This thesis is about the dynamics of eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) populations
and their food supplies in temperate grasslands of south-eastern Australia. It is based on the
study of three populations of eastern grey kangaroos inhabiting �warm dry�, �cold dry�, and
�warm wet� sites within the Southern Tablelands climatic region. After a pilot survey and
methods trial in early 2001, the main period of study was from August 2001 to July 2003.
The study populations were found to have the highest densities of any kangaroo populations,
450 to 510 km-2. Their density was the same at the end of the two year study period as at the
beginning, in spite of a strong decline in herbage availability due to drought. The eastern grey
kangaroo populations were limited according to the predation-sensitive food hypothesis.
Fecundity, as the observed proportion of females with late pouch young in spring, was high,
in spite of the high kangaroo density and restricted food availability. Age-specific fecundity
of a kangaroo sample shot on one of the sites in 1997 to avert starvation was the highest
reported for kangaroos. Thus, limitation acted through mortality rather than fecundity.
Population growth rate was most sensitive to adult survival but the demographic rate that had
the greatest effect in practice was mortality of juveniles, most likely sub-adults. The
combination of high fecundity with high mortality of immatures would provide resilience to
low levels of imposed mortality and to fertility control.
The normal pattern of spring pasture growth was not observed in the drought conditions and
few of the recorded increments of growth were of the magnitude considered typical for sites
on the southern and central tablelands. Temperature was necessary to predict pasture growth,
as well as rainfall, over the previous two months. The best model of pasture growth (lowest
AICc) included negative terms for herbage mass, rainfall over the previous two months, and
temperature, and a positive term for the interaction between rainfall and temperature. It
accounted for 13% more of the variation in the data than did the simpler model of the type
used by Robertson (1987a), Caughley (1987) and Choquenot et al. (1998). However this was
only 63% of total variation. Re-evaluation of the model based on measurements of pasture
growth in more typical (non-drought) conditions is recommended. Grazing had a powerful
influence on the biomass of pasture due to the high density of kangaroos. This is a marked
difference to many other studies of the type which have been conducted in semi-arid
environments where rainfall dominates.
The offtake of pasture by kangaroos, as estimated on the research sites by the cage method,
was linear on herbage mass. It was of greater magnitude than the more exact estimate of the
(curved) functional response from grazedowns in high�quality and low�quality pastures.
The widespread recognition of three forms of functional response is inadequate. Both the
theoretical basis, and supporting data, have been published for domed, inaccessible residue,
and power forms as well (Holling 1966; Noy-Meir 1975; Hassell et al. 1976, 1977; Short
1986; Sabelis 1992). Eastern grey kangaroos had approximately the same Type 2 functional
response when consuming either a high quality artificial pasture (Phalaris aquatica), or dry
native pasture (Themeda australis) in autumn. Their functional response rose more gradually
than those published for red kangaroos and western grey kangaroos in the semi-arid
rangelands, and did not satiate at the levels of pasture available. This gradual behaviour of
the functional response contributes to continuous stability of the consumer-resource system,
as opposed to discontinuous stability.
The numerical response was estimated using the ratio equation, assuming an intrinsic rate of
increase for eastern grey kangaroos in temperate grasslands of 0.55. There is indirect
evidence of effects of predation in the dynamics of the kangaroo populations. This is
demonstrated by the positive relationship between r and kangaroo density. Such a
relationship can be generated by predation. A desirable future task is to compile estimates of
population growth rate and simultaneous estimates of pasture, in the absence of predation,
where kangaroo population density is changing, so that the numerical response can be
estimated empirically.
The management implications arising from this study are numerous and a full account would
require a separate report. As one example, kangaroos in these temperate grasslands are on
average smaller, eat less, are more numerous, and are more fecund, than would be predicted
from other studies (e.g. Caughley et al. 1987). Thus the benefit of shooting each kangaroo, in
terms of grass production, is less, or, in other words, more kangaroos have to be shot to
achieve a certain level of impact reduction, and the population will recover more quickly, than
would have been predicted prior to this study.
Secondly, of much importance to managers, the interactive model which can readily be
assembled from the products of Chapters 4, 5 and 8, can be used to test a range of
management options, and the effect of variation in weather conditions, such as increased or
decreased rainfall. For example, the model indicates that commercial harvesting (currently
under trial in the region), at the maximum level allowed, results in a sustainable harvest of
kangaroos, but does not increase the herbage mass, and only slightly reduces the frequency of
crashes when herbage mass falls to low levels. (To demonstrate this with an ecological
experiment would require an extremely large investment of research effort.) However, an
alternative �national park damage mitigation� formula, which holds kangaroo density to about
1 ha-1, is predicted to increase herbage mass considerably and to reduce the frequency of
crashes in herbage mass, but these effects would be achieved at the cost of having to shoot
large numbers of kangaroos. Thus, aside from many specific details of kangaroo ecology, the
knowledge gained in this study appears to have useful potential to illustrate to managers the
dynamic properties of a resource-consumer system, the probabilistic nature of management
outcomes, and the consequences of particular kangaroo management proposals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219578 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Fletcher, Donald Bryden, N/A |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Donald Bryden Fletcher |
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