though the internet version of the latter (http://www.vertebrates.si.edu/msw/mswcfapp/msw/index.cfm) does not
appear to be updated regularly.
For our purpose, we established a list of Australian
mammal species and subspecies, based initially from that
used by the ABRS. We have made some modifications to
that list based on new information, commentary from
relevant taxonomists, and with reference to a currently
unpublished review of the taxonomy of Australian
mammals (Jackson and Groves in press). For marine
mammals we used the currently (as at December 2012)
accepted species and subspecies taxonomy of the Society
for Marine Mammalogy, available at www.marinemammalscience.org.
The unsettled nature of Australian mammal taxonomy is evident when comparing the naming date of currently-recognised Australian endemic mammal species
00-mammals-prelims-chapters-2pp.indd 15
and currently-recognised Australian endemic bird
species (Fig. 2.1). Whereas most Australian bird species
were described by 1850 (and very few have been described
over the last 100 years), there has been an almost continuous rate of descriptions for Australian endemic mammal
species, extending unbroken to the present day.
It is a matter of concern that there is currently limited
taxonomic research into Australia’s mammals. Few of the
nation’s major museums currently employ mammal curators and some taxonomic genetics research, often conducted within universities, has not been followed up with
formal taxonomic descriptions. The still far from complete mammal taxonomy in Australia reinforces the
necessity and importance of collecting voucher specimens of mammals and for museums to retain vouchers
(Burbidge et al. 2012). Research (and consequently conservation management) is continually being hampered,
not only by there being few taxonomists, but also by a lack
of museum specimens.
Our objective is to assess the conservation status of all
Australian native mammal species and subspecies, following the precedent set in the Action Plan for Australian
Birds (Garnett et al. 2011), and consistent with the Australian national environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999,
which allows for the listing, as threatened, of recognised
species and subspecies (and in exceptional cases, populations). Consideration of the conservation status of individual subspecies helps maintain the conservation of
genetic diversity (as promoted by the Convention on Biological Diversity of which Australia is a signatory), and
serves as a conservative buffer for taxonomic uncertainty,
especially for cases where future taxonomic inquiry may
demonstrate that currently-recognised subspecies should
be elevated to specific rank (e.g. Braby et al. 2012).
However, subspecific treatment of Australian mammals
has been erratic: many currently recognised subspecies
Macropus eugenii (Desmarest, 1817)
Macropodidae
Retrospective status 1992
Other common names: Tammar Wallaby; Tammar is
derived from the Noongar (south-west Australia) name
Dama (Abbott 2001a)
Previous Action Plan assessment
Conservation status
Vulnerable B1ab(ii,iii) (de Tores et al. 2008)
Least Concern
EPBC Act status (2012)
Near Threatened (approaches B1ab(iii,iv,v)+2ab(iii,iv,v)).
Vulnerable A1b,c,e,C1 (Maxwell et al. 1996)
IUCN status (2012)
Vulnerable. No listing criteria.
Listing date: July 2000
Justification
Tammar are abundant on Kangaroo Island and on four
islands in Western Australia. On mainland south-western Western Australia they are locally abundant where
fox control is in place. On mainland South Australia,
they were locally extinct in the wild, but have been
reintroduced to Innes National Park from a feral
population in New Zealand.
Retrospective status 2002
Least Concern
Retrospective status 1992
Least Concern
Previous Action Plan assessment
Near Threatened (as M. eugenii derbianus and M. eugenii
decres; Maxwell et al. 1996)
Legal status in range State
Western Australia
A
No subspecies are recognised.
Taxonomic distinctiveness: high (global); high
(Australian)
Range
EPBC Act status (2012)
The Quokka is endemic to south-western Australia,
including Rottnest (17 km2) and Bald (8 km2) Islands
and, formerly, Breaksea Island (1 km2; Abbott 2006b). It
Not listed
Legal status in range States
South Australia
Western Australia
Not listed
Not listed (Priority 5)
Estimate
486 800 km2*
stable
high
high
Area of occupancy
trend
288 km2
stable
high
high
No. of mature individuals
trend
>10 000
stable
high
high
C
Not applicable: population >10 000 mature individuals,
no continuing decline
No. subpopulations
>10
high
No. locations
>10
high
D
Not applicable: >5 locations
Generation time
6 years
medium
02-mammals-profiles-098-to-294-2pp.indd 364
Global population share
100%
IUCN
Criterion
Reliability
Extent of occurrence
trend
Not applicable: not severely fragmented, no continuing
decline, no extreme fluctuations
Not applicable: no population viability analysis
undertaken
Current eligibility against IUCN Red List Criteria
IUCN Red List assessment data
B
E
3/02/14 14:34:58
Criteria eligibility
Not applicable: no reduction in population size in the
past 3 generations (18 years)
Vulnerable
Taxonomy
IUCN status (2012)
Least Concern (Morris et al. 2008e)
Current eligibility against IUCN Red List Criteria
IUCN
Criterion
443
Near Threatened: reduction in population size predicted
but not >30% in 18 years (3 generations)
B
Vulnerable: AOO <2000 km2, severely fragmented,
continuing decline in extent and quality of habitat,
number of subpopulations and number of mature
individuals
C
Near Threatened: population size inferred to be <10 000
mature individuals, decline rate predicted to be
significant in future, and inferred to be >10% in 18 years
(3 generations)
D
Not applicable: >1000 mature individuals, >5 locations
E
high
* includes translocations
3/02/14 14:50:49
Criteria eligibility
A
Not applicable: no population viability analysis
undertaken
02-mammals-profiles-098-to-294-2pp.indd 443
was originally distributed from Moore River, 100 km
north of Perth, through the higher rainfall part of the
south-west, east along the south coast to at least the
Green Range, 60 km north-east of Albany. Fossil deposits
and historical records suggest that the Quokka originally
occupied an area of approximately 41 200 km² in the
south-western corner of Australia (de Tores et al. 2007).
Historical literature has shown that they were widespread and abundant when Europeans colonised the
region in 1829, but a noticeable and dramatic decline
occurred over the following century (Hayward 2002).
This can be attributed mainly to the arrival of the Red
Fox in the 1930s (Hayward et al. 2005a) and land clearing. There was another major contraction in the period
1980 to 1992, the cause of which is unknown, but it could
be related to habitat deterioration, fox predation and
declining winter rainfall. Overall range has contracted
southwards with the northernmost records now in the
Darling Range immediately east and north-east of Perth.
The current Extent of Occurrence was estimated as c.
17 800 km2 by de Tores et al. (2007), but our calculation,
using records since 1992 and including Rottnest Island,
suggests it is larger than this. It persists patchily along the
south coast east to the Green Range, including an isolated
subpopulation in Stirling Range National Park. Quokkas
are thought to be now absent from the Swan Coastal
IUCN Red List assessment data
Estimate
Reliability
Extent of occurrence
trend
56 850 km2
decreasing
medium
medium
Area of occupancy
trend
648 km2
decreasing
medium
medium
No. of mature individuals
trend
7500–15 000
decreasing
medium
medium
No. subpopulations
>10
high
No. locations
>10
high
Generation length
6 years
medium
Global population share
100%
high
3/02/14 14:51:13