Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Variation in bird assemblages and their invertebrate prey in eucalypt formations across a rainfall gradient in south-west Australia

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Majer, Jonathan
    Recher, H.
    Norwood, C.
    Heterick, Brian
    Date
    2017
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Majer, J. and Recher, H. and Norwood, C. and Heterick, B. 2017. Variation in bird assemblages and their invertebrate prey in eucalypt formations across a rainfall gradient in south-west Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology. 23 (4): pp. 372-386.
    Source Title
    Pacific Conservation Biology
    DOI
    10.1071/PC17024
    ISSN
    1038-2097
    School
    School of Molecular and Life Sciences (MLS)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/60107
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Our previous work has shown how invertebrate food resources influence usage of tree species by birds. Using data from Western Australian forests and woodlands, we extend the findings to indicate how the avifauna is influenced by these resources at the landscape level. The northern dry sclerophyll forest of south-west Australia comprises jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) to the west, with an abrupt replacement by wandoo (E. wandoo) plus powderbark wandoo (E. accedens) woodland to the east; codominant marri (Corymbia calophylla) trees occur throughout. Knockdown samples have previously indicated that the canopy invertebrate fauna is richer and more abundant in wandoo woodland than in jarrah/marri forest. To provide an indication of their general abundance and diversity in these formations, invertebrates using the trunks of the ubiquitous marri were measured along a transect from jarrah/marri forest to wandoo woodland. Mirroring the canopy, the trunk fauna had high species turnover over short distances. As with the canopy fauna, invertebrate diversity and abundance was higher on marri situated in the wandoo zone than in the jarrah/marri areas, indicating a generally larger invertebrate fauna in the drier regions of the transect. Abundance and diversity of birds, many of which are wholly or partly insectivorous, were measured at the same sites. Birds were more abundant and there were more species in areas with the wandoo species than in those dominated by jarrah/marri. Assemblage composition also differed in the two forest types. It is evident that changes in bird abundance, richness, and assemblage composition are likely determined on a landscape scale by the type, abundance, and diversity of food resources available to them. These patterns of change within forest invertebrate faunas and their primary vertebrate predators need to be considered when making decisions on conserving or managing forest communities in Australia.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Invertebrate communities on Western Australian eucalypts: a comparison of branch clipping and chemical knockdown procedures
      Majer, Jonathan; Recher, H. (1988)
      Chemical knockdown and branch clipping procedures were used in wandoo (Eucalyptus wandoo) woodland and jarrah (E. marginata)/marri (E. calophylla) open-forest to sample arboreal invertebrate faunas on three species of ...
    • A checklist of canopy, bark, soil and litter fauna of the Darling Plateau and adjacent woodland near Perth, Western Australia, with reference to the conservation of forest and woodland fauna
      Heterick, Brian E.; Majer, Jonathan; Recher, H.; Postle, A. (2001)
      This paper tables and reports on pooled taxonomic data from three separate research projects involving aspects of eucalypt invertebrate ecology: canopy invertebrates in jarrah and marri forest; bark invertebrates on four ...
    • The canopy, bark, soil and litter invertebrate fauna of the Darling Plateau and adjacent woodland near Perth, Western Australia, with reference to the diversity of forest and woodland invertebrates
      Majer, Jonathan; Recher, H.; Heterick, Brian E.; Postle, A. (2001)
      This paper tables and reports on pooled taxonomic data from three separate research projects involving aspects of eucalypt invertebrate ecology; canopy invertebrates in jarrah and marri forest; bark invertebrates on four ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.