Clare Morrison

ALTITUDINAL VARIATION IN THE AGE AT MATURITY, LONGEVITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE LIFESPAN OF ANURANS IN SUBTROPICAL QUEENSLAND

Skeletochronology has been widely and successfully used to age temperate amphibians, enabling geographic comparisons of longevity and the age at maturity. To date, however, there have been very few similar studies conducted using skeletochronology in tropical or sub-tropical amphibians. In this study, we examined the applicability of skeletochronology for aging four sub-tropical anuran species (Litoria chloris, L. lesueuri, L. pearsoniana, and Mixophyes fleayi) that occur across a range of altitudes in southeast Queensland, Australia. We then used reliable estimates to examine altitudinal variation in longevity, age at maturity (AM), and potential reproductive lifespan (PRLS) for each species. Skeletochronology was successful in three of the four species. The age of L. lesueuri individuals from low altitude sites could not be reliably estimated due to extended activity seasons. On average, females were older than males in L. chloris, L. pearsoniana, and M. fleayi and were also older when breeding for the first time. There was, however, no significant difference in the PRLS between males and females within any of the three species. There were trends towards greater longevity and older AM in high altitude populations of all three species; however, there was no significant altitudinal variation in PRLS in any of the species. Our results suggest little intraspecific variation in the number of years that individuals of the four species are capable of breeding, regardless of gender, geographic location, longevity, and AM.

Perceptions of climate change impacts, adaptation and limits to adaption in the Australian Alps: the ski-tourism industry and key stakeholders

This paper explores perceptions of ski-tourism representatives and other regional stakeholders about climate change impacts, limits to tourism development and adaptation strategies in the Australian Alps. This area faces rising temperatures, declining rain and snow falls, and shorter skiing seasons. Open-ended interviews examined the perceptions, plans and attitudes of the ski industry and those of conservation managers, local government officials and Australian researchers into tourism and/or climate change effects in the Australian Alps. All interviewees accepted climate change was a reality; several, however, questioned the worst-case scenarios. The major tourism-related adaptation strategies were snowmaking and diversifying to year-round tourism; the success of these strategies will vary according to individual resorts’ snowmaking capacity and potential summer tourism revenue. Currently non-snow-based tourism revenue is worth only approximately 30% of winter revenue. Social resistance to increased water and electricity use for snowmaking emerged as an important issue. Competition for water, including the needs of ecosystems, agriculture and fire protection in this summer-fire-prone region, and fire management issues, is a key concern. Current conflicts between the ski industry and other stakeholders over climate change adaptation call for a collaborative adaptation and change policy within the Australian Alps.

Overview of the conservation status of Australian frogs

A review of the current conservation status of Australian amphibians was recently completed as part of a World Conservation Union (IUCN) sponsored Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA). Fifty of 216 amphibian species (23%) in Australia are now recognized as threatened or extinct in accord with IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Here we report on the categories and criteria under which individual species qualified for listing and provide a summary of supporting information pertaining to population and distribution declines. Major threatening processes contributing to listing of species are also reviewed.

Birdwatching and avitourism: a global review of research into its participant markets, distribution and impacts, highlighting future research priorities to inform sustainable avitourism management

Avitourism is an emerging sub-sector of the nature-based tourism industry, where tourist travel motivations are focused around birdwatching. Certain aspects of the industry are yet to be examined adequately. This paper reviews patterns among 66 research studies published between 1989 and 2014 that examine avitourism, its participants and stakeholders across several research themes. There is a distinct northern hemisphere bias (n = 46) in avitourism research effort, with research dominated by studies of the avitourists themselves (n = 35). Key objectives of studies reviewed were primarily concerned with the economic impacts of avitourism (n = 21), the motivations of birders as avitourists (n = 18) and increasing our understanding of the avitourism market (n = 12). Ten studies specifically examined the types of birds or bird-related events (i.e. migrations) avitourists seek. Few studies (n = 6) have examined the negative impacts on birds arising from avitourism. The sustainability of avitourism is dependent upon understanding both the avitourism product and the willingness of avitourists to see particular species. Enhanced understanding of avitourism opportunities and avitourist desires could guide industry growth, assist the economies of many communities, highlight birds and habitats vulnerable to the negative impacts of avitourism, and help finance conservation work. A series of priority research themes are outlined.

Tourism and the Conservation of Critically Endangered Frogs

Protected areas are critical for the conservation of many threatened species. Despite this, many protected areas are acutely underfunded, which reduces their effectiveness significantly. Tourism is one mechanism to promote and fund conservation in protected areas, but there are few studies analyzing its tangible conservation outcomes for threatened species. This study uses the 415 IUCN critically endangered frog species to evaluate the contribution of protected area tourism revenue to conservation. Contributions were calculated for each species as the proportion of geographic range inside protected areas multiplied by the proportion of protected area revenues derived from tourism. Geographic ranges were determined from IUCN Extent of Occurrence maps. Almost 60% (239) of critically endangered frog species occur in protected areas. Higher proportions of total range are protected in Nearctic, Australasian and Afrotopical regions. Tourism contributions to protected area budgets ranged from 5–100%. These financial contributions are highest for developing countries in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Neotropical regions. Data for both geographic range and budget are available for 201 critically endangered frog species with proportional contributions from tourism to species protection ranging from 0.8–99%. Tourisms financial contributions to critically endangered frog species protection are highest in the Afrotropical region. This study uses a coarse measure but at the global scale it demonstrates that tourism has significant potential to contribute to global frog conservation efforts.

Net Effects of Ecotourism on Threatened Species Survival

Many threatened species rely on ecotourism for conservation funding, but simultaneously suffer direct ecological impacts from ecotourism. For a range of IUCN-Redlisted terrestrial and marine bird and mammal species worldwide, we use population viability analyses to calculate the net effects of ecotourism on expected time to extinction, in the presence of other anthropogenic threats such as poaching, primary industries and habitat loss. Species for which these calculations are currently possible, for one or more subpopulations, include: orangutan, hoolock gibbon, golden lion tamarin, cheetah, African wild dog, New Zealand sealion, great green macaw, Egyptian vulture, and African penguin. For some but not all of these species, tourism can extend expected survival time, i.e., benefits outweigh impacts. Precise outcomes depend strongly on population parameters and starting sizes, predation, and ecotourism scale and mechanisms. Tourism does not currently overcome other major conservation threats associated with natural resource extractive industries. Similar calculations for other threatened species are currently limited by lack of basic population data.

Biodiversity and conservation of freshwater fishes in selected rivers on Choiseul Island, Solomon Islands

During a terrestrial biodiversity survey of Choiseul Island, we conducted freshwater fish surveys in seven sites between July 2005 and August 2006. We found 32 fish species from 15 families (38% of known Solomon Island freshwater fish). Most species were uncommon with the exception of Kuhlia marginata (6/7 sites), K. rupestris (5/7 sites) and Glossogobius sp. 1 (5/7 sites). No introduced species were found in any of the sites. Species richness ranged from 2-14 species per site and was highest in Lumutu River and Kolombangara River. This difference between sites is partially attributed to substrate type (higher richness in sites with gravel substrates than mud) and distance from the coast (higher richness near the coast than inland). The results of this survey in conjunction with a previous survey bring the total number of freshwater fish species on Choiseul Island to 41. This diversity is threatened by habitat degradation through sedimentation and over harvesting of some species. We recommend a number of activities to ameliorate these threats including seasonal banning of fish harvest during breeding periods and mass juvenile migrations, discouraging the practice of streamside agriculture, and education of locals on the negative impacts of logging on watershed health and productivity.

Altitudinal variation in growth and development rates of tadpoles of Litoria chloris and Litoria pearsoniana in southeast Queensland, Australia.

Abstract Altitudinal variation in larval growth and development rates in low- and high-altitude populations of two subtropical species of frog, Litoria chloris and Litoria pearsoniana was examined in the field using reciprocal transplant experiments. The larvae of both species raised at high altitudes (regardless of tadpole origin) had slower development rates than larvae raised at low altitudes. Slower growth rates were found in larvae from high altitudes in L. chloris, whereas a similar (but not significant) trend was recorded in L. pearsoniana. Despite slower growth rates overall, tadpoles raised at high altitudes tended to be larger at each Gosner Development Stage than those raised at low altitudes independent of tadpole origin. These results suggest that most of the variation in growth and development rates in the two species was caused by environmental factors (water temperature) rather than genetic or maternal factors. Tadpole survival in either species did not appear to be significantly affected by environmental or genetic factors in this study.

Avitourism and Australian Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas

Formal protected areas will not provide adequate protection to conserve all biodiversity, and are not always designated using systematic or strategic criteria. Using a systematic process, the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) network was designed to highlight areas of conservation significance for birds (i.e. IBA trigger species), and more recently general biodiversity. Land use activities that take place in IBAs are diverse, including consumptive and non-consumptive activities. Avitourism in Australia, generally a non-consumptive activity, is reliant on the IBA network and the birds IBAs aim to protect. However, companies tend not to mention IBAs in their marketing. Furthermore, avitourism, like other nature-based tourism has the potential to be both a threatening process as well as a conservation tool. We aimed to assess the current use of IBAs among Australian-based avitour companies’ marketing, giving some indication of which IBAs are visited by avitourists on organised tours. We reviewed online avitour itineraries, recorded sites featuring in descriptions of avitours and which IBA trigger species are used to sell those tours. Of the 209 avitours reviewed, Queensland is the most featured state (n = 59 tours), and 73% feature at least one IBA. Daintree (n = 22) and Bruny Island (n = 17) IBAs are the most popular, nationally. Trigger species represent 34% (n = 254 out of 747) of species used in avitour descriptions. The most popular trigger species’ are wetland species including; Brolga (n = 37), Black-necked Stork (n = 30) and Magpie Goose (n = 27). Opportunities exist to increase collaboration between avitour companies and IBA stakeholders. Our results can provide guidance for managing sustainability of the avitourism industry at sites that feature heavily in avitour descriptions and enhance potential cooperation between avitour companies, IBA stakeholders and bird conservation organisations.

Conservation and Management of the Endangered Fiji Sago Palm, Metroxylon vitiense, in Fiji

Recovery planning is a key component of many threatened species conservation initiatives and can be a powerful awareness raising tool. One of the largest impediments to conservation efforts in the Pacific region however, is the lack of ecological data and its subsequent effects on the development of feasible and useful recovery plans for threatened species. Without these plans, the understaffed, underfunded and often technically ill-equipped conservation agencies face huge difficulties in planning, prioritizing and conducting conservation activities to adequately protect biodiversity. The Fiji sago palm, Metroxylon vitiense, is an endemic endangered palm species whose survival is heavily dependent on a feasible species recovery plan. It is geographically restricted and threatened by habitat destruction and overexploitation for thatch for the tourism industry and palm heart consumption by local consumers. Despite its threatened status, M. vitiense is not currently protected by national or international legislation. Recent field surveys and extensive stakeholder consultation have resulted in the production of a species recovery plan highlighting the importance of the species and advocating sustainable harvesting rather than complete bans to promote conservation. This article summarizes the recovery plan and its current effects on the status of M. vitiense in Fiji. We also discuss the role of different stakeholders in the conservation of M. vitiense, including the absence of significant behavioral changes by the largest consumer - the tourism industry, and the importance of recovery plans for biodiversity conservation in the Pacific.