The conservation status of the Spectacled Flying FoxPteropus conspicillatusin Australia

Abstract

A survey of ail known Spectacled Flying Fox camps in the wet tropics was undertaken in March 1998 with the assistance of volunteers. About 153000 flying foxes were counted at 12 major camps. These data are compared with historical data and the status of the species in Australia is discussed. The imperative for conservation management of the Spectacled Flying Fox is emphasized regardless of its official conservation status, particularly in relation to seed dispersal and pollination of rainforest plants. The most important component of this management must be the development of non-lethal deterrence at orchards followed by the development of methods for countering tick paralysis. Further annual censuses will be necessary to monitor population trends in comparison with me current baseline. This initial census was conducted as part of an integrated approach to Spectacled Flying Fox management by fruit growers, researchers, conservation groups and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Landscape‐scale redistribution of a highly mobile threatened species, Pteropus conspicillatus (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae), in response to Tropical Cyclone Larry

“…3a). Our precyclone data shows a distinct dry season dispersion of animals away from the 28 routinely surveyed campsites, followed by an influx of animals back into these known sites typically starting in September, during the build up to the wet season, and the species' annual birthing period (Richards 1990;Garnett et al 1999). Therefore, rather than finding less than 10% of the pre-cyclone population, we were locating about onethird of the population that we might expect to locate during a typical dry season dispersion by P. conspicillatus.…”

“…3a). However, given that these animals have a long (approximately 6-month) gestation, and give birth to only one young per year (Richards 1990;Garnett et al 1999), only longer-term monitoring of the species' population will reveal whether the Cyclone Larry has had greater impact on the north-Queensland P. conspicillatus population.…”

“…Pierson et al 1996;Shilton et al 1999;Westcott et al 2001;McConkey et al 2004).Therefore, an understanding of how fauna respond to major habitat disturbance may assist longterm forest management and regeneration efforts in the future (e.g. Walker & Neris 1993;Elmqvist et al 2001;Gray et al 2007;Hannah et al 2007 (Richards 1990;Garnett et al 1999;Shilton et al, unpub. data 2007).…”

“…The area covered during our study encompasses much of the species' known range on the Australian continent (Garnett et al 1999;Department of Environment & Heritage 2003). Here we compare the patterns of month-to-month camp-site use and P. conspicillatus population estimates over 23 months prior to Cyclone Larry, with the species' use of camp-sites and documented population during the year following the cyclone (late March 2006to March 2007.…”

Isolation and characterisation of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the vulnerable spectacled flying fox, Pteropus conspicillatus

“…The spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) has been subjected to dramatic habitat loss through land clearing (Westcott et al 2001), culling when foraging on commercial fruit trees (Tidemann et al 1997) and the loss of large numbers of animals through tick (Ixodes holocyclus) infestation associated with a change in diet due to the loss of habitat (Garnett et al 1999). This species is a nocturnal fruit bat that is limited in range to the Wet Tropics region and Iron Range National Park of North Queensland, Australia, and the north eastern coast and islands of Papua New Guinea (PNG).…”