This study reports on the responses of bird assemblages to woodland clearance, fragmentation and habitat disturbance in central Queensland Australia, a region exposed to very high rates of vegetation clearance over the last two to three decades. Many previous studies of clearing impacts have considered situations where there is a very sharp management contrast between uncleared lands and cleared areas: in this situation, the contrast is more muted, because both cleared lands and uncleared savanna woodlands are exposed to cattle grazing, invasion by the exotic grass Cenchrus ciliaris and similar fire management. Bird species richness (at the scale of a 1-ha quadrat) was least in cleared areas (8.1 species), then regrowth areas (14.6 species), then uncleared woodlands (19.9 species). Richness at this scale was unrelated to woodland fragment size, connectivity or habitat condition; but declined significantly with increasing abundance of miners (interspecifically aggressive colonial honeyeaters). At whole of patch scale, richness increased with fragment size and decreased with abundance of miners. This study demonstrates complex responses of individual bird species to a regional management cocktail of disturbance elements. Of 71 individual bird species modelled for woodland fragment sites, the quadrat-level abundance of 40 species was significantly related to at least one variable representing environmental position (across a rainfall gradient), fragment condition, fragment size and/or connectivity. This study suggests that priorities for conservation management include: cessation of broad-scale clearing; increased protection for regrowth (particularly where this may bolster connectivity and/or size of woodland fragments); control of miners; maintenance of fallen woody debris in woodlands; increase in fire frequency; and reduction in the incidence of grazing and exotic pasture grass.

There is national and international concern that tree clearing and cattle grazing reduce habitat for native fauna. In this paper we quantify how the degree of clearing and the level of grazing change the patch structure and composition of vegetation in eucalypt woodlands, and how these habitat changes affect counts for 10 species including birds, reptiles and small mammals. These species were selected because they were abundant, hence providing the data needed for ordinations and regressions. We studied 37 sites occurring in two regions of central Queensland: Blackwater/Emerald and Alpha/Jericho. On each site, indices for the degree of tree clearing and the level of livestock grazing were assessed, the cover and size of tree groves, shrub thickets, log hummocks, termite mounds and perennial grass clumps were measured, and abundances of 10 common vertebrate species were estimated. As expected, the cover and size of tree groves declined and the cover of grass clumps increased as the degree of clearing increased. Native grass composition changed to introduced Buffel Grass as the level of grazing increased. Clearing affected fauna counts more than grazing did. The Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus, Yellow-throated Miner Manorina flavigula, Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus and Pale-headed Rosella Platycercus eximius had significantly lower counts on cleared sites, but the Red-backed Fairy-wren Malurus melanocephalus had higher counts. The introduced House Mouse Mus musculus also had higher counts on cleared sites, but Carnaby's Skink Cryptoblephrus carnabyi had lower counts. Counts of the Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris, Bynoe's Gecko Heteronotia binoei and the Delicate Mouse Pseudomys delicatulus did not significantly change with clearing. Counts for the Pale-headed Rosella increased as the level of grazing increased, but counts for the other fauna species did not significantly change with our grazing index. Except for Bynoe's Gecko, fauna counts significantly changed with various vegetation patch attributes, particularly those strongly affected by clearing. From these results, we know which of the 10 fauna species are likely to decline or increase with clearing and grazing, and this knowledge can be used by land managers.

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Two systematic regional fauna surveys conducted in the central-north of the state, and an ancillary review of existing published data, identified many new localities and provided an opportunity to describe aspects of this species' ecology and habitat. As well as in typical Triodia grasslands, Pseudomys desertor was recorded in a wide range of sub-tropical savanna woodland, shrubland and grassland vegetation types, many within a zone with rainfall of 500–750 mm. In these higher-rainfall areas, average bodyweight was significantly larger than previously reported for arid-zone specimens. Generalised linear modelling was used to examine which environmental factors best explained the species' abundance, and ground cover was a consistent predictor across the two study areas. Despite occurring in sites mechanically cleared of trees, P. desertor was more abundant in those pastures with a high cover of native hummock grasses. Though superficially indicating a degree of tolerance of disturbance, the evidence suggests that P. desertor is a fire- and grazing-decreaser. Overall, P. desertor was most abundant in areas with the least historical grazing pressure and disturbance.

The relative abundance, diet and roost selection of the tube-nosed insect bat, Murina florium (Vespertilionidae), was investigated at Mt Baldy and Ravenshoe State Forests in north-eastern Queensland. In all, 34 M. florium were captured in 263 trap-nights; this was in the middle range of microchiropteran bat species captured. Faecal analysis indicated that the major prey items of M. floriumwere Coleoptera and Araneida. The presence of the latter prey item in faecal pellets suggests that the species is a partial gleaner. Low levels of predominantly myrtaceous pollen collected from head and throat fur indicated only incidental exposure. M. florium used a variety of external roosts in rainforest, with the only communal roost being located in a fallen Archontophoenix leaf suspended from a liana. Other roosts occupied by single M. florium were nests (n = 7) of yellow-throated scrubwrens, Sericornis citreogularis, and fernwrens, Oreoscopus gutturalis, and vertically suspended dead leaf clusters (n = 3). All roosts were located in the rainforest understorey at a mean height of 4.2 m, positioned from close to watercourses up to ridgelines. Bird nests utilised had been modified; the possibility of tent-making behaviour in this species is discussed.