Once the warmth of Spring hits eastern Australia, our research team races out to survey our long term monitoring sites for birds and reptiles. Spring is one of the best times to detect many species as they respond to warmer weather conditions. This September included surveys of the Murray Study sites as far west as Moulamein in New South Wales, sites in the heart of the South West Slopes in NSW, and sites as far north as Texas in Queensland for the Stewardship Study.
Read MoreLong term surveys yield new surprises
Six years into monitoring of the Environmental Stewardship Study and the research team is turning up a number of species outside their ranges, and new species to the study. Doing the rounds of the Stewardship Study sites isn’t easy. Over 300 monitoring sites across 153 properties require regular bird, reptile, and vegetation surveys. Furthermore, the sites are located from Narranderra in southern NSW, through to Warwick in Queensland. Despite running for 16 years, the research team is still recording new species.
Read MoreCrops and cows, rocks and logs – what habitat do reptiles need in the farming landscape?
It might seem common knowledge on where to find reptiles but ecological research is just catching up in defining the habitat requirements for many species. Our team recently classified the niche requirements for nearly forty species of reptiles in the temperate Box Gum Grassy Woodlands of south eastern Australia.
Read MoreWeighing in on woodland management: What scale is important for conserving reptiles on farms?
Increasing native vegetation cover in the landscape and improving the condition of small fragments of native vegetation are two strategies often used to improve wildlife on farms. For less mobile species, such as small lizards and snakes, we don’t yet have a clear understanding of how effective these two strategies are for improving their numbers. We decided to address this knowledge gap by studying reptiles over a 12 year period across a range of modified environments.
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