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The
distribution and status of Malleefowl in the wheatbelt of WA and the role
of landscape management in their conservation
Malleefowl
(Leipoa ocellata) are considered
to be a species under considerable threat across Australia. We developed a project to assess their
distribution and status in the Western Australian wheatbelt. The project, which was funded through the
Natural Heritage Trust via Avon
Catchment Council and WWF Australia,
commenced in 2005 and was completed in May 2008.
The
Malleefowl is a large (~2kg), sedentary, ground-dwelling bird that uses a combination
of fermentation and solar radiation to incubate its eggs in mounds. It is one of three species of mound
builders in Australia. The species
is listed as “vulnerable” under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
and in Western Australia, is listed as “fauna that is rare or is likely to
become extinct”.
A
juvenile male Malleefowl tending a mound (Photo credit: J. van der Waag).
Malleefowl are subject to a variety of
threatening processes within their Western Australian range, including land
clearing, fox predation, unsuitable fire regimes, and grazing of their
habitat by stock. The Western
Australian wheatbelt has been extensively cleared over the past 100 years
and vegetation remaining is typically small in area, fragmented, and
isolated. The scale of clearing
(>90% of all vegetation) has resulted in the wheatbelt being identified
as one of the most stressed landscapes in Australia and a major loss of
habitat for the Malleefowl.
Members
of the North Central Malleefowl Group checking an active mound (Photo
credit: B. Parsons)
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