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cats (McGregor et al. 2020).

Fox inspecting a Malleefowl mound, ©Graeme Tonkin, NMRG.

4.2.7 Weeds
Weeds in general (with the exception of buffel grass) are not a specific threat to Malleefowl but compete with native plants, therefore reduction in weeds leads to an improvement in habitat condition. It is especially important to prevent new and emerging weeds from spreading into Malleefowl habitat.
Buffel grass
Buffel grass has been identified as among the greatest threats to Australian arid and semi-arid flora and fauna communities (Read et al. 2020). It is a highly interactive and rapidly emerging threat that is considerably more costly to manage or eradicate than other threats (e.g. introduced predators, grazing, changed fire regimes) (Read et al. 2020). Buffel grass may affect Malleefowl via loss of dietary resources, changes in vegetation structure, and increased occurrence and intensity of fire (Grice et al. 2013; Read et al. 2020).
Buffel grass competes with and displaces native plant species and promotes more frequent and intense fires in communities that are adapted to infrequent and/or less intense fires. It can have measurable impacts on aspects of community dynamics even at low levels of cover (≤ 20%) (Smyth et al. 2009).
Foraging behaviour and dietary resources may be affected by buffel grass invasion. Bird species of all foraging guilds have been reported to spend less time on the ground and less time at individual sites as buffel grass cover increases (Young & Schlesinger 2014). Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) prefer native seed over buffel grass seed (Young & Schlesinger 2018) and Malleefowl may exhibit similar preferences. Buffel grass has also been shown to influence invertebrate fauna in arid landscapes. For example, Bonney et al. (2017) found that ant abundance and richness were 50% lower in survey plots dominated by buffel grass. This may have profound impacts on the ecosystem service of seed dispersal, which may lead to long-term changes in plant community composition, structure and diversity, and consequent impacts on Malleefowl food resource availability.

Floristic species richness has been found to decrease substantially with the presence of buffel grass at multiple spatial scales (Franks 2002; Jackson 2005; Fensham et al. 2015). The greatest effects have been reported for native perennial grasses (Fensham et al. 2015; Young & Schlesinger 2018; Wright et al. 2021) and herbaceous species (Jackson 2005; Wright et al. 2021). Ground cover species richness has been shown to increase after the removal of buffel grass (Melzer et al. 2014; Wright et al. 2021), but perennial grasses may not recover in the short-term (≤ 12 years) (Wright et al. 2021). Native vegetation cover has also been observed to decrease with increasing presence of buffel grass (McDonald & McPherson 2011).

Buffel grass may reduce the