Overview of Tasmania’s offshore islands and their role in nature conservation

Bryant, SL; Harris, Susan

doi:10.26749/rstpp.154.83

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For example, although more than 90% of Tasmania's offshore islands are statutory reserves, they contain over one-third of the State's land-based threatened fauna species and some, such as King Island, are centres of local extinction and nationally critically endangered species. Others, such as the subantarctic Macquarie Island, have become international exemplars of the benefits of eradicating invasive pests (Bryant and Harris 2020). Similarly, off the coast of New South Wales, Lord Howe Island has seen the extinction of nine of its 13 species of land bird (Springer 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do we drive a renaissance for national island conservation in Australia?

Ball

Moro

Bock³

et al. 2022

Pacific Conserv. Biol.

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Australia’s approach to managing and conserving its offshore islands as important national assets warrants urgent review. There is a growing realisation that the current trajectory of loss of natural heritage on islands must be reversed, particularly in an era of increasing climate change. We propose a role description and an organisational model for a national Australian Islands Alliance that champions conservation action, prioritises investments aligned to risks, and that connects partners at a strategic national level. A national alliance offers important opportunity to assess threats and report on condition. Four key foundations underpin a national alliance dedicated to championing island care and expert management: (1) management informed by evidence; (2) sound return on investment; (3) national coordination in partnership with States and Territories; and (4) community participation inclusive of Aboriginal peoples’ and Torres Strait Islanders’ custodial rights and interests. The message from experiences shared across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region is that traditional island custodians and stakeholders are vital partners to restoration efforts. These shared learnings collectively demonstrate the time is now for Australia to move forward with a respectful and unified direction to progress successful and sustainable island conservation and restoration.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do we drive a renaissance for national island conservation in Australia?

Ball

Moro

Bock³

et al. 2022

Pacific Conserv. Biol.

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“…Located at the south‐eastern tip of Australia, Tasmania is a cool temperate island state (6.8 million ha) surrounded by some 330 offshore islands (>1 ha) (Bryant & Harris, 2021 ). These offshore islands have high conservation values.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These offshore islands have high conservation values. They are home to over a third of the state's terrestrial threatened fauna species, support large numbers of breeding seabirds, and provide critical habitat for many species, including several endemics (Brothers et al, 2001 ; Bryant & Harris, 2021 ). Little is known about the islands' spider communities and ecology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Published studies investigating Tasmanian spiders are also limited, focusing only on specific regions (e.g., Bryant & Shaw, 2006 ; Churchill & Arthur, 1999 ) or species of interest (e.g., Doran et al, 1999 ). Tasmania provides a classic example of the taxonomic impediment preventing spiders being included in monitoring studies, particularly on Tasmania's islands where available information is even more limited (Bryant & Harris, 2021 ). Despite this, obtaining community structure and composition data is essential for informing management and providing baseline data from which to assess future changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of seabird presence and seasonality on ground‐active spider communities across temperate islands

Pascoe

Houghton²,

Jones

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Seabirds influence island ecosystems through nutrient additions and physical disturbance. These influences can have opposing effects on an island's invertebrate predator populations. Spiders (order: Araneae) are an important predator in many terrestrial island ecosystems, yet little is known about how seabird presence influences spider communities at the intraisland scale, or how they respond to seasonality in seabird colony attendance.We investigated the effects of seabird presence and seasonality on ground‐active spider community structure (activity‐density, family‐level richness, age class, and sex structure) and composition at the family‐level across five short‐tailed shearwater breeding islands around south‐eastern Tasmania, Australia. Using 75 pitfall traps (15 per island), spiders were collected inside, near, and outside seabird colonies on each island, at five different stages of the short‐tailed shearwater breeding cycle over a year. Pitfall traps were deployed for a total of 2674 days, capturing 1592 spiders from 26 families with Linyphiidae and Lycosidae the most common. Spider activity‐density was generally greater inside than outside seabird colonies, while family‐level richness was generally higher outside seabird colonies. For these islands, seabird breeding stage did not affect activity‐densities, but there were some seasonal changes in age class and sex structures with more adult males captured during winter. Our results provide some of the first insights into the spatial and temporal influences seabirds have on spider communities. We also provide some of the first records of spider family occurrences for south‐eastern Tasmanian islands, which will provide an important baseline for assessing future change.

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“…Average burrow density from 5 × 3 m radius plots counted during pre-fledging sampling events (Feb/March 2020 and Feb/March 2021) for Wedge, Courts, Maatsuyker, Whale Pone Point and Cape Queen Elizabeth, and in the incubation sampling event in December 2020 for Tasman Island. References: 1 Bryant and Harris (2021),. 2.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%