Study: Australia can save birds

Australia has a very good chance of being able to save most of its endangered native woodland birds, the findings of one of the biggest field studies ever conducted in Australia suggest.

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED), the Commonwealth Government’s National Environmental Research Program (NERP) and Australian National University have found that many native birds which were feared headed for extinction have shown remarkable rates of recovery on farms where regrowth and plantings of native trees are flourishing.

In a huge field science effort, the team monitored no fewer than 193 sites on 46 farms across southern NSW over ten years, to study the effect on native birds of different ways of managing native vegetation.

“It’s an extremely encouraging result,” says team leader Professor David Lindenmayer. “We’ve seen a big increase in numbers of rare and endangered birds on farms in southern Australia, despite the drought. It’s really good news, and a true credit to all the farmers who have worked so hard to protect and restore native vegetation.”


The team’s research, published in the online journal PloS One, indicates that plantings and regrowth areas, where grazing pressure has been reduced, have seen the biggest return of native birds – compared with ‘old growth’ areas still being heavily grazed.

“We think this is because, in both new planting and regrowth areas, there is an under-storey of young, vigorous trees and shrubs which is attractive to many woodland birds, including rare and endangered species such as the diamond firetail, hooded robin, flame robin and black-chinned honeyeater.

“In heavily-grazed old-growth areas, on the other hand the ground between the trees is more open and less attractive to these types of woodland bird.”


Continued:  http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20122304-23333.html