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Monitoring trends in animal populations in arid regions is challenging due to remoteness and low population densities. However, detecting species' tracks or sign is an effective survey technique for monitoring population trends across large spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we developed a simulation framework to evaluate the performance of alternative track-based monitoring designs at detecting change in species distributions in arid Australia. We collated presence-absence records from 550 2-ha track-based plots for 11 vertebrates over 13 years and fitted ensemble species distribution models to predict occupancy in 2018. We simulated plausible changes in species' distributions over the next 15 years, and with estimates of detectability, simulated monitoring to evaluate the statistical power of three alternative monitoring scenarios: 1) when surveys were restricted to existing 2-ha plots; 2) when surveys were optimised to target all species equally; 3) when surveys were optimised to target two species of conservation concern. Across all monitoring designs and scenarios, we found that power was higher when detecting increasing occupancy trends compared to decreasing trends due to relatively low levels of initial occupancy. Our results suggest that surveying 200 of the existing plots annually (with a small subset re-surveyed twice within a year) will have at least an 80% chance at detecting 30% declines in occupancy for 4 of the 5 invasive species modelled and 1 of the 6 native species. This increased to 10 of the 11 species assuming larger (50%) declines. When plots were positioned to target all species equally, power improved slightly for most compared to the existing survey network. When plots were positioned to target two species of conservation concern (crest-tailed mulgara and dusky hopping mouse), power to detect 30% declines increased by 29% and 31% for these species, respectively, at the cost of reduced power for remaining species. The effect of varying survey frequency depended on its trade-off with the number of sites sampled and requires further consideration. Nonetheless, our research suggests that track-based surveying is an effective and logistically feasible approach for monitoring broad-scale occupancy trends in desert species with both widespread and restricted distributions.

If conservation depends on people, then community partnerships are the lynchpin to conservation success. The contribution of local knowledge, intellectual capital and volunteer labour not only saves project managers invaluable time and money, it fosters ownership and longevity into conservation initiatives well beyond their projected timeframe. Island communities are socially and culturally diverse and driven by a range of motivations. Hence, if we are to deliver conservation programs at scale, we need to better understand and embed these drivers into program design. We present four contemporary case studies on major populated islands in Australia where community collaborations are building the collective impact needed to underpin conservation success. They contain key learnings about community involvement, to help guide managers with future island planning and avoid some pitfalls.

Successful fauna reintroductions occur when the original causes of decline are addressed. When these causes are unclear, intensive post-release monitoring could help identify unknown threats and new management actions. We present an Australian case study involving a reintroduction of the threatened western quoll (Dasyurus geoffroii), a species whose decline was thought to have been caused primarily by predation from introduced foxes and habitat alteration. Intensive post-release monitoring occurred for 5 years after releasing 93 quolls into a semi-arid environment where foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were controlled but quolls had been absent for 130 years. Radiotracking and trapping results indicated that breeding occurred in all years after reintroduction, sufficient shelter sites were present and home ranges (245 ha for females, 2778 ha for males) were similar to other sites. Although cats (Felis catus) were previously considered a threat mainly to juveniles, they were a major threat to population establishment, responsible for the majority of adult quoll deaths recorded after each of three annual releases. Predation impacts were higher in smaller female quolls and quolls living in open habitats. Evidence for selective hunting was supported by the increasing male bias and declining population recorded during trapping. Monitoring results led to an intensification of cat control and suggested that feral cat predation was likely a significant contributor to the historical decline of the western quoll and previous reintroduction failures. This threat would not have been identified without intensive post-release monitoring. Quolls are still extant 7 years after release suggesting that reintroductions can be successful without identifying all causes of decline. Our intensive monitoring program and flexible management strategy were essential for understanding the factors influencing reintroduction success and implementing appropriate mitigation methods. Although logistically challenging and expensive, we urge other practitioners to conduct intensive post-release monitoring and flexible management for reintroductions of formerly widespread species where the original causes of decline are unclear.

Targeted threatened species management is a central component of efforts to prevent species extinction. Despite the development of a range of management frameworks to improve conservation outcomes over the past decade, threatened species management is still commonly characterised as ad hoc. Although there are notable successes, many management programs are ineffective, with relatively few species experiencing improvements in their conservation status. We identify underlying factors that commonly lead to ineffective and inefficient management. Drawing attention to some of the key challenges, and suggesting ways forward, may lead to improved management effectiveness and better conservation outcomes. We highlight six key areas where improvements are needed: 1) stakeholder engagement and communication; 2) fostering strong leadership and the development of achievable long-term goals; 3) knowledge of target species' biology and threats, particularly focusing on filling knowledge gaps that impede management, while noting that in many cases there will be a need for conservation management to proceed initially despite knowledge gaps; 4) setting objectives with measurable outcomes; 5) strategic monitoring to evaluate management effectiveness; and 6) greater accountability for species declines and failure to recover species to ensure timely action and guard against complacency. We demonstrate the importance of these six key areas by providing examples of innovative approaches leading to successful species management. We also discuss overarching factors outside the realm of management influence that can help or impede conservation success. Clear recognition of factors that make species' management more straightforward - or more challenging - is important for setting realistic management objectives, outlining strategic action, and prioritising resources. We also highlight the need to more clearly demonstrate the benefit of current investment, and communicate that the risk of under-investment is species extinctions. Together, improvements in conservation practice, along with increased resource allocation and re-evaluation of the prioritisation of competing interests that threaten species, will help enhance conservation outcomes for threatened species.

Translocation is an increasingly common component of species conservation efforts. However, translocated populations often suffer from loss of genetic diversity and increased inbreeding, and thus may require active management to establish gene flow across isolated populations. Assisted gene flow can be laborious and costly, so recipient and source populations should be carefully chosen to maximise genetic diversity outcomes. The greater stick-nest rat (GSNR, Leporillus conditor), a threatened Australian rodent, has been the focus of a translocation program since 1985, resulting in five extant translocated populations (St Peter Island, Reevesby Island, Arid Recovery, Salutation Island and Mt Gibson), all derived from a remnant wild population on the East and West Franklin Islands. We evaluated the genetic diversity in all extant GSNR populations using a large single nucleotide polymorphism dataset with the explicit purpose of informing future translocation planning. Our results show varying levels of genetic divergence, inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity in all translocated populations relative to the remnant source on the Franklin Islands. All translocated populations would benefit from supplementation to increase genetic diversity, but two—Salutation Island and Mt Gibson—are of highest priority. We recommend a targeted admixture approach, in which animals for supplementation are sourced from populations that have low relatedness to the recipient population. Subject to assessment of contemporary genetic diversity, St Peter Island and Arid Recovery are the most appropriate source populations for genetic supplementation. Our study demonstrates an effective use of genetic surveys for data-driven management of threatened species.

Monitoring of threatened species is a critical part of conserving biodiversity. It is needed to understand population trajectories, threatening processes, and the type and effectiveness of management responses needed to ensure persistence and recovery. Characteristics of some plant species (e.g. immobility) should render them amenable to monitoring, whereas other characteristics (e.g. ephemeral life histories) will make plant monitoring challenging. We evaluated monitoring adequacy and extent for a large sample (839 taxa) of Australia's threatened plants (1336 taxa) and compared this assessment with a similar evaluation for threatened vertebrates. We found 37.2% of threatened plants are monitored, half the rate found for vertebrates. For monitored plants, monitoring quality as assessed using a set of nine criteria was generally low, similar to results for vertebrates. Plants with more imperilled conservation status were more likely to be monitored and tended to have higher quality monitoring. Plants with recovery plans were more likely to be monitored than those without. The likelihood a species was monitored decreased the longer a taxon had been listed under threatened species legislation. Monitoring longevity was poor but inclusion of demographic data and linkages to management were better than for vertebrates. Our assessment highlighted a lack of collated monitoring data for plants, and we recognise there are exemplary programs for threatened plants that can guide improvements in monitoring for other species. Plants are overwhelmingly represented in threatened species lists worldwide and a determined focus to improve the extent and quality of plant monitoring should underpin biodiversity conservation targets.

In the last 30 years, islands and fenced exclosures free of introduced predators (collectively, havens) have become an increasingly used option for protecting Australian mammals imperiled by predation by introduced cats (Felis catus) and foxes (Vulpes vulpes). However, Australia's network of havens is not expanding in a manner that maximizes representation of all predator-susceptible taxa, because of continued emphasis on already-represented taxa. Future additions to the haven network will improve representation of mammals most efficiently if they fill gaps in under-represented predator-susceptible taxa, particularly rodents. A systematic approach to expansion could protect at least one population of every Australian predator-susceptible threatened mammal taxon by the addition of 12 new havens to the current network. Were the current haven network to be doubled in number in a systematic manner, it could protect three populations of every Australian predator-susceptible threatened mammal taxon.

Ten reintroduction attempts were conducted in and around the Arid Recovery Reserve in northern South Australia between 1998 and 2008. Five locally-extinct mammal species and one reptile species were reintroduced into a fenced Reserve where cats, foxes and rabbits were excluded. Reintroductions of the nationally threatened greater stick-nest rat, burrowing bettong, greater bilby and western barred bandicoot were all considered successful based on short and medium-term success criteria. These criteria included continued survival after 8 years, increased distribution across the large Reserve and, most importantly, recovery after a drought event. The trial reintroductions of the numbat and woma python into the Reserve were unsuccessful due to predation by native avian and reptilian predators respectively. Outside the Reserve, where cats and foxes were present but controlled through poison baiting, reintroduction attempts of the greater bilby and burrowing bettong were unsuccessful. High mortality was attributed to cat and fox predation with dingoes also contributing to post-release mortality in bettongs. However, a reintroduction of burrowing bettongs into a fenced area with low rabbit and cat abundance has, to-date, met short-term and medium-term success criteria. Results suggest that the absence or severe restriction of exotic mammalian predators was the critical factor responsible for the success of the mammal reintroductions. Determining thresholds of predator activity below which successful reintroduction of threatened species can occur, are needed to improve the science of reintroduction biology in Australia.

Abstract Greater stick-nest rats were widely distributed across southern Australia in pre-European times, but only survived as a single population on the Franklin Islands in South Australia. Conservation efforts since 1983 have included survey of the remaining population, establishment of a captive colony and subsequent translocations to both island and mainland sites. Translocations have met with mixed success, with four of 10 (three islands and one mainland site) successful and extant for 19–28 years, five unsuccessful (one island and four mainland sites) and one as yet indeterminate. Overall, the increase in number of populations, area of occupancy and extent of occurrence has been positive, and has resulted in a down-listing of conservation status. There are numerous plausible explanations for the lack of success at some sites, but few data to differentiate among them. These plausible explanations include: the release of stick-nest rats to habitats of poor quality; high levels of predation (perhaps hyperpredation) by native predators (chiefly monitors and predatory birds) in combination, at some sites, with predation by feral cats or foxes; and ineffective release protocols. Most extant populations have undergone substantial fluctuations over time, and some show apparent long-term declines in abundance, likely increasing their probability of local extinction over time. There is a need for regular ongoing monitoring – of stick-nest rats themselves, their habitat and their suite of potential predators – to aid interpretation of outcomes. A more experimental approach to future releases is required to adjudicate among competing explanations for such declines.

There is little information published on the distribution of Sphagnum moss in South Australia. Data on the known distribution of Sphagnum moss were compiled from South Australian Herbarium records, previous publications and information from field officers. A list of sites where Sphagnum moss was known to occur or might occur was prepared and as many of these sites were surveyed as possible during October 2006. Sphagnum was found not to form Sphagnum peatlands, as it does in other parts of eastern Australia and overseas, but tends to occur as a minor component in other peatland and/or heath vegetation communities. Sphagnum was most commonly found in conjunction with Melaleuca/Leptospermum heaths or Restionaceous sedge communities. Many of the sites surveyed showed signs of drying, including the desiccation of Sphagnum moss, the germination of Acacia melanoxylon seedlings and the presence of several weed species. 'Big Swamp' described as a Sphagnum peatland in 1939 (Crocker & Eardley) was found to contain only two minute patches of drying Sphagnum novo-zelandicum. Many sites were surrounded by weeds, with the hydrology of many catchments with Sphagnum moss affected by eucalypt and/or pine plantations. The small populations of Sphagnum novo-zelandicum and the threats posed by lower moisture availability indicate that this species should be listed as threatened in South Australia.

Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) are in decline across their range. Previous studies have found that the survival rate of young Malleefowl is low, the single greatest cause of mortality being predation by the introduced Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). Many of these studies, particularly those in New South Wales (NSW), were conducted in habitats that were heavily modified by fire, exotic herbivores or plant harvesting. In this paper, we examine the survival of Malleefowl in relatively undisturbed mallee habitats within two conservation reserves in South Australia (SA). Both reserves were long unburnt and free of large exotic herbivores, but differed greatly in understorey structure. Fifteen young captive-reared Malleefowl were released into each reserve. In all, 70% of these individuals were dead within 40 days. Fox predation was the prime cause of mortality, accounting for at least 30%, and perhaps as much as 96%, of all deaths. The extent and causes of mor- tality were similar in the two reserves. The overall level of Malleefowl survival was (1) better than that recorded in more disturbed habitat in NSW in the absence of any Fox control, but (2) substantially less than that in NSW after widespread Fox control was implemented. This study indicates that Malleefowl in SA are subject to significant levels of Fox predation, even in relatively undisturbed habitats. Also, for the two mallee habitats examined, evidence suggests that understorey structure had no influence on the degree of predation. Available data indicate that during the past two decades Malleefowl populations in SA have declined at about the same rate as those in NSW. Current densities in SA are typically about one- quarter of what they were 15 years ago. We conclude that habitat integrity and structure have little effect on the interaction between Foxes and Malleefowl, and suggest that Malleefowl populations across Australia are threatened by Foxes, placing the species at substantial risk of extinction.

This article is concerned with investigating some aspects of the usefulness of using genetic algorithms (GAs) for musical composition and to highlight some of their limitations. It also demonstrates the limited amount of work done so far in examining the output of GAs used in creative applications, rather than simply describing the architecture and functionality of such an algorithm, and the limited scope of work that has been undertaken. The article examines some approaches in musicology and composition that may help us to understand further how GAs could be applied to creative music tasks, and presents the IndagoSonus system as one possible application.

Context Over the last 230 years, the Australian terrestrial mammal fauna has suffered a very high rate of decline and extinction relative to other continents. Predation by the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and feral cat (Felis catus) is implicated in many of these extinctions, and in the ongoing decline of many extant species. Aims To assess the degree to which Australian terrestrial non-volant mammal species are susceptible at the population level to predation by the red fox and feral cat, and to allocate each species to a category of predator susceptibility. Methods We collated the available evidence and complemented this with expert opinion to categorise each Australian terrestrial non-volant mammal species (extinct and extant) into one of four classes of population-level susceptibility to introduced predators (i.e. ‘extreme’, ‘high’, ‘low’ or ‘not susceptible’). We then compared predator susceptibility with conservation status, body size and extent of arboreality; and assessed changes in the occurrence of species in different predator-susceptibility categories between 1788 and 2017. Key results Of 246 Australian terrestrial non-volant mammal species (including extinct species), we conclude that 37 species are (or were) extremely predator-susceptible; 52 species are highly predator-susceptible; 112 species are of low susceptibility; and 42 species are not susceptible to predators. Confidence in assigning species to predator-susceptibility categories was strongest for extant threatened mammal species and for extremely predator-susceptible species. Extinct and threatened mammal species are more likely to be predator-susceptible than Least Concern species; arboreal species are less predator-susceptible than ground-dwelling species; and medium-sized species (35 g–3.5kg) are more predator-susceptible than smaller or larger species. Conclusions The effective control of foxes and cats over large areas is likely to assist the population-level recovery of ~63 species – the number of extant species with extreme or high predator susceptibility – which represents ~29% of the extant Australian terrestrial non-volant mammal fauna. Implications Categorisation of predator susceptibility is an important tool for conservation management, because the persistence of species with extreme susceptibility will require intensive management (e.g. predator-proof exclosures or predator-free islands), whereas species of lower predator susceptibility can be managed through effective landscape-level suppression of introduced predators.

Conservation activities, including translocations of threatened species, are increasingly important priorities for conserving biodiversity and culture on Indigenous-managed lands, which occupy over 20% of the Australian landmass. In the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of north-western South Australia, the Warru Recovery Team reintroduced the threatened black-footed rock-wallaby (warru) to Wamitjara in May 2018. We outline the unique planning and logistical issues inherent in securing support and involvement of Traditional Owners and Indigenous rangers for predator, weed and fire management, cross-fostering, captive breeding, monitoring and translocation of the rock-wallabies. Altogether, the project cost AU$3.86 million (actual – AU$1.86 million, in kind – AU$2.00 million) over 10 years of preparation and one year of post-translocation monitoring. This consisted of AU$1.18 million for cross-fostering and captive breeding at Monarto Zoo and a further AU$0.55 million for the construction and maintenance of a fenced exclosure in the APY Lands. It is estimated that AU$0.51 million of the total costs were directly attributed to working remote and Indigenous-owned land, with most of the remaining costs typical of other reintroduction programs. Large-scale reintroduction opportunities on Indigenous-managed land can provide considerable conservation outcomes as well as delivering cultural objectives and supporting employment.

The aims of this chapter are twofold: to provide a succinct introduction to Evolutionary Computing, outlining the main technical details, and to raise issues pertinent to musical applications of the methodology. Thus this article should furnish readers with the necessary background needed to understand the remaining chapters, as well as opening up a number of important themes relevant to this collection.

The former distributions of stick-nest rats (Leporillus conditor and L. apicalis), both extinct on the Australian mainland since about the 1930s, were determined from literature reports, museum records, interview responses and field surveys of key areas. Population parameters were determined for L. conditor from early literature accounts, studies of remnant stick-nests in caves, a three-year study of the last known naturally-occurring populations on the Franklin Islands, records maintained for a captive-breeding program since 1986, and further population data obtained during systematic monitoring of reintroduced populations. Comparable data for L. apicalis could be obtained only from early literature accounts and remnant stick- nests in caves; this species has not been recorded since 1933 and is presumed extinct. Leporillus conditor is a predominantly ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodent of semi-arid, perennial shrubland habitats, which builds nests of interwoven sticks for protection from the elements and from predators. Leporillus apicalis apparently occupied similar habitats, often in sympatry with L. conditor, but extended its range further into the arid zone and may have had a more arboreal life-style and a more diverse diet, including invertebrates. The demise of both species from the mainland was almost certainly due to severe habitat degradation caused by introduced herbivores (mainly rabbits and sheep) before, and leading into, severe drought conditions. The resulting reduction in availability of food and cover also led to an increased vulnerability to predation (primarily by foxes, cats, dingoes and owls). In current L. conditor populations, females reproduce throughout the year and have well-defined home- ranges with relatively small core activity areas. Males have considerably larger home ranges. Predation by owls, especially barn owls (Tyto alba) is a significant cause of Leporillus mortalities, highlighting the importance of cover for the rats’ survival.

A famous actor of stage, screen and television appears in a new role in this account and criticism of trial by jury