Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00858:body:0:p9
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00858
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 23349–26280

population of Black-breasted Button-quail and is defined as the following national parks: Bunya Mountains, Tarong, Mt Binga, Pidna and The Palms, and Bunya Mountains National Park (Recovery) and Conservation Park; and the following state forests: Archookoora, Benarkin, East Nanango, Gibson, Googa, Mt Binga, Pidna, South Nanango, Tarong and Yarraman. The Black-breasted Button-quail population within the KBA is thought to be the largest in the world. The presence of this species at more than 1,000 m above sea level in the adjacent Bunya Mountains is unusual as the species is not generally found over 500 m elsewhere.

Cooloola and Fraser Coast: Situated approximately 175 km north of Brisbane in coastal south-eastern Queensland. It consists of the K'gari (Fraser Island) and Cooloola sections of Great Sandy National Park and the intervening land of Inskip Point, excluding the township of Rainbow Beach. This area is a huge sand mass, which supports a wide range of coastal vegetation communities including vine thickets, wallum swamps and open forests and woodlands. This KBA is designed to capture a large population of Black-breasted Button-quail, estimated to possibly support 250 breeding females. The climate is subtropical with warm winters, hot summers and mean annual rainfall of more than 1,200 mm.

Population trends

There is no monitoring of Black-breasted Button-quail abundance, and population estimates remain uncertain (Garnett et al. 2011; Webster et al. 2021). The species is too cryptic in both appearance and behaviour for birdwatcher records to be a reliable means for determining trends and there is no publicly available trend data for any sites that are monitored regularly (Webster et al. 2021).

Webster et al. (2021) estimate there to be 4,800 (range 3,000–6,500) mature Black-breasted Button-quail in the wild, however the reliability of this estimate is low. The population size was estimated through expert elicitation but with very little baseline information (Garnett et al. 2011; Webster et al. 2021). The extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) for the species is estimated at 64,000 km2 (58,000–70,400 km2) and 760 km2 (760–1,000 km2), respectively. Both EOO and AOO trends are estimated to be stable with medium reliability, but given ongoing threats the EOO and AOO could decline in the future without management action (Webster et al. 2021). A continuing decline of population size is likely as a result of ongoing environmental degradation (Webster et al. 2021).

There is now sufficient evidence to suggest the population is not fragmented, contrary to previous assessments, with movements between disjunct populations highly probable (Webster et al. 2021). For example, the ephemeral presence of the species on offshore islands and in atypical habitat is indicative of a high potential for movement between suitable habitat patches (Webster et al. 2021). The degree