Some theorists argue that plant and animal species introduced to new localities should be controlled only if they cause damage and not because they originated in another country; this warrants greater acceptance of introduced species as participants in new ecological associations in a rapidly changing world. To evaluate this concept and its relevance in setting directions for rabbit control in Australia, this idea is not only reviewed against information on the rabbit’s impact in Australian ecosystems but also against management policies, industrial drivers and social expectations. It is concluded that wild rabbits hold many natural Australian ecosystems in a degraded state and any beneficial ecological roles rabbits provide are small by comparison. Furthermore, rabbits can be controlled adequately to initiate ecosystem restoration. The idea that introduced rabbits should be more readily accepted as participants in new ecosystems is strongly counter-argued. Rabbits are not harmless passengers in Australian ecosystems and, to achieve ecosystem recovery, a high level of rabbit control is necessary.

Partitioning genetic variation into panmictic units is one of the most commonly used techniques in genetic studies of wild organisms. For conservation, the rationale is to identify units for management, most often referred to as populations. Describing these populations provides a measure of genetic differentiation, but they are only management units in relation to specific objectives. In situ conservation activities are mostly constrained to landscape (or ‘seascape’) units. With continuing habitat fragmentation, maintaining gene flow and genetic variation is an underlying objective for many conservation activities. Spatially explicit genetic approaches can describe how gene flow varies across a landscape, but the popular approach of identifying populations has limited and specific application. The statistical tests and sampling procedures used seldom allow for the spatial extent of genetic panmixia to be precisely defined. Gene flow, genetic variation and genetic detection of individual movements can be estimated without reference to populations. Furthermore, the term ‘population’ is used inconsistently in the literature and is often poorly defined. Formulating appropriate questions for management requires that the unit of study is clearly described, and often this could be organisms inhabiting defined areas of the landscape. Resources for conservation management are limited, so geneticists working on gene flow in wild organisms need to frame questions relevant to specific management needs and carefully consider the language and approaches employed.

Context . The use of artificial refuges is a common strategy for the conservation management of endangered species. However, artificial refuges may alter an animal’s natural behaviour that in turn may be detrimental to the species. The endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard from Australia is one species that will accept artificial burrows.

Aims . The aim of the present research was to determine whether the normal behaviour of the pygmy bluetongue lizards differed between artificial and natural burrows, so as to determine whether the existing artificial burrow is an optimal design for this species.

Methods . In the present study, we filmed the behaviour of lizards as they entered artificial and natural burrows. We compared the number of times a lizard entered a burrow, the time that lizards spent inspecting burrows, and the behaviours that lizards used when entering artificial and natural burrows.

Key results . We found that in natural burrows, lizards always entered head first, and then usually reversed direction inside, using an enlarged basal chamber, to sit with their head uppermost in the entrance. In artificial burrows, however, lizards had to enter head first, then reverse tail-first back out, and then reverse tail-first back into the burrow (so as to have their head facing upwards) We called this behaviour reversing from outside.

Key conclusion . The stereotyped reversing-from-outside behaviour when entering artificial burrows, and its occasional occurrence in natural burrows, suggest that it has evolved to allow lizards to use narrow burrows as well as those with a chamber, even though it can increase lizard’s surface activity and exposure to predation.

Implication . The reversing behaviour from outside the artificial burrow increases exposure to potential predators, and our observations suggest that a re-design of artificial burrows to incorporate internal space for turning around may improve their effectiveness in conservation management interventions.

Context . Anthropogenic disturbances induce physiological and behavioural responses in numerous species. The negative effects of human disturbance are of special concern to threatened and endangered species.

Aims . The present study aims to compare physiological stress measures and reproductive success of Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) living near roads with jays that live away from roads. Specifically, it aims to test whether roads are stressful.

Methods . We assessed physiological measures that can serve as indicators of ‘stress’ to determine whether a highway that bisects our study site had physiological effects on adult male Florida scrub-jays. We captured male breeders from three territory types, including scrub habitat that (1) bordered a highway with a grassy shoulder that created an ‘edge’ habitat (roadside), (2) bordered human-maintained habitat (a plowed firebreak of sand with adjacent pasture) that served as a control for the edge-effect of the road (pasture) and (3) contained only natural scrub habitat (interior). We measured baseline concentrations of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT), body mass, and a suite of longitudinal body measures to generate a body condition index in males from each territory type over three breeding seasons.

Key results . Roadside jays had greater body mass than did interior and pasture jays, although there were no differences in overall baseline CORT concentrations or body condition among territory classes. There was no difference in clutch initiation date or size and nestling and independent-young survival.

Conclusions . Our results suggest that the road through our study site has physiological effects on Florida scrub-jays; however, there is mixed evidence as to whether it acts as a chronic stressor.

Implications . Our findings provide evidence that roads and road-associated disturbance has neutral or potentially beneficial physiological effects of roads on Florida scrub-jays. Knowledge of these effects of roads and disturbance on jays will hopefully provide additional opportunities to improve conservation of this species.

Context. The most common methods to estimate detection probability during avian point-count surveys involve recording a distance between the survey point and individual birds detected during the survey period. Accurately measuring or estimating distance is an important assumption of these methods; however, this assumption is rarely tested in the context of aural avian point-count surveys.

Aims. We expand on recent bird-simulation studies to document the error associated with estimating distance to calling birds in a wetland ecosystem.

Methods. We used two approaches to estimate the error associated with five surveyor’s distance estimates between the survey point and calling birds, and to determine the factors that affect a surveyor’s ability to estimate distance.

Key results. We observed biased and imprecise distance estimates when estimating distance to simulated birds in a point-count scenario (_error = –9 m, s.d._error = 47 m) and when estimating distances to real birds during field trials (_error = 39 m, s.d._error = 79 m). The amount of bias and precision in distance estimates differed among surveyors; surveyors with more training and experience were less biased and more precise when estimating distance to both real and simulated birds. Three environmental factors were important in explaining the error associated with distance estimates, including the measured distance from the bird to the surveyor, the volume of the call and the species of bird. Surveyors tended to make large overestimations to birds close to the survey point, which is an especially serious error in distance sampling.

Conclusions. Our results suggest that distance-estimation error is prevalent, but surveyor training may be the easiest way to reduce distance-estimation error.

Implications. The present study has demonstrated how relatively simple field trials can be used to estimate the error associated with distance estimates used to estimate detection probability during avian point-count surveys. Evaluating distance-estimation errors will allow investigators to better evaluate the accuracy of avian density and trend estimates. Moreover, investigators who evaluate distance-estimation errors could employ recently developed models to incorporate distance-estimation error into analyses. We encourage further development of such models, including the inclusion of such models into distance-analysis software.

Context. Changes in global climate and evidence of species’ responses to these changes have increased interest in relationships between climate variables and species demography and distributions. Although an important tool for many ecological questions, large-scale climate indices fail to provide the spatial resolution necessary to investigate drivers of change across small spatial scales. Climate variables that describe yearly climate variation at large spatial extents and small spatial grain are needed.

Aim. Here we develop a model for snow depth using snow water equivalent (SWE) data, which are readily available in a number of formats, to be included in a more general climate index. We use an existing winter severity index (WSI) for white-tailed deer to test the performance of the model.

Methods. We obtained data for 13 weather stations from north-western Canada, reporting both SWE and snow depth. We accumulated a snowpack from daily SWE of snowfall and then tested two methods for converting the SWE of the snowpack into the snow portion of the WSI. We then generalised the model for application to the northwest forest climate region.

Key results. Coefficients of determination (R²) relating the actual and predicted snow depth portion of the WSI ranged from 0.41 to 0.78, with only three stations being below 0.50. Coefficients of determination (R²) relating the actual and predicted WSI for the northwest climate region ranged from 0.58 to 0.88.

Conclusions. The SWE model predicts the snow portion of the WSI well for most stations and, when incorporated into the full WSI, provides a good measure of relative winter severity across space and time for most stations.

Implications. The method developed here could be applied elsewhere, where snow depth is an important factor in species ecology. The benefit of this approach is a comparatively simple method that maximises the use of widely available SWE data in place of snow-depth data.

Context. We assessed the effects of egg oiling on ground-nesting double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the context of an emerging management strategy for the largest known cormorant colony on the lower Great Lakes. We designed the present study to answer specific questions in response to concerns raised by stakeholders and members of the public regarding this management technique.

Aims. The aim of the present study was to examine the behavioural response of adult cormorants to egg oiling. Prior work on this issue has focussed on population-response questions rather than the behavioural level. Consequently, detailed observations on how cormorants respond to egg oiling are lacking.

Methods. Using instantaneous and focal observations to measure behaviours, we compared Treatment nests (n = 24, 23) to Control (n = 24) and Sham (handled, but not treated; n = 24) nests. We observed nest attendance, incubation and mate-presence behaviour, and divided observations into pre-chick and entire-season categories for analysis.

Key results. Our study determined that egg oiling does not cause immediate nest desertion by adult birds; Treatment birds incubated their nests as long as did Sham and Control birds. We found no difference among the three groups in the proportion of time a mate was present during incubation for Control and Sham nests in the pre-chick period. We found that the total seasonal duration of nest attendance by Treatment birds was shorter than that for the birds in the other groups.

Conclusions. Both incubation and mate-presence data suggest that egg oiling did not measurably affect the behaviour of adult cormorants in the pre-chick period. Our study also suggests that Treatment birds attended their nest long enough to preclude re-nesting within the breeding season, although this may not apply for regions with longer nesting seasons.

Implications. Our study indicates that egg oiling, administered judiciously, may be an appropriate management technique for ground-nesting cormorants, although management targets must be clearly articulated.

Context. North American waterfowl managers have long suspected that waterfowl harvest estimates derived from national harvest surveys in the USA are biased high. Survey bias can be evaluated by comparing survey results with like estimates from independent sources.

Aims. We used band-recovery data to assess the magnitude of apparent bias in duck and goose harvest estimates, using mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) as representatives of ducks and geese, respectively.

Methods. We compared the number of reported mallard and Canada goose band recoveries, adjusted for band reporting rates, with the estimated harvests of banded mallards and Canada geese from the national harvest surveys. We used the results of those comparisons to develop correction factors that can be applied to annual duck and goose harvest estimates of the national harvest survey.

Key results. National harvest survey estimates of banded mallards harvested annually averaged 1.37 times greater than those calculated from band-recovery data, whereas Canada goose harvest estimates averaged 1.50 or 1.63 times greater than comparable band-recovery estimates, depending on the harvest survey methodology used.

Conclusions. Duck harvest estimates produced by the national harvest survey from 1971 to 2010 should be reduced by a factor of 0.73 (95% CI = 0.71–0.75) to correct for apparent bias. Survey-specific correction factors of 0.67 (95% CI = 0.65–0.69) and 0.61 (95% CI = 0.59–0.64) should be applied to the goose harvest estimates for 1971–2001 (duck stamp-based survey) and 1999–2010 (HIP-based survey), respectively.

Implications. Although this apparent bias likely has not influenced waterfowl harvest management policy in the USA, it does have negative impacts on some applications of harvest estimates, such as indirect estimation of population size. For those types of analyses, we recommend applying the appropriate correction factor to harvest estimates.

Context . The behavioural response of animals to repeated trapping has implications for correction of population and monitoring indices that use catch per unit effort. Failure to account for sprung traps introduces biases into estimates of relative abundance. The time when animals get caught in live traps is often ignored, but it can provide important information about temporal movement patterns relevant to this issue.

Aims . We assessed changes in the behaviour of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), a nocturnal marsupial, in response to repeated trapping and evaluated the potential benefit of correcting a commonly used index of abundance by using time-of-capture information.

Methods . Possums were live-trapped for three nights each month over a 20-month period in baited cage traps in a 6-ha area of native lowland forest in the southern North Island, New Zealand. Trapped possums were individually identified on first capture. Timing devices were attached to the traps to measure how long after sunset traps were sprung and how that time related to the duration of the trap-night (sunset to sunrise).

Key results . Possums were trapped, on average, ∼1.25 h after sunset. Traps triggered other than by possums were sprung on average 1–2 h later. Possums caught on the first night of a trapping session were caught significantly earlier than those caught on subsequent nights. Previous capture influenced the time of subsequent capture in a trapping session in complex ways, and recapture times were generally earlier than times of first capture. Possums were captured, on average, after 11% of the duration of a trap-night and traps were triggered by animals other than possums, on average, after 22% of the duration of a trap-night.

Conclusions . The data on time of capture of possums and triggering of sprung traps suggested a need to alter the commonly used correction factor for population indices for possums, because, on average, traps were sprung for significantly more of each trapping interval (i.e. trap-night) than the half a trap-night assumed in the correction factor.

Implications . Better understanding of possum foraging behaviour is a key to more effective control using traps. In that context, more research is needed to understand the reasons for individual differences in trappability. Although it is theoretically desirable to account for sprung traps when trapping is used to index populations, to reduce biases in estimates of relative abundance, correction of the standardised residual trap-catch index for possums is probably unimportant in practical terms, because most possum control reduces numbers to levels (2–5% trap catch) at which correction of the index is unimportant. The principal exception to this is likely to be when there is a high level of non-target interference from rodents.

Context . Estimates of the sex ratio of a population are a common summary statistic used for ecological studies and conservation planning. However, methods to determine the sex ratio often ignore capture probability, which can lead to a perceived bias in the sex ratio when the sexes are detected at different rates.

Aims . To illustrate the bias from conventional count-based analysis methods for determining sex ratio by comparison with analytical methods that include capture probability.

Methods . Closed-population mark–recapture analysis was used to determine the population size of each sex within a population of green and golden bell frogs (Litoria aurea). This was then compared with the traditional count-based methods of estimating sex ratio to determine the effect of incorporating capture probability on the sex ratio estimate.

Key results . More males than females were detected during surveys, producing a male-biased sex ratio when there was no incorporation of capture probability. Mark–recapture results indicated a similar population size between the two sexes, suggesting that the sex ratio is closer to even.

Conclusions . Methods to estimate sex ratio that incorporate capture probability can significantly reduce the bias obtained from count data.

Implications . We suggest that population studies must incorporate capture probability to determine the sex ratio of a population.

Context. Traffic noise is believed to cause road avoidance and other barrier effects in a variety of wildlife species, and to force changes to call pitch or loudness in others; however, this has never been tested in the absence of other road impacts. Noise impacts on species that do not frequently vocalise are also poorly understood. We investigated traffic-noise impacts on the following three rainforest mammals that do not often vocalise: Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, Uromys caudimaculatus and Perameles nasuta. These species have previously been observed to exhibit varying levels of road avoidance.

Aims. To determine whether traffic noise affects movement and behaviour of medium-sized, ground-dwelling rainforest mammals in the absence of other road-associated variables and potential impacts. We hypothesised that noise impacts would be greatest for species previously shown to avoid roads. Noise impacts on these less vocal species compared with more vocal species is also discussed.

Methods. In north-eastern Queensland, Australia, mammals captured at least 500 m from any road were tracked after fitting with spool-and-line equipment. On noisy nights, traffic noise at levels similar to a busy highway was played continuously throughout the night from a line of 12 speakers mounted on trees. Speakers were silent on quiet nights.

Key results. Traffic noise caused no increase in avoidance of the speaker line and was not a barrier to movements across the line. Overall, movement paths on noisy nights appeared similar in pattern (tortuosity) to those of quiet nights. At a finer scale, movements of H. moschatus and P. nasuta became more tortuous later in the track, suggesting a return to normal foraging behaviour and possible habituation to the noise.

Conclusions. These three species with varying levels of previously recorded road avoidance, did not respond negatively to traffic noise. There was, however, a suggestion of habituation by H. moschatus and P. nasuta in response to the noise.

Implications. The demonstrated lack of response to traffic noise in these less vocal species means that traffic noise is unlikely to cause road avoidance or barrier effects. Instead, lack of response and possible habituation to traffic noise may increase vulnerability to road mortality.

Context . Habitat degradation and fragmentation of vegetation can transform and deplete local wildlife populations, and is a key threatening process globally. In northern Australian tropical savannas, clearing is relatively rare across the biome, although it is slowly intensifying as a result of increasing agricultural development. However, the terrestrial vertebrates in these largely intact landscapes are undergoing current population declines because of a variety of land-management changes, one of which is increasing land clearing; therefore, there is a need to understand the relative effect of small-scale land clearing the fauna.

Aims . The present study examined the variation in abundance of birds, mammals and reptiles in intact, thinned and cleared Eucalyptus woodlands in a tropical savanna bioregion.

Methods . The vertebrate fauna were sampled in 88 sites over two general geographic locations within the Desert Uplands in 2005 and 2006. Standardised 1-ha surveys were employed in a single vegetation type and across three treatments. As two discrete locations were examined, linear mixed models were used in the analysis.

Key results . The fauna composition varied significantly across the intact, thinned and cleared sites. Bird species richness reduced from intact to thinned and cleared sites, and reptile richness and abundance declined in cleared sites, but was largely unaffected by thinning. Seventeen bird species recorded significant variation in abundance across the three vegetation structural types, with 12 most abundant in the intact sites. Mammals on the whole were recorded in very low abundances and in few sites. For reptiles, two were most abundant in thinned sites and three in intact sites.

Conclusions . In the present study, we have demonstrated that small-scale clearing and vegetation manipulation via thinning, even within largely intact tropical savanna woodland, can cause localised depletion of some species, although most notably where the vegetation disruption was most severe (i.e. clearing). Birds are most affected, and many species that declined in abundance are the same as those that suffered severe population reductions as a result of broad-scale clearing in south-eastern Australia.

Implications . The proposed increase in the intensity of agricultural land use in northern Australia will result in incremental landscape change as a result of clearing. Understanding how the gradual reduction of vegetation cover and habitat will change the faun assemblage is important for pre-emptive conservation planning. This is vital to avoid the mistakes of extensive landscape change in southern Australia that has left a legacy of a permanently depleted fauna.