Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:04:01.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wetland herpetofauna of Kakadu National Park, Australia: seasonal richness trends, habitat preferences and the effects of feral ungulates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Gordon R. Friend  and
Kevyn M. Cellier
Gordon R. Friend
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Rangelands Research, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory 5789, Australia
Kevyn M. Cellier
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Mathematics and Statistics, Private Bag, PO, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The abundance and distribution of reptiles and amphibians inhabiting tropical monsoonal wetlands in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia, were monitored between late 1979 and 1982. Seasonal trends in species richness, and the influence of various environmental attributes (including those caused by feral ungulates) on species distribution patterns were also examined.

These wetlands support a high proportion of the amphibian species known from the Park, but are of less importance to reptiles. Within the wetlands, the structurally more complex forested ‘margins’ support many more species than the treeless floodplains. Amphibian species distributions seem to be influenced primarily by elevation, through its effects on soil moisture and flooding levels, while reptile distribution patterns reflect a more complex set of environmental factors, with structural attributes (e.g. vegetation height structure and cover, refuge abundance, leaf litter cover and depth, extent of flooding) being of prime importance.

Feral buffalo and pigs, through their grazing, trampling and wallowing, may considerably influence such structural attributes and change the duration and extent of water lie, and thus indirectly affect species distribution patterns. Current buffalo culling programmes provide an opportunity to monitor vegetation and faunal changes, and quantify feral animal impact post facto.

Keywords

amphibiaAustraliaferal ungulateshabitat preferencesKakadu National Parkmonsoonal tropicsreptilesspecies richness
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 131 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Barbault, R. 1983. Reptiles in savanna ecosystems. Pp. 325–336 in Bourliere, F. (ed.). Ecosystems of the world. No. 13 – Tropical Savannas. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, R. W. 1987. Effects of fire regimes on lizards in the wet-dry tropics of Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 3:265–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, R. W., Dudzinski, M. L., Ridpath, M. G. & Parker, B. S. 1984. The impact of water buffalo on the monsoon forest ecosystem in Kakadu National Park. Australian Journal of Ecology 9:309–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, R. W., Friend, G. R. & Wombey, J. C. 1988. Reptiles and amphibians. In Ridpath, M. G., Haynes, C. D. & Williams, M. A. J. (eds). Monsoonal Australia: Landscape, ecology and man. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam (in press).Google Scholar
Cogger, H. G., Cameron, E. E. & Cogger, H. M. 1983. Amphibia and reptilia. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 1. Australian Government Publishing Service. 313 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cogger, H. G. & Lindner, D. A. 1974. Frogs and reptiles. Pp. 63–107 in Frith, H. J. & Calaby, J. H. (eds). Fauna survey of the Port Essington District, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory of Australia. CSIRO Division of Wildlife Research Technical Paper 28.Google Scholar
DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION 1979. Feral animals in the Northern Territory. Northern Territory Government. 234 pp.Google Scholar
Fogarty, P. 1982. A preliminary survey of environmental damage associated with activity of feral buffalo. Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory Technical Report. 88 pp.Google Scholar
Friend, G. R. 1984. Relative efficiency of two pitfall-drift fence systems for sampling small vertebrates. Australian Zoology 21:423–433.Google Scholar
Friend, G. R. & Taylor, J. A. 1984. Ground surface features attributable to feral buffalo, Bubalus bubalis II their relationship to the abundance of small animal species. Australian Wildlife Research 11:311–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. D. 1985. The pattern and ecology of munwag: traditional Aboriginal fire regimes in northcentral Arnhemland. Proceedings of Ecological Society of Australia 13:203–214.Google Scholar
Heatwole, H. 1977. Habitat selection in reptiles. Pp. 137–155 in Gans, C. & Tinkle, D. W. (eds). Biology of the reptilia: Ecology and behaviour. Vol. 7. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Heatwole, H. & Sexton, O. J. 1966. Herpetofaunal comparisons between two climatic zones in Panama. American Midland Naturalist 75:45–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inger, R. F. 1980. Densities of floor-dwelling frogs and lizards in lowland forests of Southeast Asia and Central America. American Naturalist 115:761–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, C. D. & Shine, R. 1985. The seasonal timing of reproduction: a tropical-temperate comparison in Australian lizards. Oecologia (Berlin) 67:464–474.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1976. The depression of reptile biomass by large herbivores. American Naturalist 110:371–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, R. 1980. Hunters in the Australian coastal savanna. Pp. 107–146 in Harris, D. R. (ed.). Human ecology in savanna environments. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lamotte, M. 1983. Amphibians in savanna ecosystems. Pp. 313–323 in Bouliere, F. (ed.). Ecosystems of the world No. 13 - Tropical savannas. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Martin, K. C. & Freeland, W. J. 1988. Herpetofauna of a northern Australian monsoon forest: seasonal changes and relationships to adjacent habitats. Journal of Tropical Ecology 4:227–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller-Dombois, D. & Ellenberg, H. 1974. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. John Wiley & Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Scott, N. J. 1982. The herpetofauna of forest litter plots from Cameroon, Africa. Pp. 145–150 in Scott, N. J. (ed.). Herpetological communities. US Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Research Report 13, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sexton, O. J., Heatwole, H. & Knight, D. 1964. Correlation of microdistribution of some Panamanian reptiles and amphibians with structural organization of the habitat. Caribbean Journal of Science 4:261–295.Google Scholar
Simbotwe, M. P. 1985. Distribution patterns in a wetland herpetofaunal assemblage of the Kafue Flats, Zambia. Black Lechwe 7:12–16.Google Scholar
Simbotwe, M. P. & Friend, G. R. 1985. Comparison of the herpetofaunas of tropical wetland habitats from Lochinvar National Park, Zambia and Kakadu National Park, Australia. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 14:141–151.Google Scholar
Storr, G. M. & Smith, L. A. 1977. Amphibians and reptiles of the Drysdale River National Park, North Kimberley, Western Australia. Pp. 97–101 in Kabay, E. D. & Burbidge, A. A. (eds). A biological survey of the Drysdale River National Park North Kimberley, Western Australia, in August 1975. Wildlife Research Bulletin of Western Australia No. 6, 113 pp.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. A. & Friend, G. R. 1984. Ground surface features attributable to feral buffalo, Bubalus bubalis I their distribution relative to vegetation structure and plant lifeform. Australian Wildlife Research 11:303–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J. A. & Tulloch, D. G. 1985. Rainfall in the wet-dry tropics: extreme events at Darwin and similarities between years during the period 1870–1983 inclusive. Australian Journal of Ecology 10:281–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulloch, D. G. 1970. Seasonal movements and distribution of the sexes in the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis in the Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Zoology 18:399–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, M. J. 1976. Frogs. Collins, Sydney. 256 pp.Google Scholar
Tyler, M. J., Crook, G. A. & Davies, M. 1983. Reproductive biology of the frogs of the Magela Creek system, Northern Territory. Records of the South Australian Museum 18:414–440.Google Scholar