Mine-site revegetation monitoring detects feeding by threatened black-cockatoos within 8 years

Lee, J., Finn, H. and Calver, M.C. (2010) Mine-site revegetation monitoring detects feeding by threatened black-cockatoos within 8 years. Ecological Management & Restoration, 11 (2). pp. 141-143.

Abstract

Wildlife may return to restored habitats once revegetation begins providing key resources such as food and shelter, a process that may require decades (Vesk et al. 2008). Such time-lags are a concern in Western Australia’s Jarrah-Marri Forest, where bauxite and gold-mining operations clear and then restore feeding habitat for three nationally threatened black-cockatoos: Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris (CBC), Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus baudinii (BBC) and Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii naso (FRTBC) (Chapman 2007; Nichols & Grant 2007). Although post-mining restoration of Jarrah-Marri Forest habitat has been wellstudied (e.g. Supplement to Issue 15:4 of Restoration Ecology), no published studies have indicated when black-cockatoos return to feed within restored habitats and if time-lags relate to species’ diet and foraging ecology. Within the Jarrah-Marri Forest, CBC consume flowers and seeds of proteaceous shrubs (e.g. Banksia and Hakea spp.), eucalypts (Jarrah Eucalyptus marginata and Marri Corymbia calophylla) and non-native Pine (Pinus spp.); FRTBC feed mostly on Jarrah and Marri; and BBC are typically Marri specialists (Johnstone & Kirkby 1999, 2008; Cale 2003; Cooper et al. 2003; Chapman 2007). We describe an on-going study of the feeding ecology of the three black-cockatoos within mine-site rehabilitation areas in the Jarrah-Marri Forest and present initial findings that blackcockatoos can begin feeding in these areas within 8 years.

Publication Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation:	School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Copyright:	© 2010 Ecological Society of Australia
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/2489

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