Parks and Wildlife Service

Human-wildlife conflict is increasing at an alarming rate despite government efforts and local community support, posing a threat to both humans and wildlife species. Relief support for people affected by wildlife induced damage is a widely applied post-conflict mitigation approach. We reviewed relief provisions from government (policies, act, regulation, directives and five-year plan) and non-government organisations, including CBD, FAO, IUCN, and relevant peer-reviewed articles. The relief program was initiated through the Buffer Zone program at periphery of Chitwan National Park. The Buffer Zone Management Committee of Chitwan formed under ‘Buffer Zone Management Regulations, 1996, piloted a relief distribution practice in 1998 for wildlife damage using the 50% of the park’s revenue provided to buffer zone as per the regulations. This relief provision was designed as a compassionate measure to secure local community support for protected area management, offering cash support for losses of livestock, crops or in cases of human casualties. The Government established a legal mechanism of relief support payments to victims for wildlife caused damage through the Directive related to distribution of relief for wildlife caused damage 2009 under the provision of the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973, and its Regulations 1975. By incorporating one and half decades of lessons learnt, the most recent Directive was formulated in 2023 to provide relief support for damage caused by 16 wildlife species. Such a provision reduces economic risks to surrounding communities and is expected to minimize retaliatory killings of wildlife. The high number of human-wildlife conflict cases demands substantial financial resources, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of such relief programs. This has prompted the exploration of alternative measures to minimize human wildlife conflict, including endowment funds and crop and livestock insurance.

Abstract Sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus ) are anadromous fish that spend one to two years as haematophagous ectoparasites in marine environments. This study provides the first quantitative insight into their feeding phase, which remains poorly understood. We investigate the occurrence of P. marinus feeding on basking sharks ( Cetorhinus maximus ) in the Northeast Atlantic. Between 2011 and 2020, 775 records of basking sharks were collected via video, photographs and written observations. After quality control, 434 records were analysed. Of these, 41.8% showed lampreys attached. The number of lampreys per shark ranged from one to eight, with an average of 1.9 (± 1.4 SD). Lampreys were significantly more likely to attach to the ventral surface, although attachment site was not linked to shark sex. We discuss mechanisms of attachment, as well as the role of shark migratory behaviour and olfactory cues from coastal aggregations that may increase opportunities for P. marinus to attach. This study provides the first evidence of a significant ecological association between the two species, suggesting C. maximus may be a preferred or more accessible host. These findings offer new insight into lamprey ecology and may inform understanding of how this species could respond to future environmental change.

Context Djimaalap/noisy scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus) translocations between 1983 and 2018 have been a major management strategy for this cryptic semi-flightless songbird, which was once considered extinct. Aims We review 40 years of translocations, assessing the importance of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, Western Australia as a source of founders, and the role of translocations in Djimaalap/noisy scrub-bird recovery. Methods An evaluation of translocation successes and failures and the impact of removing birds from the Two Peoples Bay population when it was the only possible source. Research into territorial song to explain the social structure of scrub-birds, population genetics, habitat suitability, and the implications of learnings for future translocations. Key results Translocation has been the major contributor to an increase in the population index and Area of Occupancy, although removal of birds from Two Peoples Bay may have contributed to scrub-bird declines in this area. A more conservative approach to translocations was developed using small initial numbers of founders. Impacts of the translocation program on the genetic diversity of the metapopulation appear not to be significant. Conclusions Conservation translocations have been instrumental in securing and conserving the Djimaalap/noisy scrub-bird, with considerable spatial expansion of the species range, in spite of significant bushfires impacting habitat. Implications With the likelihood of unplanned fire increasing, and climate change likely to modify habitat, maximising the number of geographically distinct populations remains a priority for the conservation of the Djimaalap/noisy scrub-bird.

ABSTRACT The dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in two river waters were investigated after their catchments had been severely burnt in the 2019/20 Australian wildfires. Shortly after these wildfires, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were recorded at high levels (∼ 19 mg/L & 30 mg/L) and these became much lower (up to ∼80% less) in the following winter when river flows had increased. Satellite imagery-based data indicated up to 95% of catchment areas burnt and up to ∼50% subsequent vegetation recoveries after two years. Shifts in burn index values for the burnt areas coincided with DOC concentration variations. Specific colour of waters increased up to 40% as daily river flows increased, indicating higher input of humic content from the burnt catchments. Chlorophyll-a was detected at highest levels in waters soon after the fires when river flows were lowest. Enhanced alum doses were predicted using two feed-forward models; one based on DOC and turbidity data and the other based on UV@254nm, colour and turbidity. Doses predicted using the two models showed high correlations (r > 0.9) and were highest for waters directly after the fires. These models were developed for diverse source waters including those impacted by extreme climate events.

Abstract In recent years, the potential to locate endangered animals using scent trained detection dogs (conservation detection dogs) has gained attention. Among vertebrates, conservation detection dogs have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to detect the scent of endangered mammals, reptiles, and birds, but their use in detecting amphibians is only beginning to be explored. A lack of work in this area is surprising given that amphibians are declining faster than any other vertebrate taxa. Moreover, amphibians are generally small, highly cryptic and breed in complex habitats, making them difficult to locate for the purpose of monitoring or establishing conservation breeding programs. This study aimed to provide a preliminary investigation into whether conservation detection dogs can be imprinted on the scent of the critically endangered Baw Baw frog (Philoria frosti) under captive conditions, and then effectively trained to locate wild frogs in their complex natural habitat. Two conservation detection dogs were trained to identify and locate P. frosti scent under controlled conditions before assessing their ability to locate wild P. frosti. Both conservation detection dogs were effective at locating P. frosti scent under controlled conditions, and also demonstrated an ability to detect live frogs under natural conditions. From an applied perspective, our findings provide new evidence that conservation detection dogs are capable of learning to detect the scent of small, cryptic anuran species. They also indicate that detection dogs are capable of locating frogs in highly complex forest habitat, confirming their untapped potential to aid in the management of imperiled species that have previously proven difficult to detect, monitor, and protect. We discuss the limitations of our approach and provide recommendations to help direct future amphibian conservation detection dog research.

Small island populations are vulnerable to genetic decline via demographic and environmental stochasticity. In the absence of immigration, founder effects, inbreeding and genetic drift are likely to contribute to local extinction risk. Management actions may also have a greater impact on small, closed populations. The demographic and social characteristics of a species can, however, delay the impact of threats. K’gari, a ~ 1 660 km2 island off the Australian east coast and UNESCO World Heritage Site (Fraser Island 1842–2023), supports an isolated population of approximately 70–200 dingoes that represent an ideal opportunity to explore the small island paradigm. To examine temporal and spatial patterns of genetic diversity in this population we analysed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data (72 454 SNPS) for 112 K’gari dingoes collected over a 25-year period (1996 to 2020). Genetic diversity was lower in K’gari dingoes than mainland dingoes at the earliest time point in our study and declined significantly following a management cull in 2001. We did not find any spatial genetic patterns on the island, suggesting high levels of genetic connectivity between socially discrete packs. This connectivity, combined with the social structure and behaviour of dingoes, may act in concert to buffer the population from the impacts of genetic drift in the short term. Nevertheless, a general decline in genetic variation via inbreeding and drift has occurred over the past 20 years which we suggest should be considered in any future management planning for the population. Monitoring patterns of genetic variation, together with a clearer understanding of the social ecology of K’gari dingoes, will aid in the development of measurable genetic targets set over ecologically meaningful timelines, and help ensure continued survival of this culturally important population.

Background The Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) was implemented operationally throughout Australia in September 2022, providing calculation of fire danger forecasts based on peer-reviewed fire behaviour models. The system is modular and allows for ongoing incorporation of new scientific research and improved datasets. Aims Prior to operational implementation of the AFDRS, a Research Prototype (AFDRSRP), described here, was built to test the input data and systems and evaluate the performance and potential outputs. Methods Fire spread models were selected and aligned with fuel types in a process that captured bioregional variation in fuel characteristics. National spatial datasets were created to identify fuel types and fire history in alignment with existing spatial weather forecast layers. Key results The AFDRSRP demonstrated improvements over the McArthur Forest and Grass Fire Danger systems due to its use of improved fire behaviour models, as well as more accurately reflecting the variation in fuels. Conclusions The system design was robust and allowed for the incorporation of updates to the models and datasets prior to implementation of the AFDRS.

Being able to identify, map and monitor areas of different ecological quality of peatland habitats, or ecotypes, provides important information on spatial peatland condition, the potential for restoration of degraded areas and ecotype carbon (C) emission and/or sequestration capacity when coupled with known C-flux factors. Regular and accurate mapping of such ecotypes is also a requirement under the European Union (EU) Habitats Directive, and will be required in some form to help guide the framework and implementation of the upcoming EU Nature Restoration Law.Although the most precise way to identify the presence of certain ecotypes is via in-situ surveying, this approach clearly suffers from scaling issues, as it is only feasible in small selected peatlands (or even portions of them) and requires a lot of resources, e.g. skilled domain experts and time. A solution might come from remote sensing and Earth Observation technologies, which have been increasingly utilised to map the occurrence and extent of peatland environments in recent years. With this respect, the European Space Agency's Copernicus Program's Sentinel-2 satellite constellation could be a viable data source, as it allows for a multi-spectral, systematic and regular coverage of land surfaces with a spatial resolution up to 10 square metres and 5 days of revisit frequency. Nevertheless, the remote detection and mapping of ecotypes within the peatland complex itself is relatively under-studied and there is no currently accepted method that can be deployed at landscape scale. In this work we present a rather simple machine learning pipeline for ecotype detection at scale. The focus of this study are lowland peatlands, or raised bogs, in the Republic of Ireland. The pipeline assumes the existence of ground truth ecotype data (for machine learning training purposes), raised bogs map boundaries (shapefiles) and Sentinel-2 imagery. Both training, testing and validation datasets undergo the same pre-processing procedure. In the training step we train an ensemble of binary classifiers - specifically one multilayer perceptron network per ecotype - organised in a hierarchical fashion, to reduce the complexity of the problem. The ecotype classification would be done in a cascade - in accordance with the hierarchy - via canonical ensemble learning classification. The preliminary results gathered not only seems to indicate that our approach could provide reliable estimations about raised bog ecotype composition at scale, they also highlight the potential need for seasonal ensembles. Furthermore, we will present the results of a crowdsourcing experiment, in which domain experts were: (1) presented with ecotype map images, resulting from the inference of a plethora of ensemble classifiers of different settings and hyperparameters, and (2) asked to cast a vote on which image most closely resembled the related ground truth image.

The Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica) is well-known to be the most trafficked wildlife species due to its considerable economic value as a source of food and its purported medicinal value in traditional medicine. As a consequence of the rapid decline in their population numbers in the wild, conservationists were compelled to develop an ex-situ conservation plan for the species. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the ages and weight of Malayan pangolins kept in captivity at Sungkai Wildlife Conservation Centre, which is part of the ex-situ conservation effort undertaken by the Malaysian government through the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN). For a period of six months, the weight of seven Malayan pangolins born in captivity was recorded monthly. The data was then used to create a Pearson correlation coefficient graph which demonstrated a robust positive correlation between the weight and age of the pangolins. These findings can be utilized as a crucial reference for assessing the Malayan pangolin's health evaluation in captivity by determining whether they have attained an ideal weight for their age. Additionally, the findings from these studies can serve as a valuable reference for wildlife husbandry activity in the establishment of populations for the critically endangered Malayan pangolin in the enclosure.

Threatened species throughout the world are in decline due to various causes. In some cases, predators of conservation or cultural value are causing the decline of threatened prey, presenting a conservation conundrum for managers. We surveyed marine turtle nests on K'gari (formally known as Fraser Island), Australia, to investigate dingo predation of green and loggerhead turtle nests, where each of these species is of conservation value. Our monitoring revealed that 84% of nests were predated by dingoes. Only 16% of nests were not consumed by dingoes, and only 5.7% of nests were confirmed to have successfully hatched. Up to 94% of nests were consumed in some areas, and predation rates were similar across different dingo packs. Information on the available numbers of nests and dingoes in the area indicated that turtle nests alone are sufficient to support extant dingoes over the summer. These results indicate that marine turtle eggs represent a previously unquantified but important food source for dingoes on K'gari, and that turtle nests at this rookery site are under serious threat from dingoes. This research should highlight the importance of prioritising the protection of turtle nests from dingoes or risk losing the entire rookery forever in the near future.