Parrot Neophema Chrysogaster Research Articles

A record of the parasitic mite Hemimyialges macdonaldi (Evans et al. 1963) (Acari: Epidermoptidae) in the Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster (Latham, 1790) (Psittaciformes: Psittaculidae) in Australia.

The subcutaneous parasitic mite Hemimyialges macdonaldi was found in a specimen of the Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster that died in captivity. A review of the host range and geographic distribution of this mite shows it is cosmopolitan and occurs in a very wide range of birds. It does not appear to be a cause of significant mortality in its hosts.

Identifying factors affecting captive breeding success in a critically endangered species

ABSTRACT Captive breeding programs are an increasingly important tool for species’ conservation efforts, but not all species reproduce well in captivity. Identifying factors that affect the reproductive success of captive populations is crucial to improving the performance and management of conservation-breeding programs, both by providing individuals for release and informing decision making. We examined breeding records collected from the long-running conservation-breeding program for the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster over an 11-year period. We examined egg hatching rate, nestling survival rate, and offspring sex ratio in response to a wide range of variables related to characteristics of individual birds, breeding events, and the captive environment. The hatch rate of eggs was higher in first clutches compared to second clutches and was lower than the wild population. The survival rate of nestlings through to fledging was variable between years but became higher and more consistent over the last five years of the study period. Variation in brood sex ratio was not related to any of the potential explanatory variables that we examined. This is one of the first studies to examine reproductive data in a long-running conservation-breeding program and shows that many common metrics do not explain reproductive variation. Our approach provides a framework for managers to investigate factors affecting reproductive success in conservation breeding programs more broadly.

Conservation management in the context of unidentified and unmitigated threatening processes

The decision to intervene in endangered species management is often complicated. Migratory species exemplify this difficulty because they experience diverse threats at different times and places that can act cumulatively and synergistically on their populations. We use population viability analysis (PVA) to compare potential conservation interventions on the critically endangered, migratory Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster. This species suffers high juvenile mortality, but it is not clear why this is so. Given uncertainty about the best recovery strategy, we compare PVA scenarios that simulate various ways of utilizing captive-bred parrots to support the wild population in the context of unresolved threatening processes. Increasing the number of juveniles entering the population each year had the greatest benefit for population growth rate and size. Directly lowering juvenile mortality rates is difficult given uncertainty about the drivers of mortality in the wild. In lieu of this, releasing 100 juveniles from captivity to the wild population each autumn (either as a stand-alone action, or in combination with other interventions) was the most feasible and straightforward intervention of the options we tested. However, our PVAs also show that unless substantial and sustainable reductions can be made to juvenile mortality rates, Orange-bellied Parrots will remain dependent on intensive conservation management. This study highlights the utility of PVAs for answering practical questions about how to implement species conservation. PVAs provide a way to incorporate the best available information in a replicable modelling framework, and to identify impacts of parameter uncertainty on demographic trends.

An ecological risk assessment for the impacts of offshore wind farms on birds in Australia

AbstractAn ecological risk assessment, based on life‐history and behavioural attributes of 273 bird taxa, was used to identify which of those taxa are at high risk from negative interactions with offshore wind farms in Australia. The marine area of Australia was divided by state/territory boundaries perpendicular to the coast into eight regions, with Western Australia further divided into north and south, and a Bass Strait region bounded by the Victoria coast and the north coast of Tasmania. These regions were subdivided into coastal, inshore and offshore sub‐regions and a risk summary for all bird taxa occurring in each of these sub‐regions produced. In coastal and inshore sub‐regions of Bass Strait, South Australia and Tasmania, the species with the highest risk scores were Orange‐bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster, Furneaux White‐fronted Tern Sterna striata incerta, Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor, Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis and Anadyr Bar‐tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica anadyrensis. In offshore sub‐regions in southern Australia, the highest risk species were all albatrosses, comprising Northern Royal Diomedea sanfordi, Eastern Antipodean D. antipodensis antipodensis, Gibson's D. antipodensis gibsoni, Wandering D. exulans, Amsterdam D. amsterdamensis and Grey‐headed Albatross T. chrysostoma. Compared to onshore installations, there are logistical challenges to quantifying the potential and realized impacts of offshore wind farms that require different approaches to data collection and analyses. The extensive development of offshore wind farms in the Northern Hemisphere provides examples of best and emerging approaches to quantify and mitigate negative impacts of offshore wind farms that can be applied in an Australian context. Despite differences in the species involved, the same approaches to identifying high‐risk species and to the monitoring and mitigation of negative impacts should be applied in a coordinated, regional‐scale approach to the development of offshore wind farms in Australia.

Differences in wing shape of captive, critically endangered, migratory Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster relative to wild conspecifics

ABSTRACT Living in a captive environment may compromise phenotypic traits critical to survival in the wild. Captive animals that differ from the ideal wild phenotype may have impaired fitness after release, especially if there is extreme phenotypic selection during some life history stages. Wing shape of migratory birds is crucial to migration efficiency, and changes to wing shape in captivity may severely affect survival after release. We investigate wing shape of migratory Orange-bellied Parrots Neophema chrysogaster in captivity and the wild. The first two flight feathers were shorter in captive birds, and the fifth and sixth feathers were longer than wild conspecifics. These differences altered wing shape, producing a more proximal tip and a more convex trailing edge than the wild phenotype, which likely alters flight performance. This wing shape contravenes expectations from general patterns of wing shape in migratory birds. Wing shape in the captive birds sampled was independent of inbreeding, generations in captivity and ancestry. Captive environments may affect feather development or impose some selective pressure on wing shape. Alternatively, release from intense phenotypic selection during migration may allow parrots with wing shapes poorly adapted to migration to survive and breed in captivity. Altered wing shape may contribute to low observed survival of parrots released to the wild.

Short‐term impacts of prescribed burning on Orange‐bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) food plant abundance

SummaryFire has important implications for the availability of suitable types of habitat for animals. Different species vary in their responses to fire, and quantifying the responses of key habitat attributes may facilitate manipulation of fire regimes to improve conditions for species of conservation concern. The Orange‐bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster prefers recently burned habitat for foraging when breeding but knowledge of how fire affects this species and its habitat is limited. We implemented a 2‐year before‐after‐control‐impact (BACI) study to quantify short‐term impacts of fire on food plants and habitat features. Relative to control sites, the four food plants we monitored in the treatment area responded differently to fire: one did not recover, two reached pre‐burn abundance after 20 months and another recovered by 1 year after fire, and by 20 months was more common in treatment sites. Relative to controls, the proportion of bare earth at treatment sites increased after fire and then gradually declined, while mean vegetation height at treatment plots declined after fire and then gradually increased. Twenty months after fire, parrots foraged on abundant regeneration of the Dwarf Everlasting (Helichrysum pumilum) and fed the seeds of this species to their nestlings. Fire alters the availability of key resources needed by breeding Orange‐bellied Parrots, and ongoing manipulation of fire regimes may relieve limitation of natural foods for this species.

Taxonomy and biology of two new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) infesting Sarcocornia quinqueflora (Chenopodiaceae) in Australian salt marshes

Abstract Two new species of gall midge associated with two distinct galls on the succulent creeping shrub Sarcocornia quinqueflora are described from salt marshes in south‐eastern Australia. The infestations caused by the new species hinder the growth of S. quinqueflora, the seeds of which are the major food of the critically endangered orange‐bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster. Asphondylia floriformis sp. n. Veenstra‐Quah & Kolesik transforms leaf segments into flower‐like galls, whereas Asphondylia sarcocorniae sp. n. Veenstra‐Quah & Kolesik produces simple swellings on branches. Both galls have fungal mycelium growing in the apoplast of the gall tissue and lining the inner surface of the larval chamber where it is presumably grazed by the larva. Descriptions of the larvae, pupae, males, females and the geographical distribution of the two gall midges in south‐eastern Australia are given.

A new species of the feather mite genus Titanolichus Gaud & Atyeo, 1996 (Acari: Astigmata: Pterolichidae) from the endangered orange‐bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster (Aves: Psittaciformes) from Australia

Abstract Titanolichus seemani sp. n., a new species of the genus Titanolichus Gaud & Atyeo, 1996, is described from a museum skin of the endangered orange‐bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster (Latham) (Aves: Psittaciformes) from Australia. We also redescribe the type species Titanolichus chiragricus (Mégnin & Trouessart) from the ground parrot Pezoporus wallicus (Kerr), provide a key for all known species of Titanolichus and point out some problems in the systematics of this genus.

A model-based decision aid for species protection under uncertainty

A method of decision making is presented that can be used to compare alternative management actions under ecological uncertainty and to identify which one is likely to have the strongest effect on population viability. The method combines decision analysis with population modelling and uses both information about population patterns (e.g. spatio-temporal) and processes (e.g. reproduction). The process knowledge is used to construct the population model and determine plausible ranges for its parameters. The values of these parameters are likely to have an impact on the rank order of the most effective management actions, and unless their ranges are small, there is uncertainty in the management rank order. This uncertainty is encompassed by considering a number of different population parameter combinations, called scenarios. For each of them a sensitivity analysis is performed and a management rank order determined. In the following decision analysis each key scenario contributes with a certain weight that reflects its biological plausibility. To determine the weight of a particular scenario, the population dynamics are simulated and the generated patterns are compared with those observed in the real population. The higher the similarity between the two patterns the higher the weight assigned to the scenario. The decision analysis finally synthesises the results of sensitivity and pattern analyses and generates a single rank order of the most promising management actions. The method is demonstrated on a case study of the endangered Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster (Australia).

Contribution of captive management of Orange‐bellied parrots to the recovery programme for the species in Australia

The Orange‐bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster overwinters on the Australian mainland and breeds on Tasmania, more than 200 km away. The Orange‐bellied Parrot Recovery Team, established in 1983, guides and initiates conservation measures to protect this threatened species and its natural habitat. The first captive‐breeding programme for the species was established near Hobart and the second was at Healesville Sanctuary. The aim is to breed Orange‐bellied parrots, retaining as much genetic heterozygosity as possible, for release into the wild and to study the species to obtain biological data. At Hobart between three and 37 young have been reared to independence annually and at Healesville between two and 36 annually. Health issues which affect this species, such as parrot beak and feather disease and zinc toxicity, are addressed. Details about techniques for successful reintroduction of captive‐bred parrots and the subsequent monitoring of the released birds are also described. Between 1991 and 1996 68 birds have been reintroduced.

Uncertainty in population dynamics and its consequences for the management of the orange-bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster

The population dynamics of a rare and dispersed species like the Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster include many uncertainties, especially concerning mortality. Taking these uncertainties into account we evaluated several options for management of the Orange-bellied Parrot habitat. Options were ranked by their effects on the viability of the population. There was considerable variability in the resulting rank orders. A few general features appeared to be rather stable with respect to all forms of uncertainty considered. It was found that survival of birds during the winter season was more important than their reproductive success in summer and qualitative features of the habitat, such as the composition of vegetation, were more important than quantitative features such as the habitat size.

Recovery action for threatened species–an Australian perspective

The history, scope and nature of threats facing endangered and vulnerable species in Australia are reviewed. The Australian Endangered Species Programme was established in July 1989 to address these problems. The planned approach adopted by this programme, including action plans, recovery plans, amelioration of threatening processes and education and public awareness campaigns, is described and explained. Example recovery actions for two threatened Australian birds (Orange‐bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster and Noisy Scrub‐bird Atrichornis clamosis) are outlined.