Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00432:reg:5:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00432
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 5 (pt 4/8)
Character Range: 69273–72213

and couch grass (Cynodon dactylon) have been recorded in bilby habitat. Sandy soils are preferred by buffel grass in Central Australia (DENR) where it presents a threat to affected habitat by changing fire intensity and regimes, altering vegetation composition and demography (Clarke et al. 2005) and by competing with bilby food plants (PWCNT 1998). Other unspecified weeds have also been reported from bilby sites in WA and the NT.

5.4                 Domestic and other introduced species
Bilby distribution is associated with an absence or low density of rabbits and low domestic herbivore stocking rates (Southgate 1990a; McDonald et al. 2015). Introduced herbivores degrade habitat by removing vegetation cover and cause soil compaction and erosion, effects that are greater closer to water points. Water points also alter the dynamics of native herbivores which can also impact vegetation and predator dynamics (James et al. 1999).
Herbivores also congregate along drainage lines, which are often inhabited by bilbies in the Pilbara, Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts (Bradley et al. 2015). Rabbits and bilbies share important food plants, such as bush onion, and rabbits support higher densities of feral cats, wild canids (including dogs) and foxes. It is also assumed that rabbits take over and exclude bilbies from burrows
(Paltridge 2016).
At NT and WA locations, trampling and herbivory from donkeys (Equus asinus), horses (Equus caballus), and camels (Camelus spp.) is assumed to be degrading habitat. While there is no published information on the adverse impacts caused by these species on bilbies, the earliest decline of bilbies in Qld occurred in the more intensively grazed landscapes. Cattle trampling also affects bilby burrows, sometimes causing their collapse (Bradley pers. comm. 2016). Trampling and grazing is particularly damaging in areas where vegetation is regenerating in the first year after fire and there is naturally low vegetation cover and fragile soils.
Domestic cattle stocking rates and herd sizes in northern Australia have increased (Thompson & Martin 2014), and more watering points have spread grazing pressure across larger areas (Walsh & Cowley 2016). Cattle breeds more suitable to northern Australia were introduced to provide greater economic returns from cattle grazing (Thompson & Martin 2014) Between 2009‒10 and 2011‒12 cattle stocking rates on farms producing beef in northern Australia were the highest in 20 years (Thompson & Martin 2014). The expansion and intensification of agriculture and cattle grazing within the Kimberley in WA, where there is a trend for clearing of land for irrigated agriculture and irrigated cattle fodder production, is likely to affect bilbies.
As the cane toad (Rhinella marina) progressively invades the Kimberley from the east, it is likely to invade some areas used by bilbies. If this occurs, there is the potential that bilbies will consume toadlets