Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01095:body:0:p27
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01095
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 70444–73500

their dispersal. However, clearing for agriculture has resulted in fragmentation of the remnant population into a large number of small populations with little opportunity for dispersal between them. Small and isolated populations are especially vulnerable to local extinction by a range of processes that deplete the number of individuals or degrade the viability of each population. It is likely that populations in low quality habitats have always depended on immigration from surrounding areas and once isolated from higher quality habitats such populations may become unsustainable.

The clearing and fragmentation of Malleefowl habitats is also likely to exacerbate other threats. For example, foxes are probably more abundant near cleared land (Saunders et al. 1995), weeds are more likely to encroach, fragments of mallee may be completely consumed by fire leading to local extinction where sources for recolonisation no longer exist, and fragmentation may increase the exposure of Malleefowl to agrochemicals. Also, the combination of fragmentation of the landscape and climate change may seriously threaten the conservation of species such as the Malleefowl through increased risk of stochastic local extinction and insufficient recolonisation opportunities.

While there is no doubt that Malleefowl have disappeared from some small reserves (e.g. Brickhill 1987b) analysis of Malleefowl trends from mound monitoring data (Benshemesh et al. 2007, Benshemesh et al. 2020) suggested that Malleefowl conservation in small reserves and fragmented landscapes appear resilient in the short to medium term. Nonetheless, the authors considered that in the longer-term appropriate management will be necessary to avoid population and genetic bottlenecks in small and isolated populations.
4.2.3 Mortality on roads
Road mortality may be substantial and damaging to a small population. Malleefowl usually do not flee when approached by traffic. They are often killed on roads where they frequently feed on spilt grain.
Malleefowl use narrow roadside strips of native vegetation in preference to crossing open ground especially when dispersing. They have been seen walking along wooded strips of vegetation along roadsides several kilometres from the nearest remnant of native scrub.

Malleefowl road sign ©Elizabeth Kington, Western Australia Malleefowl Recovery Group.

4.2.4 Fire (wildfire and planned burning)
Climate change is influencing the extent, intensity and frequency of fire across the range of the Malleefowl, and these changes are expected to exacerbate the effect of fire as a threat to the conservation of the species. For example, extreme fire weather (Di Virgilio et al. 2019; Dowdy et al. 2019) is likely to increase in frequency and intensity in coming decades, as is drought (Evans et al. 2017), which affects Malleefowl food, leaf litter for nesting and vegetation cover needed to avoid predators (Benshemesh et al. 2021). Invasive species, particularly buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) (see 4.2.7 below), are also altering the spatial