Warning. This article contains names and/or images of deceased Aboriginal Peoples.

Context. The global biological-diversity crisis has resulted in a widespread uptake of market mechanisms to promote conservation. Despite widespread recognition of Indigenous-led contribution to biodiveristy conservation, market mechanisms are often derived from Western scientific approaches that do not appropriately incorporate Indigenous cultural values and objectives.

Aims. This research sought to produce a proof-of-concept case study for a novel ‘Biocultural Credit Assessment Framework’ (BCAF) to facilitate design of an Indigenous-led biocultural conservation project in response to ongoing decline of culturally significant fauna in north-eastern Arnhem Land, Australia. The BCAF is underpinned by Indigenous identification of project dimensions, combining biological and cultural values and aspirations, which could form assessable foundations of a potential Indigenous-led biocultural credit project.

Methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Yolŋu Elders over 2 days. A three-stage thematic analysis using pre-defined coding categories and both latent and semantic level analysis were used to elucidate key components of a biocultural project from Elder responses, including biocultural concerns, actions, targets and indicators.

Key results. Yolŋu Elders expressed six key concerns about local fauna, including the following: that some animals were no longer seen; youth were not learning cultural knowledge; invasive-species impacts; reliance on shop food; and Western influences. These concerns were linked to three key targets, including improved cultural transmission, access and use of more bush foods, and seeing ‘species of decline’ again. Ten key indicator groups assessed by a mix of Indigenous and Western methodologies were identified and revolved around biophysical and cultural learning parameters to measure the impact of actions to progress targets. In total, six actions were identified, including spending more time on Country, science-based environmental management strategies and knowledge sharing.

Conclusions. The BCAF elucidated key components of an Indigenous-led biocultural conservation project as identified by Elders. A mix of biophysical and cultural learning indicators assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively could be used to feed into a potential biocultural credit market to enhance project delivery.

Implications. Further research is required to progress this conceptual framework with Cultural Advisors and real financial partners to further elucidate challenges, opportunities, and next steps towards an inclusive biocultural market.

Context. Adoption and refinement of monitoring and management techniques is important for improving the conservation status of threatened fauna, especially in remote areas with high logistical and financial costs. In Australia, many of these remote conservation projects are conducted by Traditional Owners and Indigenous Ranger groups, with input and support from various stakeholders including government and non-government organisations, and third-party ecologists. A collaborative approach to project development and adaptive management in response to stakeholder objectives is essential for long-term project success.

Aims. In the remote context of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, we collaboratively develop a sustainable and robust monitoring and management method for warru (black-flanked rock wallabies) that recognises the skills, interests, and capacity of all project members. In developing this method over 22 years, we also evaluate the influence of rainfall and predator-control strategies on warru populations to inform optimised management.

Methods. Practical and economic capabilities and preferences of both Traditional Owners and external scientists for monitoring and management actions were evaluated. Data from long-term cage trapping, and scat and spotlight counts of warru were compared with population trajectories, annual rainfall, and management strategies.

Key results. Population indices with lower resource requirements, such as scat and spotlight counts, provide trends consistent with more resource-intensive capture–mark–recapture studies. The warru scat index was negatively associated with the scat index for a competing herbivore (kanyala, euro). Warru growth rates were positively influenced by rainfall. Contrary to initial results from other regions, warru populations declined during periods when we undertook predator baiting. By contrast, targeted shooting of feral cats and foxes was associated with increased warru population growth rates.

Conclusions. These results suggest that a minimum of four groups of five scat quadrats in prime refuge areas and equivalent sampling in prime feeding zones (total 40 quadrats) is appropriate for rock-wallaby monitoring. Predator control via shooting appears preferable to baiting, which may have negative effects by removing dingoes, which prey on the competing kanyala.

Implications. Predator control via shooting is an effective way to support warru populations, and repeated scat counts are an effective monitoring approach for warru.

Nganana, ngurintjaku ngaranyi, panya yaaltji-yaaltjingkula. Anangu Tjuta alpamilalku kuka panya mawiyaringkunytja tjuta atunymara kanyintjaku ngurangka.

Waaka tjutawanungkula nyakukatingi munu numpa tjuta tjunangi munu alpamilaningi warru tjuta New Well-lawanu. Waaka nyanga paluru ngarakatingi, 1999-nguru, 2021 ku wangkara. Warruku kuna tjutala nyangangi munu nampa tjunangi munula nyangangi tili pulkawanungku palunyatjananya nyakunytjikitjangku. Nganana kulira witinintjikitjangku palya warru nyakunytjikitjangku, palu mani pulka munu waaka kunpu warru witintjaku. Nyanga paluru wirunya ngarangi munu mani tjukutjuku, ka alatjingkalta Anangu tjutaku kutjupa kutjupa tjutaku mani ma-tjunkuku.

Nganana wangkanyi panya alatji palyantjaku. Panya manta 8-pala ngaranyi. Kala alatji pukarangku warruku kuna tjuta nampa tjunkuku, manta 8-pala nyara palulanguru.

Warru Tjuta winkiringu kapingku pulkara year winkingku puintjitjangka munu ngaya inura tjuta, papa inura tjutakulula pauningi nyara palularangka. Palu patjina tjunkuntjitjangku ma-mankurparingu munu kanyala tjutangku warru tjutaku mai ngalkula wiyaningi. Patjinangkukula papa inura tjuta iluntanangi panya papa paluru tjana kanyala munu papa panya nyatji pulkanya patjara ngalkupayi. Ka ngaya inura tjuta munu papa inura nyantji pulka tjutakutju nyakukatinytjaku munu palunyatjananya kutja iluntankutjaku. Alatjikula mukuringanyi palyantjikitja.

This article uses Yarning with Country as a methodological approach where Country plays a pivotal role as an active participant. Our focus is on examining how we learn from and establish respectful, reciprocal, and accountable relationships with Country, as told through the eyes and experiences of knowledge holders, in this case, Doc Reynolds. The knowledge shared about the importance and meaning of Country contributes to advancing ecological-research methodologies to better acknowledge and learn from Indigenous knowledge systems, offering insights into sustainable practices and community engagement within landscapes. This body of knowledge serves as an invitation for Australians to reconceptualise Country, envisioning it both as a noun and a verb. As a noun, Country represents the physical landscape and environment, imbued with cultural significance and history. As a verb, it highlights the dynamic and interactive relationships that exist between people and their environment. This dual understanding encourages a deeper engagement with Country, that it is not merely a backdrop for human activity but a living entity that requires care, respect, and ongoing dialogue.

Context. Wild ungulates are an important component of natural ecosystems and one of the most important ecological groups of grassland ecosystems. The goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) is a species widely distributed in arid and semi-arid desert regions and is listed on the IUCN Red List (2016) as a threatened, vulnerable species at high risk for extinction in the wild. Goitered gazelle often lives in vast habitats; however, it is not yet clear how they adapt to isolated ‘islands’.

Aims. We selected an international nature reserve in the arid region of central Ningxia, China, as our study area, trying to understand how the goitered gazelle adapts to this microenvironment from the perspectives of habitat and diet.

Methods. We employed the optimized maximum entropy model and DNA metabarcoding to investigate the species’ suitable habitat distribution and feeding habits.

Key results. The results showed that the MaxEnt model performed well, with an area under curve value of 0.896 and a true skill statistic value of 0.704 for predicting the species distribution. Suitable habitats accounted for 80.9% of the total area of the reserve. Annual mean temperature, and elevation, together with the distance from water source were the critical factors that affected the goitered gazelle distribution range. Sequencing analysis indicated that among the 35 fecal samples collected, there were 18 plant families, and 21 genera annotated. The bulk food of goitered gazelle was Fabaceae and Rosaceae.

Conclusions. Water sources and altitude significantly influenced the distribution of the goitered gazelle. Trnl, as a DNA barcode, holds potential in the dietary analysis of goitered gazelles and can serve as a complement to traditional research methods.

Implications. This study confirmed the reliability of the optimized maximum entropy model for predicting suitable habitats at a small scale, and it is the first to apply DNA metabarcoding technology to the dietary analysis of the goitered gazelle. We also have more knowledge about how the goitered gazelle adapts to the isolated island habitat, laying the foundation for better protection of this species in the future.

Context. Lethal 1080 baiting to control invasive predators, or to reduce livestock predation by canids, is a widespread management tool used throughout Australia and New Zealand. Techniques to reduce the impact of 1080 baiting on non-target species exist, but their efficacy, including effects of environmental variation and disturbance on baiting outcomes, remains poorly understood.

Aims. We aimed to experimentally quantify the extent to which target and non-target species dig up and consume buried baits, and to examine how habitat variation and fire affect such interactions.

Methods. Remote cameras were deployed for 70 days to monitor the fate of non-toxic baits in the semi-arid Big Desert-Wyperfeld region of southeastern Australia. Species digging up or eating baits (collectively ‘bait interactions’) were identified, and the effects of environmental factors on bait interaction rates were assessed.

Key results. Non-target species accounted for 128 (88%) of 146 total bait interactions, primarily native mice species. Target species interacted with fewer baits and took longer to record bait interactions, with foxes (Vulpes vulpes) averaging 41 days for 17 bait interactions and one dingo (Canis familiaris/Canis dingo) taking 60 days, whereas native mice interactions occurred after ~13 days. At sites where foxes and dingoes were detected, both target species almost always interacted with baits (83%), whereas non-target species interacted with baits at less than half of the sites they were detected (42%). Areas with greater variation in fire frequency (pyrodiversity) and mid-successional vegetation were associated with more native mice-bait interactions.

Conclusions. Non-target species interacted with baits more often and sooner than target species, suggesting efforts to reduce predator populations could have inadvertent effects on other species. The influence of fire and vegetation variables on bait interaction rates also highlights the importance of accounting for landscape features when designing lethal control programs.

Implications. Predator control can benefit native wildlife, and help to reduce livestock loss; however, managers must account for environmental factors that may influence which species are most likely to be affected by toxic baits, and by extension possible broader impacts on ecosystems. Monitoring to assess baiting outcomes and limit the negative consequences for non-target species constitutes best practice.

Context. Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2/b/GI.2) is the only representative of the genus Lagovirus that is known to fatally infect multiple lagomorph species. RHDV2 is the dominant lagovirus circulating in rabbits in Australia, where some lagoviruses are used for deliberate biological control of European rabbits, a major environmental and agricultural pest in this country. Evidence of exposure to lagoviruses has been reported for a range of species that feed on rabbits, and the reduced host specificity of RHDV2 compared with RHDV1 has occasionally raised concerns, especially in a biocontrol context.

Aim. We investigated evidence of exposure to RHDV2 in 99 individual feral foxes, cats, dogs and pigs and then we aimed to test these animals for evidence of a productive infection.

Methods. Sera were analysed for the presence of antibodies to RHDV2, and faeces and tissues for the presence of viral RNA. We made provisions for downstream analysis of liver tissues by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and histopathology should they return a positive RT-qPCR result, to further investigate any evidence of productive virus infection. We also infected RHDV2 in hepatobiliary organoids derived from cats and foxes to test for possible infection.

Key results. We detected serum antibodies and viral RNA in faeces indicative of ingestion of RHDV2-infected rabbits, but found no evidence for productive infection with RHDV2. Furthermore, no RHDV2 replication was seen in hepatobiliary organoids derived from foxes and cats after in vitro infection with RHDV2.

Conclusion. RHDV2 does not infect scavengers of rabbits, such as foxes, dogs, cats and pigs.

Implications. This study has provided insights into the safety of this strain.

Context. Examining Australia’s late Quaternary subfossil record can be valuable in assessing whether the current diversity of small-bodied mammals seen across some parts of northern Australia is ‘normal’. Such records are important for establishing baselines for measuring historic changes in communities today and into the future. These datasets are becoming increasingly important, given trajectories in current global climate change, and predicted habitat losses and other potential anthropogenic impacts.

Aims. The main aim of this study is to utilise the local subfossil record from north-eastern Australia to establish a natural baseline for assessing changes in small mammal communities post-European colonisation.

Methods. Subfossils of vertebrates and other taxa were recovered from surface deposits adjacent to cave entrances at Broken River, near Greenvale in north-eastern Queensland, and were subjected to taxonomic, taphonomic and statistical analyses. These were then compared with local faunal records from modern surveys to compare differences in faunal communities between past and present.

Key results. Radiocarbon dating showed that these subfossils are geologically young, dating to approximately the time of European colonisation. We provide evidence for the former presence of extinct species of hopping mice (Notomys spp.) and rabbit rats (Conilurus spp.) in the region. Additional locally extirpated taxa such as Cape York bandicoot (Isoodon peninsulae) and Shark Bay mouse (Pseudomys gouldii) demonstrated considerable range contractions since the deposits accumulated, compared with their current distribution. Independent evidence from subfossil land snails recovered from these deposits is, with two exceptions, all modern-day vine thicket, karst-dwelling species indicating a long-term maintenance of vine thicket habitat. Thus, the loss of several mammal species is unlikely to be the result of habitat loss.

Conclusions. Analysis of the surface deposits showed that local historic small-mammal communities were much more diverse than are the region’s extant faunas recorded by modern surveys. Many extinctions and extirpations evidently occurred prior to such faunas being recorded as local inhabitants of the region.

Implications. Our data suggested that post-European colonisation small-mammal losses are likely to be substantially worse than previously realised.

Context. Macropods are very susceptible to stress during capture. Capture methods for macropods fall into two categories: trapping and darting. Trapping by nets or a triggered trap mechanism is commonly used for small macropods. Darting is most often used for large macropods that are more prone to stress and capture myopathy when caught in traps.

Aim. To describe a modified ‘nylon drop-net’ technique for safely capturing medium to large macropods; and post-capture treatments that reduce stress and the potential for myopathy.

Methods. We used a drop-net to capture 40 agile wallabies (Notamacropus agilis) (24 females and 16 males), ranging in weight from 6 to 24 kg. For immobilisation, a single dose of intramuscular Diazepam (1 mg/kg) and Richtasol, a multivitamin, was administered to reduce the risk of capture myopathy. The longer-term effects of capture on animal condition were monitored in 34 radio-collared individuals for 2 months.

Key results. No deaths occurred during or as a result of capture or in the 8 weeks following capture.

Conclusions. Our modified drop-net and handling/treatment regime provides a cost-effective method for capturing medium and small-sized macropod species with very low risk of mortality or morbidity.

Implications. Our methods improve the welfare and safety of captured medium-sized macropods.

Context. Control of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) is a growing management concern throughout their invaded range. In the United States, control programs often leave wild pig carcasses on the landscape where they are freely available for consumption by scavengers such as coyotes (Canis latrans). Coyotes consume wild pigs, but no studies have investigated the importance of pig carcasses for maintaining coyote abundance.

Aims. We tested the hypothesis that coyote populations may be bolstered by wild pig carcasses created by control programs.

Methods. From July 2014 to July 2017, we surveyed road transects for scat to monitor coyote abundance in response to changing levels of pig carcass availability. From June 2015 to July 2017, wild pigs were removed from the eastern half of the study area and placed at one of four carcass dump sites on the western side. We analysed the scat data using an open population spatially-explicit capture–mark recapture model to estimate seasonal abundance and movement of coyotes in response to the carcass treatment.

Results. Coyote density across the entire study area declined from 95 coyotes/100 km² in July 2014 to 65 coyotes/100 km² by July 2016, but declines were unrelated to the carcass availability treatment. Additional analysis on non-genotyped scat data showed no apparent effect of carcass availability on coyote density. Coyote activity centers moved fewer than 100 m towards the nearest carcass dump site in response to the carcass treatment.

Conclusions. Wild pig carcass availability is not likely to be a primary driver of coyote abundance or territory selection at the study location.

Implications. We conclude that the availability of wild pig carcasses has little effect on coyote abundance and thus wild pig carcass removal will not be an effective coyote management strategy.