Factors affecting patch occupancy by the white-browed treecreeper Climacteris Affinis in an agricultural landscape in north-west Victoria, Australia Radford, Jim and Bennett, Andrew 2006, Factors affecting patch occupancy by the white-browed treecreeper Climacteris Affinis in an agricultural landscape in north-west Victoria, Australia, Pacific conservation biology, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 195-206. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Factors affecting patch occupancy by the white-browed treecreeper Climacteris Affinis in an agricultural landscape in north-west Victoria, Australia Author(s) Radford, Jim Bennett, Andrew Journal name Pacific conservation biology Volume number 12 Issue number 3 Start page 195 End page 206 Publisher Surrey Beatty & Sons Place of publication Chipping Norton, N.S.W. Publication date 2006 ISSN 1038-2097 Keyword(s) agricultural landscapes climacteris affinis functional connectivity minimum area requirements threshold Summary The survival of habitat-dependent fauna within agricultural mosaics depends on their ability to occupy remnant habitat patches and move through the modified landscape. In north-west Victoria, Australia, less than 10% of the pre-European extent of Selah Casuarina pauper woodland remains intact due to agricultural development. The White-browed Treecreeper Climacteris affinis, is a small, insectivorous passerine that, in this region, preferentially inhabits Selah woodland. To assess the ability of C. affinis to persist in an agricultural landscape, 30 woodland sites in the Millewa landscape (34°30'S, 141°30'E) were surveyed, and patterns of patch occupancy used to examine the influence of spatial characteristics, landscape context and grazing by stock on the suitability of remnants as C. affinis habitat. Sites occupied by C. affinis were larger and less likely to be grazed by stock than vacant patches. The area-dependency of patch occupancy represents a step-threshold: C. affinis were not detected in remnants with less than 18.5 ha of Selah woodland but above this threshold, density was not correlated with patch area. Measures of patch isolation, the existence of linking linear "corridors" and tree density were not reliable indicators of patch occupancy. The presence of the species in remnants entirely surrounded by agricultural land suggests they are capable of crossing up to 450 m of cultivated land to prospect for habitat. The extensive network of linear vegetation and the numerous small remnants and scattered trees appear to facilitate movements of C. affinis in this landscape. Increasing the size of existing remnants, creating new habitat to expand the area of occupancy and maintaining landscape connectivity are priorities for the long-term management of this threatened species. Language eng Field of Research 050104 Landscape Ecology Socio Economic Objective 970105 Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2006, Surrey Beatty & Sons Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30003909 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Higher Education Research Group   Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Thu, 11 Jul 2013, 09:44:45 EST Mon, 22 Jul 2013, 11:29:08 EST Fri, 17 Oct 2014, 08:28:30 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 4 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 476 Abstract Views, 1 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 07 Jul 2008, 09:06:40 EST