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

Orange-bellied parrots

Dejan Stojanovic and Robert Heinsohn introduce the Critically Endangered orange-bellied parrot from Australia.

Altered wing phenotypes of captive-bred migratory birds lower post-release fitness

Captive breeding and release to the wild is a globally important conservation tool. However, captivity can result in phenotypic changes that incur post-release fitness costs, especially if they affect strenuous or risky behaviours. Bird wing shape is critical for migration success and suboptimal phenotypes are strongly selected against. In this study, I demonstrate surprising plasticity of bird wing phenotypes in captivity for 4/16 studied species. In a model species, captive-born juveniles with wild wing phenotypes (a 1-mm longer distal primary flight feather) survived post-release at 2.7 times the rate of those with captive phenotypes (i.e. a shorter distal feather). Subtle phenotypic changes and their fitness impacts are more common than widely realised because they are easily overlooked. To improve captive breeding for conservation, practitioners must surveil phenotypic changes and find ways to mitigate them.

Using eDNA metabarcoding to understand the effect of fire on the diet of small mammals in a woodland ecosystem

Food acquisition is a fundamental process that drives animal distribution and abundance, influencing how species respond to changing environments. Disturbances such as fire create significant shifts in available dietary resources, yet, for many species, we lack basic information about what they eat, let alone how they respond to a changing resource base. In order to create effective management strategies, faunal conservation in flammable landscapes requires a greater understanding of what animals eat and how this change following a fire. What animals eat in postfire environments has received little attention due to the time‐consuming methodologies and low‐resolution identification of food taxa. Recently, molecular techniques have been developed to identify food DNA in scats, making it possible to identify animal diets with enhanced resolution. The primary aim of this study was to utilize eDNA metabarcoding to obtain an improved understanding of the diet of three native Australian small mammal species: yellow‐footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), heath mouse (Pseudomys shortridgei), and bush rat (Rattus fuscipes). Specifically, we sought to understand the difference in the overall diet of the three species and how diet changed over time after fire. Yellow‐footed antechinus diets mostly consisted of moths, and plants belonging to myrtles and legume families while bush rats consumed legumes, myrtles, rushes, and beetles. Heath mouse diet was dominated by rushes. All three species shifted their diets over time after fire, with most pronounced shifts in the bush rats and least for heath mice. Identifying critical food resources for native animals will allow conservation managers to consider the effect of fire management actions on these resources and help conserve the species that use them.