Overview, critical assessment, and conservation implications of koala distribution and abundance

Conservation Biology

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 619-628

  Melzer, Alistair ^a   Carrick, Frank ^d   Menkhorst, Peter ^b   Lunney, Daniel ^c   St John, Barbara ^d  

^a CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b Flora and Fauna Branch   (Australia)

^c New S Wales Dept of Environment   (Australia)

^d Dept Environ Her Aboriginal Aff ^*

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; POPULATION DECLINE; POPULATION DENSITY; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; SPECIES CONSERVATION;

AUSTRALIA;

EID: 0034115046     PISSN: 08888892     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.99383.x     Document Type: Review

References (86)

1. Ashton, D. H. 1981. Fire in tall open forests (wet sclerophyll forests). Pages 339-368 in A. M. Gill, R. H. Groves, and I. R. Noble, editors. Fire and the Australian biota. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
2. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). 1998. National koala conservation strategy. Environment Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
3. Berck, L. 1995. St. Bees Island: its history, life-style and tales. Boolarong Press, Mackay, Queensland.
4. Brown, A. S., F. N. Carrick, G. Gordon, and K. Reynolds. 1984. The diagnosis and epidemiology of an infertility disease in the female koala Phascolarctos cinereus (Marsupialia). Veterinary Radiology 25: 242-248.
5. Bureau of Meteorology. 1989. Drought in Australia. Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Administrative Affairs, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
6. Burrows, W. H. 1996. Queensland's grazed woodlands: an enormous anthropogenic carbon sink demanding recognition. Tropical Beef Centre, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Rockhampton.
7. Campbell, P., R. Prentice, and P. McRae. 1979. Report on the 1977 koala survey. Wildlife in Australia 16(1):2-6.
8. Canfield, P. J. 1990. Diseases affecting captive and free-living koalas and their implications for management. Pages 36-38 in D. Lunney, C. Urquhart, and P. Reed, editors. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, Sydney.
9. Caughley, G., and A. R. E. Sinclair. 1994. Wildlife ecology and management. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
10. Cheney, N. P. 1981. Fire behaviour. Pages 151-175 in A.M. Gill, R.H. Groves, and I.R. Noble, editors. Fire and the Australian biota. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
11. Christensen, P., H. Recher, and J. Hoare. 1981 Responses of open forest to fire regimes. Pages 367-393 in A.M. Gill, R.H. Groves, and I. R. Noble, editors. Fire and the Australian biota. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
12. Cork, S. J., and G. D. Sanson. 1990. Digestion and nutrition In the koala: a review. Pages 129-144 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
13. Degabriele, R. 1981. A relative shortage of nitrogenous food in the ecology of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). Australian Journal of Ecology 6:139-141.
14. Ellis, M., N. Shepperd, and K. Gall. 1997. Far western New South Wales occurrence of a koala Phascolarctos cinereus. Australian Zoologist 30(3):327-328.
15. Ellis, W. A. H., A. A. Girjes, F. N. Carrick, and A. Melzer. 1993. Chlamydial infection in koalas under relatively little alienation pressure. Australian Veterinary Journal 70:427-428.
16. Ellis, W. A. H., A. Melzer, B. Green, K. Newgrain, M. A. Hindell, and F.N. Carrick. 1995. Seasonal variation in water flux, field metabolic rate and food consumption of free-ranging koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). Australian Journal of Zoology 43:59-68.
17. Finlayson, H.H. 1934 On mammals from the Dawson and Fitzroy Valleys: central coast Queensland. Part II. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 55:218-231
18. Gill, A. M., R. H. Groves, and I. R. Noble, editors. 1981. Fire and the Australian biota. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
19. Glanznig, A. 1995 Native vegetation clearance, habitat loss and biodiversity decline: an overview of recent native vegetation clearance in Australia and its implications for biodiversity. Biodiversity series, paper 6. Biodiversity Unit, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
20. Glassick, T., P. Giffard, and P. Timms. 1995. Chlamydial infections in koalas: gene sequencing indicates that two separate chlamydial species are involved, Chlamydia pecorum and Chlamydia pneumoniae. Pages 154-162 in Proceedings on a conference on the status of the koala in 1995 Australian Koala Foundation, Brisbane, Queensland.
21. Gordon, G., editor. 1996. Koalas: research for management. Proceedings of the Brisbane Koala Symposium 1990. World Koala Research, Brisbane, Queensland.
22. Gordon, G., A. S. Brown, and P. Pulsford. 1988. A koala population crash during drought and heatwave conditions in south-western Queensland. Australian Journal of Ecology 13:451-461.
23. Gordon, G., D. G. McGreevy, and B. C. Lawrie 1990a. Koala populations in Queensland: major limiting factors. Pages 85-95 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
24. Gordon, G., D. G. McGreevy, and B. C. Lawrie. 1990b. Koala population turnover and male social organisation. Pages 189-192 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
25. Gould, J. 1863 The mammals of Australia. Taylor and Francis, London.
26. Graetz, R. D., M. A. Wilson, and S. K. Campbell. 1995 Landcover disturbance over the Australian continent: a contemporary assessment. Biodiversity series, paper 7. Biodiversity Unit, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
27. Hasegawa, M. 1995. Habitat utilisation by koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) at Point Halloran, Queensland. M.S. thesis. University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane.
28. Hindell, M. A. 1984. The feeding ecology of the koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, in a mixed Eucalyptus forest. M. S. thesis. Department of Zoology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria.
29. Houlden, B. A., P. R. England, A. C. Taylor, and W. D. Greville. 1996. Low genetic variabiliy of the koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, in southeastern Australia following a severe population bottleneck. Molecular Ecology 5:269-281.
30. Hume, I. D. 1990. Biological basis for the vulnerability of koalas to habitat fragmentation. Pages 32-35 in D. Lunney, C. Urqhart, and P. Reed, editors. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville, Sydney.
31. Ingram, G. J., and R. J. Raven. 1991. Introduction, Pages 5-14 in G. L. Ingram and R. J. Raven, editors. An atlas of Queensland's frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals. Board of Trustees, Queensland Museum, Brisbane.
32. Jakob Hoff, R. M. 1993. Diseases of free-living marsupials. Pages 276-280 in M. E. Fowler, editor. Zoo and wild animal medicine: current therapy. Saunders, Philadelphia.
33. Jurskis, V., and M. Potter. 1997. Koala surveys, ecology and conservation at Eden. Forest Research and Development Division, State Forests of New South Wales, Sydney.
34. Kershaw, J. A. 1906. Excursion to Wilson's Promontory: general zoology (except mollusca). Victorian Naturalist 22:197-207.
35. Kikkawa, J. A., and M. Walter. 1968. Report on the koala survey. Wildlife in Australia 6:100-103.
36. Knott, T., D. Lunney, J. Callaghan, and D. Coburn. 1998. An ecological history of koala habitat in Port Stephens Shire and lower Hunter on the central coast of New South Wales, 1801-1998. Pacific Conservation Biology 4:354-368.
37. Landsberg, J. 1990. Dieback of rural eucalypts: the effects of stress on the nutritional quality of foliage. Australian Journal of Ecology 15(1):97-108.
38. Lee, A., and R. Martin. 1988. The koala: a natural history. New South Wales University Press, Sydney.
39. Lee, A. K., R. W. Martin, and K. A. Handasyde. 1988. Research into Chlamydiosis in natural populations of the koala in Victoria, phases 1-3. Report. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Melbourne, Victoria.
40. Lewis, F. 1934. The koala on Wilsons Promontory. Victorian Naturalist 51:76-77.
41. Lewis, F. 1954. The rehabilitation of the koala in Victoria. Victorian Naturalist 70:197-200.
42. Lindsay, H. A. 1950. Re-establishing the koala in South Australia. Wild-Life 12(6):257-262.
43. Lunney, D., and T. Leary. 1988. The impact on native mammals of land-use changes and exotic species in the Bega District (New South Wales) since settlement. Australian Journal of Ecology 13:67-92.
44. Lunney, D., C. A. Urquhart, and P. Reed, editors. 1990. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
45. Lunney, D., A. Curtin, D. Avers, H. G. Cogger, and C. R. Dickman. 1996b. An ecological approach to identifying the endangered fauna of New South Wales. Pacific Conservation Biology 2:212-231.
46. Lunney, D., C. Moon, and A. Matthews. 1996a. A 1990 community based survey of the koala Phascolarctos cinereus population at Iluka in northern New South Wales. Pages 102-122 in G. Gordon, editor. Koalas: research for management. Proceedings of the Brisbane Koala Symposium, 1990. World Koala Research, Brisbane, Queensland.
47. Lunney, D., C. Esson, C. Moon, M. Ellis, and A. Matthews. 1997. A community-based survey of the koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, in the Eden Region of south-eastern New South Wales. Wildlife Research 24:111-128.
48. Lunney, D., S. Phillips, J. Callaghan, and D. Coburn. 1998. Determining the distribution of koala habitat across a shire as a basis for conservation: a case study from Port Stephens, New South Wales. Pacific Conservation Biology 4:186-196.
49. Lunney, D., A. Curtin, D. Ayers, H. G. Cogger, C. R. Dickman, W. Maltz, and D. Fisher. 2000. The threatened and non-threatened vertebrate fauna of New South Wales. Environment and heritage monograph. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
50. Martin, R. W. 1989 Draft management plan for the conservation of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) in Victoria. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research technical report series 99. Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands, Melbourne, Victoria.
51. Martin, R., and K. A. Handasyde. 1990. Population dynamics of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) in south-eastern Australia. Pages 75-84 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
52. Martin, R. W., and K. A. Handasyde. 1995. Family Phascolarctidae: koala. Pages 195-198 in R. Strahan, editor. The mammals of Australia. Reed Books, Chatswood, New South Wales.
53. Maxwell, S., A. A. Burbidge, and K. Morris. 1996. The 1996 action plan for Australian marsupials and monotremes. Project 500. for the IUCN/SSC Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union/Species Survival Commission. Endangered Species Program, Environment Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
54. McColl, K. A., R. W. Martin, L. J. Gleeson, K. A. Handasyde, and A. K. Lee. 1984. Chlamydia infection and infertility in the female koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). Veterinary Record 115:655.
55. Melzer, A. 1995. Aspects of the ecology of the koala, Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss, 1817), in the sub-humid woodlands of central Queensland. Ph.D. thesis. University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane.
56. Melzer, A., and D. Lamb. 1994. Low density populations of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) in central Queensland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 104:89-93.
57. Munkhorst, P. W., editor. 1995. Mammals of Victoria: distribution, ecology and conservation. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria.
58. Menkhorst, P., D. Middleton, and B. Walters. 1998. Managing overabundant koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) in Victoria: a brief history and some potential new directions. Pages 19-29 in P. Cowan, editor. Managing marsupial abundance for conservation benefits. Cooperative Research Centre for Conservation and Management of Marsupials, Macquarie University, Sydney.
59. Mitchell, P. 1990. The home ranges and social activity of koalas: a quantitative analysis. Pages 171-187 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
60. Morgan, D. G. 1997. Tower Hill Game Reserve: koala population. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne, Victoria.
61. Munks, S. A., R. Corkrey, and W.J. Foley. 1996. Characteristics of arboreal marsupial habitat in the semi-arid woodlands of northern Queensland. Wildlife Research 23:185-195.
62. Pahl, L. 1996. Koala and bushland survey of west and central Logan City. Pages 82-92 in G. Gordon, editor. Koalas: research for management. Proceedings of the Brisbane koala symposium, 1990. World Koala Research, Brisbane, Queensland.
63. Pahl, L., F. R. Wylie, and R. Fisher 1990. Koala population decline associated with loss of habitat and suggested remedial strategies. Pages 39-47 in D. Lunney, C. Urqhart, and P. Reed, editors. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.
64. Parris, H. S. 1948. Koalas on the lower Goulburn. Victorian Naturalist 64:192-193.
65. Patterson, R. 1996. The distribution of koalas in Queensland, 1986-1989. Pages 75-81 in G. Gordon, editor. Koalas: research for management. Proceedings of the Brisbane koala symposium, 1990. World Koala Research, Brisbane, Queensland.
66. Phillips, B. 1990. Koalas: the little Australians we'd all hate to lose. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
67. Phillips, S., and J. Callaghan. 1995. Koala management study for Goonellabah and East Lismore. Draft report for public discussion prepared for Lismore City Council. The Australian Koala Foundation, Brisbane, Queensland.
68. Queensland Department of Natural Resources. 1997. Interim report. The statewide land cover and trees study (SLATS). Brisbane, Queensland.
69. Reed, P. C. 1991. An historical analysis of the changes to the forests and woodlands of New South Wales. Pages 393-406 in D. Lunney, editor. Conservation of Australia's forest fauna. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman.
70. Reed, P., and D. Lunney. 1990. Habitat loss: the key problem for the long-term survival of koalas in New South Wales. Pages 9-31 in D. Lunney, C.A. Urquhart, and P. Reed, editors. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
71. Reed, P. C., D. Lunney, and P. Walker. 1990. A 1986-1987 survey of the koala Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss) in New South Wales and an ecological interpretation of its distribution. Pages 55-74 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
72. Robinson, A. C. 1978. The koala in South Australia. Pages 132-143 in T. J. Bergin, editor. The koala: proceedings of the Taronga symposium. The Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales, Sydney.
73. Robinson, A. C., R. Spark, and C. Halstead. 1989. The distribution and management of the koala in South Australia. South Australian Naturalist 64(1):4-24.
74. Sharp, A. 1995. The koala book. David Bateman Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand.
75. Sivertsen, D. P. 1995. Habitat loss: its nature and effects (including case studies from New South Wales). Pages 29-42 in R. Bradstock, T. Auld, D. Keith, R. Kingsford, D. Lunney, and D. Sivertsen, editors. Conserving biodiversity: threats and solutions Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, and National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville, New South Wales.
76. Smith, A. P., and S. Andrews. 1997. Koala habitat, abundance and distribution in the Pine Creek study area. Report. State Forests of New South Wales, Coffs Harbour.
77. Sullivan, B. J. 1998. Low density population estimation using faecal pellet counts: koalas in the rangelands of south west Queensland. Ph.D. thesis. School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, University of Queensland, Gatton College, Gatton, Queensland.
78. Tilley, D., and K. Uebel. 1990. Observations of koala populations within the Sydney Water Board's Upper Nepean catchment area. Pages 81-84 in D. Lunney, C. Urqhart, and P. Reed, editors. Koala summit: managing koalas in New South Wales. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, Hurstville.
79. Thomas, O. 1923. On some Queensland Phalangeridae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 9:246-250.
80. Total Environment Centre. 1983. Our wildlife in peril. A. H. and A. W. Reed Pty Ltd, Frenches Forest, New South Wales.
81. Troughton, E. 1935. The southern race of the koala. Australian Naturalist 9:137-140.
82. Warneke, R. M. 1978. The status of the koala in Victoria. Pages 109-114 in T. J. Bergin, editor. The koala: proceedings of the Taronga symposium. Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales, Sydney.
83. Wells, K. F., N. H. Wood, and P. Laut. 1984. Loss of forests and woodlands in Australia: a summary by state, based on rural local government areas. Technical memorandum, 84/4. Commonwealth Scientific, Industrial, and Research Organization, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
84. White, N. A., and N. D. Kunst. 1990. Aspects of the ecology of the koala in south-eastern Queensland. Pages 109-116 in A. K. Lee, K. A. Handasyde, and G. D. Sanson, editors. Biology of the koala. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
85. Wiegler, B. J., A. A. Girjes, N. A. White, N. D. Kunst, F. N. Carrick, and M. F. Lavin. 1988. The epidemiology of Chlamydia psittaci infection in a population of koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) in south-east Queensland, Australia. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 24:282-291.
86. Wilson, B. A. 1994. Fire effects on vertebrate fauna and implications for fire management and conservation. Pages 131-147 in Fire and biodiversity: the effects and effectiveness of fire management. Proceedings of the 1994 conference. Biodiversity series, paper 8. Biodiversity Unit, Department of Environment, Sport and Territories, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.